Eco Fans - For or Against

[DHutch]

If you want an interesting mechanical ornament and conversation piece for £140, an ecofan may be ideal. If you want to experiment with moving warm air, I would suggest trying a 4" computer fan for about £4 might yield better results

You can get an eco fan for a bit less, and having seen the kontax sterling engine fan i quite like that for the £160 mark. But yes, otherwise i would totally agree.

 

It's interesting that all these posts condemn the use of Ecofans, yet the voting shows over twice say yes than no to whether they are worth having.

They cant do nothing, but i do think that having recently lost £100 over it baises most fan owners!

 

 

Daniel

[Roger Gunkel]

Cling film is a cheap way to do it!

I didn't try cling film as I couldn't see how to stop it sagging but still maintain an air gap. The double glazing film that you fix with double sided sticky tape on the frames, cost me about £10 to cover eight 42"x21" windows and it goes as taught as a drum when applied properly. It was very effective for two winters before we used the acrylic as a permanent reusable solution. The total for the acrylic and magnetic tape was about £225 and has saved us about a bag of coal every ten days. As we are 24/7 liveaboards, it has already paid for itself, although the difference in comfort alone is well worth the cost.

 

I know I keep banging on about double glazing boat windows, but I think that those that have done it would agree that it is well worth it.

 

Roger

[MtB]

I didn't try cling film as I couldn't see how to stop it sagging but still maintain an air gap. The double glazing film that you fix with double sided sticky tape on the frames, cost me about £10 to cover eight 42"x21" windows and it goes as taught as a drum when applied properly. It was very effective for two winters before we used the acrylic as a permanent reusable solution. The total for the acrylic and magnetic tape was about £225 and has saved us about a bag of coal every ten days. As we are 24/7 liveaboards, it has already paid for itself, although the difference in comfort alone is well worth the cost.

 

I know I keep banging on about double glazing boat windows, but I think that those that have done it would agree that it is well worth it.

 

Roger

 

 

I've never had a boat with windows (always portholes) which may be why I find the ecofan makes a small but significant improvement to the confort levels in my boat.

 

I don't think I'm kidding myself, although anyone spending £100 is bound to 'need' it to work on some psycholocical level or another. A bit like those electronic water conditioners that claim to stop water scale. Users swear they make a difference to water quality but I am constantly attending scaled up boilers when the customers have these things fitted.

[mrsmelly]

Now four times as many in favour as against!

 

yep just reinforces my post. Lots of people having paid for an item even when they no it is crap will simply not admit it. Ask most people with a sea otter, a pile of crap but will they admit it. Not on your nelly apart from one guy I met last year who was desperatly trying to sell his, he said they were crap for the money but not many would admit it.

[Iain_S]

yep just reinforces my post. Lots of people having paid for an item even when they no it is crap will simply not admit it. Ask most people with a sea otter, a pile of crap but will they admit it. Not on your nelly apart from one guy I met last year who was desperatly trying to sell his, he said they were crap for the money but not many would admit it.

 

Well, we bought our Sea Otter second hand 12 years ago, and so far it's the only boat we've found (with narrowboat levels of comfort) which is capable of "cruising" between Edinburgh and the southern canal network without involving cranes and low-loaders. (Probably wouldn't have paid the list price, though)

 

Iain

[Smelly]

is not scientific.

 

 

 

With a big enough sample it becomes very "scientific"

 

People's subjective experiences will vary widely and those who've inherited a bit of perceived snake oil will offset those who've cured cancer with the same...

[JDR]

If I hold a small £3 battery powered fan in front of my face I can feel a strong blast of air. The same for a PC fan.If I pick up a 3 blade Eco-fan that is spinning flat out on a hot stove and hold it in front of my face I can barely detect any air movement. The amount of air moved by a fan must be measurable in objective quantifiable terms ie: volume of air moved in cubic metres/time. To get a measure of how much air is being moved I suspect you would need specialist kit- an indoor anemometer? I bought an Eco fan a couple of years ago and rate it as a pretty ornament/stove monitor and no more. Twelve sacks of coal or Roger's idea of investing in double glazing seems a much better use of money. Having said I still don't get bored of staring at the Eco fan as it begins to move.

