Create an Airflow into an Apartment

• 

  bobbified on 12/01/2017 - 23:00

  I have the same issue in the apartment I live in. The air doesn't flow through the apartment when I open all the windows.

  If you don't mind your neighbours, open the windows and your keep your main entrance door open for a few hours (while you're in the apartment). It'll create an airflow (if there is any wind outside) through door and out the window or vice versa.

  I've also tried letting the aircon go at full blast for an hour or two while the window that's furthest from the aircon is open. That seems to help a lot. But not as much as opening the main door.

  I'd like to know if anyone has any better ideas too.

  • 

    msmhw on 12/01/2017 - 23:44

    +1

    My neighbor a bit hard to deal with :(
    last time I left our door open and the fire door open (front of our apartment). he recorded everything in video and telling me I shouldn't do that as someone may come to our floor from outside. And if I do it gain he will report me to the building manger. I tried to explain, its just for few hours to let the air moves around our apartment but no point.

    I am thinking to buy one of these industrial fans but not sure if this going to help. still looking around for an idea.

• 

  kurokage on 12/01/2017 - 23:07

  +1

  Does your kitchen have an exhaust hood, or does your bathroom have an exhaust fan? You could use those to create airflow into the apartment with an open window.

  • 

    msmhw on 12/01/2017 - 23:46

    yes, both have an exhaust but not that powerful, does it help if I leave them on?

    • 

      kurokage on 13/01/2017 - 00:20

      +3

      Yes, give it a go. Turn on one or both of the exhaust fans, then open the window. When the window is just barely open, you should feel the air flowing into the room or maybe even a whistling sound. That should tell you, you have airflow. Also, if your exhaust fans is particularly powerful, the window will be harder to open when the fan is on.

      As another person mentioned, its all about inlet and outlet. The exhaust is acting as the outlet flow, and by opening the window, you're creating the inlet.

      • 

        FirstNameLastName on 13/01/2017 - 10:16

        +1

        assuming they exhaust to the outside.. which they should i hope!

• 

  holdenmg on 12/01/2017 - 23:33

  Hi,

  Are you on the Top Floor (or are there Floors above you)?

  Given that hot air rises, is a combined skylight vent something you could look at?

  • 

    msmhw on 12/01/2017 - 23:47

    no, we are in the middle, I think there are ~10 floors above us.

• 

  cuteseal on 12/01/2017 - 23:50

  +4

  Airflow needs an inlet and an outlet. I suggest opening the windows in both rooms, and have the fan in one room blowing inwards and one fan in the other room blowing outwards. Hopefully that will get the air circulating.

  Evaporative cooling works on the same principle - it sucks on air from the roof and you open a window at the other end of the house so that air can flow through.

• 

  bluesky on 13/01/2017 - 01:27

  This will work if you run it a while after the outside temperature has cooled.

  According to your floor plan:

  • Open windows and door.
  • Put a floor-standing fan at the door, facing out (so as to blow out).
  • Tape cardboards to seal as much the top, and bottom of the fan. Ideally, seal even the left and right, or as much as possible, to minimise the opening. The aim is to create a low-pressure area, so that the outside air will be sucked in from the windows into the apartment, when the fan is on.
  • To improve performance, tilt the fan a little towards the opening on the cardboard, to be flush with the cardboard - to make a better seal.

  If you can create the cardboards so that it is easily installed and removed, after a running the fan for a while, that would be ideal.

  Hey OzBers enterpreneurs out there, this will be a great product, if you can devise something cheaply … :-). Have tested and using the crude cardboard version. It is very effective, and more cost-saving than running the air-cond, especially when outside temperature has cooled down.

• 

  Toons on 13/01/2017 - 02:12

  +4

  haven't looked at your layout but something i can add as i've done a lot of this over the years

  we use a similar process to this in hazardous areas on some of the assets we have and can actually be quite cool considering the external temperatures although designed for a different purpose it killed two birds with one stone

  the biggest problems you face are volume and the need to remove the heat from the highest point so if you look at your typical room the space above every door creates a pocket.

  bluesky is almost right but instead of creating a low pressure area (vacuum) you actually need to do the opposite (Think Balloon) and instead of blowing air out out you need to draw or force the cooler air in. Bouncy castles work on a similar principle

  what we use is an 300mm inline fan placed as close to the cooler or fresh breeze as possible and run 300mm ducting to the lowest entry point you can in your apartment then utilise a much smaller 100 - 150 max duct to use as your exhaust doesn't need to be powered the positive pressure your introducing will force the warmer air out (path of least resistance). I would close your bathroom doors if the exhaust fans just go into the roof space if they are smaller ducted fans great it may help create the back pressure you need. your not trying to make the house explode so were not talking large increase in pressure

  what your trying to do is force the maximum number of air changes per hour in the space

  if this makes sense i can draw you something up

  • 

    bluesky on 13/01/2017 - 02:25

    Yeah, nice idea.

  • 

    rayn7x on 13/01/2017 - 11:26

    I really want to try what you suggesting above but I dont fully understand how it works. would you kindly draw a simple one so I can follow?

    I am on the Top Floor and the heat is trapped inside the unit all day and night.

    I have balcony sliding door with fly screen, and it is so hot inside but very cool on the other side of the flyscreen. I place the fan try to suck some cool air in and it doesn't really help much.

