Fan.Heat.Light.
June 6th, 2008
With the temperatures rising, my thoughts have turned to ceiling fans to to lower energy costs by (somewhat) reducing our dependence on central air. We particularly need a ceiling fan for our family/TV room, which although facing east and north, has six windows and quickly heats up in the morning. In winter this is also the coldest room in the house partly because of those same reasons.
So I was very excited when I read a little article in the Fine Homebuilding Annual Houses Issue about a ceiling fan by Reiker that also contains a heating element to warm the room in winter.
According the web site’s FAQs:
How advanced is the Reiker Room Conditioner? It is revolutionary. With its initial warm up all four heating elements are activated. Just prior to reaching your desired temperature one heating element shuts off. When the desired room temperature is reached only two heating elements are required. Once the room becomes “seasoned” power is reduced to one heating element.
How does the fan know when to turn heating elements on/off? The remote control and receiver work in conjunction with each other to automatically sense the ambient air temperature and adjust as needed.
The fans only come in 52″ or 54″ sizes, and the smaller fan is only available as a pull-chain (manual) unit with heat settings limited to high, medium and low. The 54″ model comes with the thermostat remote.
Based on the size of our room, we should use a ceiling fan with a diameter between 36″ and 42″. According to guidelines, installing a fan that is too big for the room could look awkward and overwhelm the space. For that reason I’m hesitant to order one, however I may go ahead with it and see how it looks. The blades look thinner and more streamlined, so maybe it will look fine.
Instead of paying several thousand dollars to reconfigure our hot water heating system, this would be a much cheaper alternative. And considering it looks as though our space heater has also conked out, it would kill two birds with one stone. (Please note that I would never intentionally kill birds — not even a pigeon or mourning dove, both of which I don’t particularly care for.)
4 Responses to “Fan.Heat.Light.”
Robin June 7th, 2008 at 12:46 am #
Well it sounds like a good idea. But I do want to point out that the fact that it’s electric will make it less efficient than your hot water heating. However, it will greatly reduce the stratification which will help you in the winter. And because it’s only one room I think it is a good solution. I’m not sure what size you would need so I’m no help there sorry.
It reminds me of a new product lunch we had with a company called Big Ass Fans. They use destratification as a big selling point: http://www.bigassfans.com/howitworks.php
Oh, and I also get the Fine Homebuilding Magazine! Just one more thing we have in common. : )
denise June 7th, 2008 at 9:50 am #
OMG, Big Ass Fans! That’s hysterical. I’d buy from them just based on that! It reminds me of a Chimney Sweep company I’ve seen called Ash Wipe.
Thanks for the advice; of course I’d rather have a properly-working hot water heating system, but I thought this might be a good solution since we’ve had to use a space heater in that room anyway!
Funny that we do seem to have a lot in common—if only I were 20-something too!
peter m June 22nd, 2008 at 11:26 pm #
Hey guys
I just joined here the other day. Very new. I’m an electrician in hyde park with a 80yr old condo…fixing up on the 20 yr plan…LOL
anyway, I would like to know if you ened up getting that heat/light fan unit, and if you have any feedback on it? I am always tring to expand my knowledge base.
thanks!
peter mc
denise June 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 am #
Hi peter m—welcome to houseblogs! We haven’t bought the fan yet, but I’m pretty sure we will be buying it—I’ll definitely post about it when we do. Good luck with your condo, and your 20 yr fix-up plan?! I hope you’re young and healthy!