My wife does not like ceiling fans. I would a great room with cathedral a ceiling. I worry about wasted heat rising in the winter and not being able to clear hot air in the summer. Ohter than a ceiling fan would it be possible or advisable to install a duct between the pitched rafters? option 1 could be to use it as a cold air return to the furnace (only useful in the winter). Option 2 could be to install a fan and blow air up the wall from the floor through the duct in the rafters and down near the ridge (could be noisy).
Any thoughts?
Replies
A gable end might be a better place to put a fan. That could prevent addin any more complications to insulation, venting, structure--all happening near the ridge of a cathedral ceiling.
It's tempting to suggest a standard exhaust fan, like the heavy-duty Panasonic, on a thermocouple switch. The fan would be queit, and the switch would kick on at a set temperature. You could simply pass the other end into the lower part of the house as a "return" type duct. That would save some head scratchin on how to patch into the existing HVAC.
Thanks Captain.
First of all I am talking about new construction so there would not be a big issue with "patching into existing HVAC".
Secondly, a gable fan visible from within my great room? I thanks but . . . LOL!
Not sure I understand your last suggestion.
a gable fan visible
Oh no, not a attic fan, just a grille/register. Build a box out of osb or ply at a convenient spot in the attic. Install an exhaust fan there. A thermostatic switch does the rest.
Went digging through files a minute ago. I found my notes, but not the article to go with them (grrr). The house was an 80s energy efficiency tax credit house, so it had many odd features. The one I remembered was a duct along the lighting cove at the bottom of the cathedral ceiling. The duct had relatively high pressure nozzles along it, to "wash" the warm air back into circulation in the space.
To clear up my 'ducting' answer, what I was thinking was a boxed in duct (or just the space in a studbay), with the fan at one in, and aregister at the other. The "output" end of the duct would have warm air coming out of it when the fan was running--so a hall, or an entry way, would be agood location.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Got it. At first I thought you were talking about an exhaust fan in the outside gable end of the room.
Ok, run a duct up an inside wall on the inside gable end. yes that could be simpler and you would not lose any insulation space between a pair of rafters for the duct. ALthough the rafter idea would place the register more in the middle of the space.
Thanks again.
That's exactly the setup at my Dad's house in Colorado. He's got a sunroom kitchen that gets a lot of passive solar heating. In the winter a fan in a duct at the peak of the ceiling draws warm air and sends it to the basement. In the summer, the hot air is vented outside. A very neat, efficient setup and mostly automatic.
Andy