Moving air...product like smoke to see where it's going?

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MagdalenaP

MagdalenaP

Burning Hunk
Nov 10, 2018
239
Tilbury, ON
Hey All!

Is there something in market that you can fill your house with, to see how the air is being circulated? Or any ideas how this can be done?

TIA :)
 
There are testing methods that put a big fan in a exit door and then track leaks. It's called a blower door test and is done by some insulation and energy saving retrofit companies. Sometimes the local utility also has this service.

But I am not sure this will accomplish what you are looking for. What would be the goal or results that you seek from having this testing done?
 
Thank you for the info. Trying to get the most heat into the living room and location of fans, so far pushing cold air towards the stove isn't working much.
 

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OK, that's a different issue, a blower door test is not going to tell you this. As noted in an earlier thread, the stove is not in the best location. Warming the living room in particular with will be hard due to the floorplan. The living room is isolated so it's hard to get a return air loop.

Have you tried a single box fan located here on the floor running on medium speed?
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Fog machine for entertainment, type it in and many come up.
 
I looked for economical ways to visualize the circulation in the house. Finally "broke down" and spent a couple bucks on some incense sticks. Was able to discover a lot of useful information. Air travels far faster, and air exchanges happen much quicker than I thought. A lot of times there is significant air flow, but cold from outside walls and other mixing reduces the chances of any warmth making it far. 90fpm velocities down halways and 3 minute total room air exchanges are hard to improve on here, but distance from the stove and exterior walls along the way means extended rooms still stay cool.
 
Can of smoke. Used for testing smoke detectors.
 
Rearscreen said:
Fog machine for entertainment, type it in and many come up.
Click to expand...
Kids will love that. Hire a band as long as you have already rented it.
 
Incense sticks . . . or try hanging some strips of toilet paper in the doorways around the house.
 
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Fog machine on Amazon, $50.
 
+1 on in incense sticks, works like a charm. Dont forget to check different heights. Floor vs ceiling
 
In the early stages of remodeling our attic and implementing better venting via soffit and ridge vents, we wanted to study air flow.
So we already had a yard fogger. (propane heated) like pictured.

I simply filled the canister with PURE mineral oil (instead of insecticide) and basically made my own "dry-ice machine". Filled the attic with fog and watched the flow pattern from outside.:) Then fogged the soffit vents from outside and watched the fog exit the ridge vent. Worked good.

Didn't notice any residue from the oil, but this was all done B4 any insulation was added, etc, so it didn't matter to us.

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