HD thru the wall fan, possible to hardwire to dimmer switch? Has anyone done that?

[millhouselives]

I am thinking of buying this from Home Depot: (broken link removed).

I know a couple of people here have purchased it and installed, but I am wondering if anyone has hardwired to a dimmer type switch so that the fan speed can be adjusted other then just the choice of high or low switch on the fan.

It would be real nice to have a thru the wall fan with thermostat control so fan would turn itself on and off as needed.

thanks for any help.

 

[millhouselives]

Lots of views, cannot believe no one has tried this?

 

[DiggerJim]

Shouldn't be a big deal. But I'd go with a fan speed control like the ones used for ceiling fans - they're designed with higher amp allowances. Also, some lighting dimmers are designed with electronic circuitry that just diverts the extra juice into the switch itself which will cause it to warm up (potentially even getting hot...fire hazard potential) with a higher current fan motor. You need to know the amperage of the motor and the rating of the switch -- better off just grabbing a fan speed control as it's much easier for someone not familiar with the issues of motor speed control.

 

[Rainman855]

Millhouselives,

I have been one of those "anonymous" readers in this forum for a while now as I am truly a newbie to this pellet stove thing - think it's great. When I saw your post, well, it was time to sign up.


I installed an ESW Timber Ridge PS in in the finished side of my half-finished my basement. I wanted to control the heat to the unfinishsed side so I installed a dimmer switch with a line voltage cooling thermostat to a fan I scavenged from an old dehumidifier. This way, when I set the thermostat to 80 degrees - the basement is now warm - the thermostat tries to cool the finished side in effect, heating the unfinished side. The dimmer controls the fan speed so if I want to really heat up the unfinished side, I leave the dimmer switch on "high." You get the idea. Good luck!

 

[millhouselives]

thanks Digger Jim and Rainman

Now I have some great options to look at!

 

[seige101]

As an electrician i just installed something very similar in a customers home, and forgot to tell you guys about them!

They heated with a wood stove in the basement and had these put on either side of the top of the stairway so the door could stay closed and heat still travel up stairs. The units they had though had integrated speed switches.

In your case get a speed controll switch like for a ceiling fan, and look into a line voltage thermostat. then you will have the best of both worlds!

 

[millhouselives]

The room I want to push a little warm air into is as far away as you can get from the stove, but the wall separating that room and where the pellet is located is common to both areas. Plus the wall is where our staircase heads up to the second floor so hot air is already travling up this staircase and I am going to place fan close to ceiling where it should steal a little of this warn air as it heads upstairs, so I don't think I will need return.

I want to hardwire the fan into an exiting switch that is used to turn on and off the light at top of stairs, there are two switches one at top of stairs and one at bottom, both control light, can I just tap into the one of bottom to get juice to the fan motor and then use fan on and off switch without affecting if light is on or off in hallway?

Here is another fan I found, same as other one in this thread but this one has a "variable speed control" built in to it!

(broken link removed to http://www.smarthome.com/30311/Thru-Wall-Room-to-Room-Fan/p.aspx)

 

[DiggerJim]

The room I want to push a little warm air into is as far away as you can get from the stove, but the wall separating that room and where the pellet is located is common to both areas. Plus the wall is where our staircase heads up to the second floor so hot air is already travling up this staircase and I am going to place fan close to ceiling where it should steal a little of this warn air as it heads upstairs, so I don't think I will need return.

I want to hardwire the fan into an exiting switch that is used to turn on and off the light at top of stairs, there are two switches one at top of stairs and one at bottom, both control light, can I just tap into the one of bottom to get juice to the fan motor and then use fan on and off switch without affecting if light is on or off in hallway?

Here is another fan I found, same as other one in this thread but this one has a "variable speed control" built in to it!

(broken link removed to http://www.smarthome.com/30311/Thru-Wall-Room-to-Room-Fan/p.aspx)

That's exactly the layout I'm dealing with. I've ordered the HD one and will put it in about 7 1/2 feet up from the floor to pull warm air out of the living room where the stove is and into my bedroom. If it works, I'll add a thermostat (line voltage) to turn it on/off when I want it to run. The other one you linked to (TW208P) is made by the same company (Suncourt) as the HD one. It's just got variable speed vs. 2 speed, a rotating grill and is hard-wired into your home's wiring - it's not a corded plug like the one HD sells (TW108).

You may be able to draw power off the 3-way switch you've got at the base of the stairs...or maybe not. It depends on which switch was the master vs. slave switch. If you're unlucky, it will only work when the switch on the top of the stairs is "on" (even if the one on the bottom of the stairs is "off"). You're better off grabbing power from a nearby outlet. BTW, you can also get a thermostatically controlled outlet that you plug into the wall and then plug the fan into the thermostat outlet box.

