Re: Whole house ventilation

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:16:34 +0200, "Frithiof Andreas Jensen"
<frithiof.jensen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:1cmre.591$Pa5.22@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>> Why are whole house ventilation systems by default "whole house fans"
>> that suck air out of the house? Why is there no system available at Home
>> Depot, Lowes or other places that blows air into the house through a
>> filter and then out the screen doors instead of sucking unfiltered air in?
>
>Because, the "Average Consumer" *wants* a big lump mounted in the wall of
>his home because that is all he is good for when installing it himself.
>
>In Denmark we do not want "the lump" and energy is expensive so we will pipe
>the air to the rooms in the house, the outgoing air goes through a
>heat-exchanger and the heat pump sucks the heat out of it and uses it to
>warm the incoming - in the summer, this is reversed. All the stuff goes in
>the attic.
>
>Alternatively, having no attic or a smaller house, one put the compressor
>part outside, hidden round the back where the noise annoys the neighbours
>more than yourself, and pibe coolant into a fan unit in the ceiling where
>the heat bothers them most (livingroom/bedroom). This flow can be reversed
>too.
>

This is standard "central air" here. The remote unit is the air
conditioning compressor and sometimes a heat pump, although direct gas
heating is probably more common. Chillers/heaters are in the attic,
with forced-air ducting everywhere.

>But *nobody* kicks a whole in the wall for one of those noisy, ugly, lumpy
>units that the Americans like ;-)

In older houses, people often use a window-mounted a/c unit or two.
Noisy and inefficient, but still a blessing in places where the
humidity and the temperature both idle near 100.

The French like those silly portable air conditioners, the ones with
the hot air dump hose that you stick out the window. They're hardly
worth the effort.

In our local climate, the San Francisco peninsula, air conditioning is
not universal (essentially unknown in the city itself) and a simple
fan is all you really need to stay comfortable. Now, in the middle of
June, we leave the heat on.

John

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Gas vs electric heat
    ... the house must be "leaky" enough ... by air coming INTO the house from the outside. ... Electric heat does not require any re-circulation. ... combustion heaters must have a special "intake air" pipe to ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: Gas vs electric heat
    ... it must be remembered that the combustion ... the house must be "leaky" enough ... by air coming INTO the house from the outside. ... Electric heat does not require any re-circulation. ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: Air to Air Heat Exchange Ventilator?
    ... warm moist stale house air heats incoming cold dry fresh outdoor air. ... They may condense water from outgoing air, which helps transfer heat. ... own via the humidistat which was set around 40 percent humidity. ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: Heat Pump comments
    ... over the typical fan air movement noise. ... the working parts of a geothermal unit can be remoted from the house, ... supposed to fire up the furnace if the temperature error in the house ... I also forgot to add that I might feel better about the heat pump, ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: Air to Air Heat Exchange Ventilator?
    ... warm moist stale house air heats incoming cold dry fresh outdoor air. ... They may condense water from outgoing air, which helps transfer heat. ... own via the humidistat which was set around 40 percent humidity. ...
    (alt.home.repair)