Need a ceiling fan...but can't put one in! What to do?

GrantC · Dec 10, 2008

Our house, built in the 1920s, has VERY low ceilings - 7 feet, one inch. Luckily, my wife and I are both on the short side!

We have a noticed a pretty strong temperature stratification in the main room where the woodstove is located. A ceiling fan would solve the problem, but with such low ceilings even the lowest-profile model Lowe's carries puts the blades dangerously close to my taller friend's heads. That's not an option.

Anyone have a creative solution to this air mixing problem?

pen · Dec 10, 2008

Even a pedestal fan on the floor facing up towards the ceiling running might make a difference. You probably have one of these around already so it wouldn't be of any cost to experiment with it.

pen

webbie · Dec 10, 2008

Something like this Tjerlund product would do the job - built into the wall.
http://www.tjernlund.com/Retail/aireshare.htm

Redox · Dec 10, 2008

Any fan pointed at the ceiling will help. Ceiling fans are big and efficient, but not the solution for everyone. We also have low ceilings and I have never gotten around to putting in fans, except in the kitchen. Gravity, as well as the occasional use of the furnace fan seems to work for us. You might try one of the high velocity fans that allows you to swivel the fan up to the ceiling.

http://www.lakewoodeng.com/html/list_hv.html

We have the 18 inch one and it is very quiet and efficient on low speed and pivots 360 degrees. It puts those little box fans to shame when it comes to air delivery.

Chris

GrantC · Dec 10, 2008

I would not have thought of a fan aimed at the ceiling...my assumption was that the hot air needed to be blown downward!

(We'll definitely give one of those a shot, but my over-the-shoulder-reading wife says she'd like a permanent solution that was a bit more aesthetically pleasing.)

edthedawg · Dec 10, 2008

how 'bout a fan on an angled mount, up high in a corner? maybe a couple of them? doubt your tall friends would whack into it in a corner (says the 6'4" guy...)

begreen · Dec 10, 2008

Put a table or box fan on the floor in a cooler section of the house and have it blow cool air towards the stove. That will get air circulation going and will even out temps throughout the house.

mtarbert · Dec 10, 2008

I use hassock fans for ait circulation and IMHO they are better than celing fans. Totally portable and only 30 dollars.
Mike

Adios Pantalones · Dec 10, 2008

I'd hire Egyptians. Prefferably lady Egyptians.

awoodman · Dec 10, 2008

Box in a space for the motor part of the fan and recess the celing fan up into the celing .

doghouse · Dec 10, 2008

Grant, you did not mention if your home is single or two storey. If two storey, I might have a solution.

Stevebass4 · Dec 10, 2008

what not a flush mount ceiling fan? i have those and i don't hit my head

beau5278 · Dec 10, 2008

GrantC said:
I would not have thought of a fan aimed at the ceiling...my assumption was that the hot air needed to be blown downward!

(We'll definitely give one of those a shot, but my over-the-shoulder-reading wife says she'd like a permanent solution that was a bit more aesthetically pleasing.)

If your ceilings are low,you shouldn't have to worry about forcing the air down.My Dad used to use a small fan,4in square,that mounted in the corner of a doorway.I have a pretty big box fan that I set behind the stove,I also have ceiling fans,this place has 10ft ceilings but I usually only run the ceiling fan that's in the same room as the upstairs stove,that ceiling is 15ft.Something that you need to think of on these older houses,most are very poorly insulated,I can heat this place to70+ most any day in the winter,if the wind isn't blowing but on a windy day,the heat just disappears when it gets to the parts that aren't properly insulated.

EddyKilowatt · Dec 10, 2008

My stove sits on the hearth in front of the fireplace, and I have a small table fan (12-14" dia) sitting at the back of the fireplace, set on 'low' and aimed slightly up at the back of the stove and flue collar. I was just looking to get a little more heat off the stove, but I've been surprised how much even this little bit of air movement breaks up the stratification and spreads the heat around the room (and even helps with adjacent rooms).

Eddy

ScottF · Dec 10, 2008

How about adding a huge one with a cage like this. That should break up the air stratification and the cage will stop the blades from slicing anyones head open. As a bonus it looks great!! Go big or dont go at all.

GrantC · Dec 11, 2008

Apparently I didn't explain it clearly enough....the problem isn't temps in other rooms (they're quite comfy), or the overall temperature, or drafts/poor insulation (we're very well insulated.)

The problem is that the air in the room with the stove stratifies, so that when my feet are at a comfy 75 degrees the air I'm breathing feels like a blast furnace. I need the air in this room mixed so that it is more comfortable - so that all of it is the same temperature, which hopefully will make all of me the same temperature.

The idea of building a box to recess the motor is an interesting idea. How close to the ceiling can the blades be and still move air effectively?

(BTW, for ScottF: if I put something like that in the house my wife would have ME in a cage!)

edthedawg · Dec 11, 2008

GrantC said:
I need the air in this room mixed

Tellin' ya - wall-mount a simple oscillating desktop-type 12"-15" dia fan (or two) up high in the corners of the room. Position them high, aim them toward a point about waist-high in the middle of the room. you'll get the air moving, and that's all you need.

GrantC · Dec 13, 2008

Well, I dug out a 12" oscillating desk fan, the kind that sits on a 6" pedestal. I have one of those multi-piece office workspace things, one piece of which is a corner computer desk with shelves over a monitor shelf. Put on top of that, the fan comes within 4" of the ceiling - just enough room to tilt it up slightly so that we're not getting any direct breeze from the fan. (It kind of "skims" along the ceiling.) On "low", the fan was able to keep most of the room (roughly 15' x 18') very even in temperature, except (naturally) the area just around the stove. In fact, I wish it had a lower speed setting!

(I must say that I'm continually amazed at what a small fan, strategically placed, can do. When we first got this place we had trouble getting heat to the back bedroom. We tried big fans to blow the hot air down the hall and into the room, but - as you all probably know - that didn't work at all. We put a tiny little 8" desk fan on the floor, blowing toward the room with the stove, and temperatures in that bedroom climbed. We can now get it warm enough back there that it's hard to sleep!)

Thanks for the suggestions!

SlyFerret · Dec 13, 2008

Is there any chance that you can find some shorter friends?

-SF

begreen · Dec 13, 2008

GrantC said:
(I must say that I'm continually amazed at what a small fan, strategically placed, can do. When we first got this place we had trouble getting heat to the back bedroom. We tried big fans to blow the hot air down the hall and into the room, but - as you all probably know - that didn't work at all. We put a tiny little 8" desk fan on the floor, blowing toward the room with the stove, and temperatures in that bedroom climbed. We can now get it warm enough back there that it's hard to sleep!)

Thanks for the suggestions!

There ya go, and it didn't cost a cent.

(However, I still like Adios's idea, but I'm not sure if nubile Nubians could be persuaded to circulate this far north.)

Need a ceiling fan...but can't put one in! What to do?

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