[jelunga]

I didn't try cling film as I couldn't see how to stop it sagging but still maintain an air gap. The double glazing film that you fix with double sided sticky tape on the frames, cost me about £10 to cover eight 42"x21" windows and it goes as taught as a drum when applied properly. It was very effective for two winters before we used the acrylic as a permanent reusable solution. The total for the acrylic and magnetic tape was about £225 and has saved us about a bag of coal every ten days. As we are 24/7 liveaboards, it has already paid for itself, although the difference in comfort alone is well worth the cost.

 

I know I keep banging on about double glazing boat windows, but I think that those that have done it would agree that it is well worth it.

 

Roger

Roger,

You may have been asked befjre but any suggestions for our round portholes, brass?

[Tim F]

I have spent many an hour sat near my eco fan merrily working away through a packet of rolling tobacco and watching where the smoke goes,not bloody far.

[cereal tiller]

Roger,

You may have been asked befjre but any suggestions for our round portholes, brass?

Have portholes on our boat.

they have fabric "plugs"for summer use.

 

During winter months we have a set of plugs which are made of a 50mm thick material which looks like polystyrene,but is not brittle.

 

The difference in temperature is remarkable when the foam plugs are used,and they do allow a lot of light into the boat when covered in thin fabric.

 

 

The foam stuff is used for packing,it is obviously closed cell as it will not absorb water ,not sure where it could purchased from,the small sheets i made the plugs from came from a shop that sold SPA baths,i retrieved it from their bin!

[avonside1563]

You can get an eco fan for a bit less, and having seen the kontax sterling engine fan i quite like that for the £160 mark. But yes, otherwise i would totally agree.

Daniel

 

I was given a Kontax sterling engine fan recently and find it makes a small but useful difference to the heat distribution. But I would say the impact of the noise when it's running can be a problem. They are quiet but not silent, unlike the ecofan, and at times it can be a little intrusive as the stove itself acts like a soundbox to amplify the noise from the pistons. Would have rather had an ecofan but hey, beggars can't be choosers!

[Roger Gunkel]

Roger,

You may have been asked befjre but any suggestions for our round portholes, brass?

Sorry for delay, just read your post I have no real experience with portholes, although I do have one in the bathroom which is usually left open to remove moisture and circulate air. I haven't DGd it as it's a tiny percentage of our glass area

 

There is no reason why you couldn't cut a circle of acrylic to cover the porthole but still let full light through and you could easily make it removable. Or the suggestion above would be very easy, making a plug out of insulating material. Of course the heat loss through portholes would be far less than with my caravan sized windows, but the other advantage of insulating or double glazing portholes is it removes another point for moisture to condense on.

 

Roger

Edited January 16, 2012 by Roger Gunkel

[matty40s]

Sorry for delay, just read your post I have no real experience with portholes, although I do have one in the bathroom which is usually left open to remove moisture and circulate air. Ihaven't DGd it as it a tiny percentage of our glass area

 

There is no reason why you couldn't cut a circle of acrylic to cover the porthole but still let full light through and you could easily make it removable. Or the suggestion above would be very easy, making a plug out of insulating material. Of course the heat loss through portholes would be far less than with my caravan sized windows, but the other advantage of insulating or double glazing portholes is it removes another point for moisture to condense on.

Roger

I have 6 porthole inserts, wooden, with brass knobs to pull out. They are lined with a rubber outside seal, so don't get stuck. At this time of year with low temperatures, I stick them in as soon as the sun goes down.

I would think it would be pretty simple to fabricate an acrylic equivelant, for constant use, or even bubblewrap glued to a plastic sheet.

However, I like to look out of my portholes when it is light, winter and summer,so havn't bothered.

Edited January 16, 2012 by matty40s

[Starcoaster]

As of yesterday, I am currently in possession of Mike the Boilerman's ecofan...

As a new ecofan user, and one who hasn't spent anything on it and ergo has nothing to lose in admitting it doesn't work if it doesn't, I will give it a week and then post my conclusion!