 

[millhouselives]

Digger Jim

Is there a way to tell which switch is master vs. slave by looking at the wiring of each switch? You idea about switch box is good but in my case the nearest one is on adjoining outside wall so would have to snake thru corner and insulation, etc. to get to it. Although now that I think more about it may be able to get to it from basement.

This is beginning to sound like a job that needs to be done when my wife is out shopping, she gets kind of nervous when I start pulling out saws, hammers, electrical cord, etc.

 

[DiggerJim]

Digger Jim

Is there a way to tell which switch is master vs. slave by looking at the wiring of each switch? You idea about switch box is good but in my case the nearest one is on adjoining outside wall so would have to snake thru corner and insulation, etc. to get to it. Although now that I think more about it may be able to get to it from basement.

This is beginning to sound like a job that needs to be done when my wife is out shopping, she gets kind of nervous when I start pulling out saws, hammers, electrical cord, etc.

There are bunches of ways to wire 3-ways. If you've got the easy kind it's power (hot) to one switch, travelers to the 2nd switch and then on to the light. In that case the "master" or the one you can tap for always-on power will have 2 black wires on one side of the switch (one from the power feed - common - and one to the next switch) and a red wire on the other side. The feeds to the other switch are on the bottom of the switch -- the black one on the bottom and a red one on the opposite side also on the bottom. The black & red wires (along with the white that's not attached to the switch) go on to feed the light --- the black & red go to the other switch, the white goes to the light. The "slave" switch has a black wire going into the TOP of the switch on the side with only one screw - that's the black one from the other switch. It has a red wire going into the TOP of the switch on the side with 2 screws and a black wire on the bottom that goes off to the light.

So if the red wire is all by itself on one side of the switch (usually the right side), you're in luck. You can take the black wire going into the TOP of the other switch and pigtail off to get the power you need for the fan (you pigtail off the white for the other line). The wires going into the master 3-way are usually in a 2 wire (plus ground) sheath and the wires going to the next switch are in a 3-wire (plus ground) sheath with the wires going to the light in a 2-wire sheath.

It can get way more complicated -- using 3 wire (blk/red/wht) for 2 separate circuits instead of travelers between switches, switches at the end (vs. the light at the end), etc. but I'd expect you should have the simple layout I described.

 

[millhouselives]

Thanks a lot for you post, I should be able to tell from the info you gave me. I have done some wiring in the past when I built my house but that was a long time ago. So I can do it and I always always turn off juice at main panel. I have been bit once or twice in the past by being to lazy and not doing that but no more!

 

[millhouselives]

One more option to move air from room to room

http://www.iaqsource.com/product.php?p=tjernlund_as1&product=171095&category=885

 

[DiggerJim]

One more option to move air from room to room

http://www.iaqsource.com/product.php?p=tjernlund_as1&product=171095&category=885

That's outstanding. The problem with the other one is that although I'm pulling the warm air from up where it's warmer, I'm also dumping it into the bedroom up high - should be pulling it in up high and dropping it out down low. Was toying with ideas using some muffin fans, etc. but they look ugly so I went with the HD (Suncor) fan instead.

I think I'll grab one of these too and put it in instead - and at 1 sone it'll be a lot quieter too.

 

[Wet1]

One more option to move air from room to room

http://www.iaqsource.com/product.php?p=tjernlund_as1&product=171095&category=885

That's a pretty neat fan setup, I had never thought of doing it that way. Too bad it doesn't move a little more air, 75 cfm isn't all that much.


BTW... Regarding your power issue with the 3 way switch. Since there are multiple ways your switch could be wired, just pull the switch out and stick a meter on it and see if it has power when in both positions.

 

[DiggerJim]

That's a pretty neat fan setup, I had never thought of doing it that way. Too bad it doesn't move a little more air, 75 cfm isn't all that much.

A stud cavity is nothing more than a big duct - sometimes used for air returns in FHA systems in the old days (maybe still do for all I know) so it's not a big leap to be able to do this. I'd prefer a DC motor so I could run it backward and have the fan in the cold room vs. in the living room (grill is larger for the fan than the distribution vent) but then I'm back to cobbling fans etc together. I thought 75cfm was pretty low too but it's got a 1 sone rating in part due to the small volume and it should still fully exchange the air in my bedroom in 1/2 an hour - so not too bad. Something higher might result in drafts. I'm going to put one of these into my bedroom and the larger unit from Suncor (HD) in my son's room and see what the relative performance is.

 

[Wet1]

Sounds good, please let us know how everything works out.

 

[smoke show]

Sounds good, please let us know how everything works out.

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