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Using an Ecofan the wrong way?


blackrose

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14 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

Too much theory.

Not enough fact.

 

The ultimate test on ecofans (other fans are available) is here at

Its all about moving the stagnant air which exists at head height when sitting (ON OUR BOTE) rather than the hot air near the roof and the returning cold air near the floor. Smelly and Peter are living in the distant past.


I see. Maybe if I had googled “ecofan test” instead of “ecofan thermodynamics” I would have found that thread first. Thanks very much for the link.

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9 minutes ago, storminnorman said:


I see. Maybe if I had googled “ecofan test” instead of “ecofan thermodynamics” I would have found that thread first. Thanks very much for the link.

You do know Dr Bob is a muppet don't you ?

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12 hours ago, storminnorman said:

The fan turns on and starts doing two things: 1) establishes a horizontal air current at waist height (where there normally wouldn't be)

I can't speak for all different ecofans, but for the one I had, this just isn't true.  I tested it.  When the fan was spinning at full speed on a very hot stove, I held a smoking ember in front of it.  All the windows and doors were closed and the air was perfectly still.  I even held my breath.  The smoke went straight up.  No horizontal current whatsoever.  This is all the evidence I need that they don't work. 

 

If someone on here is convinced they work.  Then try this too.  Film it and post the film on here.  If it works, then I might just change my mind and buy the same model of ecofan I see in the film.  Otherwise, I won't be wasting my money.

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On 27/11/2019 at 05:57, blackrose said:

 

Your oversimplified use of the second law of thermodynamics can't really be used to support your opinion. And that's all it is I'm afraid. Nobody is disputing that the energy used by the fan must come from somewhere and nobody is suggesting that energy is somehow created from nothing. Any losses in heat output from the stove to run the fan are minimal and in some cases the transformation into kinetic energy may result in those convection currents increasing and being more evenly distributed. So what we're talking about is converting a minimal amount of stove energy to kinetic energy to improve the efficiency of the system.

 

If your rationale was correct the second law of thermodynamics could be used to show that any efficiency improvements in any thermodynamic systems don't work without additional overall use of energy in the system - which of course isn't true.

 

 

That was 15 years ago. You can buy them on eBay for as low as £22 now.

Last week Aldi had them for £15.99

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20 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

I can't speak for all different ecofans, but for the one I had, this just isn't true.  I tested it.  When the fan was spinning at full speed on a very hot stove, I held a smoking ember in front of it.  All the windows and doors were closed and the air was perfectly still.  I even held my breath.  The smoke went straight up.  No horizontal current whatsoever.  This is all the evidence I need that they don't work. 

 

If someone on here is convinced they work.  Then try this too.  Film it and post the film on here.  If it works, then I might just change my mind and buy the same model of ecofan I see in the film.  Otherwise, I won't be wasting my money.

That is very interesting. Can you verify that the fan blades are spinning in a direction that would push air? If the thermocouple was installed upside down or the wiring on the motor swapped, then the fan might run in reverse. Similar to how people reverse ceiling fans in the winter. In that case you might not feel any wind in front of the fan.

 

If you’re not sure. Try the ember test behind the fan?

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3 hours ago, storminnorman said:

That is very interesting. Can you verify that the fan blades are spinning in a direction that would push air? If the thermocouple was installed upside down or the wiring on the motor swapped, then the fan might run in reverse. Similar to how people reverse ceiling fans in the winter. In that case you might not feel any wind in front of the fan.

 

If you’re not sure. Try the ember test behind the fan?

All fans are not the same. There's good ones, there's bad ones and there's chocolate teapot ones....... and there's ones where the motor goes wonky after 2 years!?

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3 hours ago, storminnorman said:

That is very interesting. Can you verify that the fan blades are spinning in a direction that would push air? If the thermocouple was installed upside down or the wiring on the motor swapped, then the fan might run in reverse. Similar to how people reverse ceiling fans in the winter. In that case you might not feel any wind in front of the fan.

 

If you’re not sure. Try the ember test behind the fan?

They were on the right way.  To be fair it was a cheap Aldi one.  I enjoyed watching it spin round for a few weeks.  Then it started falling apart.

 

If the blades were spinning the wrong way, then there would have been some visible pull of smoke towards the fan.  There was nothing.

 

I know there's another thread where experiments were done to 'prove' they work, but until I see a video of it actually happening, I'm not wasting my money.

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On 23/12/2019 at 15:42, Steilsteven said:

 

They never explain what they actually mean by that.

 

It is most likely to be true if a) the boat is poorly insulated ( usually with spray foam which is next to useless )  

 

 Keith

What exactly do you mean by that ?

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9 hours ago, storminnorman said:

That is very interesting. Can you verify that the fan blades are spinning in a direction that would push air? If the thermocouple was installed upside down or the wiring on the motor swapped, then the fan might run in reverse. Similar to how people reverse ceiling fans in the winter. In that case you might not feel any wind in front of the fan.

 

If you’re not sure. Try the ember test behind the fan?

Any fan powerful enough to create a draught you can feel would have to have a guard to prevent injury to little fingers.  Eco fans never have guards which must tell you something..............

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9 hours ago, Chewbacka said:

Any fan powerful enough to create a draught you can feel would have to have a guard to prevent injury to little fingers.  Eco fans never have guards which must tell you something..............

Well my goldie was told something when she got her tail caught in an eco fan, she certainly now thinks they should have guards.

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On 14/02/2020 at 15:30, Chewbacka said:

Any fan powerful enough to create a draught you can feel would have to have a guard to prevent injury to little fingers.  Eco fans never have guards which must tell you something..............

These cause quite a draught with no guard

Capture.JPG

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