    • 

      Toons on 13/01/2017 - 14:26

      +1

      sure i'll draw something up for you later on please remind me if i forget

      i have a similar issue with my place were on the top floor but it's also 2 story so although the whole place has A/C the heat from downstairs comes up through a large void and also the stairwell to combine with the heat already upstairs

      I had to design the system for our place as most installers / companies weren't sure how to deal with what was needed.

      i am quite a big fan of the simple things too we got full block out roller blinds the cheap 40$ ones from ikea will do the trick you can trim them down to fit neatly and stop all light from coming in more so for the hot days or while were out all day we have large west facing windows on our balcony. they were ideal because we don't want them blocked all the time we have normal non block out curtains that go over them all so it's like a double layer in summer when needed but fine on their own for most of the year.

• 

  Richardc on 13/01/2017 - 03:52

  Window height? get a table at window height and use 2 deck fan, 1 for intake and 1 for exhaust, plus 1 floor standing fan at the other end of the room to make air flowing in the room.
  Also get a thicker window blind to block out the sun during the day.

• 

  try2bhelpful on 13/01/2017 - 07:23

  +2

  We use reflective material over our windows to try to stop as much of the heat from getting into the house as we can. There is some concertina stuff you can get from Bunnings and we also use the windscreen covers that they use in cars. It is best if you can do it on the outside but it does work OK on the inside as well.

  The exhaust fans can work quite well, provided they exhaust into somewhere that is cooler.

  Do you have awnings over the windows in your place. The advantage of North facing is that awnings should minimise direct sun in summer, whilst allowing it in winter.

  We have also used heat shifters in the past, they do have the advantage that the hoses mean you can pump the air directly out of the house, but we found using a big fan worked better.

  http://www.productreview.com.au/p/kambrook-artic-hv.html

• 

  cannedhams on 13/01/2017 - 07:36

  +1

  Depending on how much effort you want to go to, I made an extractor fan by making a box out of 3-ply to fit the window, then cut out a hole for one of those industrial hopper fans and put it in the box facing out. I sealed the gap between the fan and ply with weatherseal tape and duct tape.

  Trouble is fitting it to the window without causing damage. I just propped it up against the window with sticks of dressed pine. I probably should have fitted strips of timber or metal so that it could have fitted into the window siding.

  Closed the other windows except for one on the other side of the house. It worked well, except there were bits of the house where the airflow wouldnt go and it was still pretty hot there.

  If I put the fan in the kitchen and then opened the windows in the bedrooms, Id get cool airflow into the bedrooms, which worked well at night.

• 

  altomic on 13/01/2017 - 09:31

  bikies

  • 

    AlienC on 13/01/2017 - 11:55

    aliens

• 

  FirstNameLastName on 13/01/2017 - 10:23

  you said you have aircon right?

  what if you set it to cool to whatever the outside temp. is, won't it just operate then as a dehimidifier and air exchanger, therfore using much less power? my portable air-con uses 1200watts, but i set it to 26degrees and most of the time it's only using 100watts.. dehumidifying/drawing air to the outside.. it's all i need for sleeptime.

  i don't know the answers to the questions i've asked.. i don't own genuine aircon.. but someone here will be able to say if this is the case.. and if not, perhaps you could use a power meter on it like the belkin conserve… to test results.

  perhaps sleep on the balcony? you may be high enough to avoid most mozzies?
  i'm joking.. kinda.. i have done this.

  • 

    inherentchoice on 13/01/2017 - 12:13

    +1

    A split-system aircon does not actually transfer any air from inside to outside or vice versa. The only connection from the inside unit to the outside unit are some wires and two metal pipes that contain a special refrigerant gas/liquid. It works like a fridge (as fridges do not move any air between the outside and inside). The special refrigerant gas flows in a circuit and passes through metal tubes that wind through a condensing coil outside, with fan blowing on the condensing coil.

    • 

      FirstNameLastName on 13/01/2017 - 12:25

      ahhh cheers.. i'm pretty embarrassed that i didn't actually know this.. even though it seems really obvious (ty for letting me off lightly :) . i guess op could still see good saving by setting it 24deg+ etc.

• 

  SnoozeAndLose on 13/01/2017 - 12:01

  You can create a negative pressure in your home with any exhaust fan/fan which stick with the window.
  Negative Pressure

  the problem on this is because the sun heated up the outside wall of your apartment and eventhorugh there are cold wind outside it get heat up by the wall as the heat release slowly, also everything in your home absorb heat to, carpet, hard wood flooring, cupboard even the water in a bottle.

  If you want to cool down your house you need to cool down everything too.

  • 

    Toons on 13/01/2017 - 14:05

    sorry love bargain

    Negative room pressure is an isolation technique used in hospitals and medical centres to prevent cross-contaminations from room to room.[1][2] It includes a ventilation system that generates negative pressure to allow air to flow into the isolation room but not escape from the room

    on the page you referenced it has the link to a positive pressure which is what is needed.

    with the positive pressure scenario the the key is the principals we know

    hot air rises
    by introducing cooler airflow in this case the fresh breeze spoken about at the low point of the room we continue to push the warmer air upwards
    by restricting the air being expelled and providing a small outlet at the highest point in the room preferably opposite side of the room to get a good cross flow you only need to push the air in from the fresh source if you have shut all other doors windows the path of least resistance will expel the warm air which if were working to this model is the small outlet

    if we work with a simple box air input bottom corner of the facing side to you and the exhaust on the highest point furthest from that.

    Trytobehelpful, mentioned putting reflective materials up in the windows which as long as your not blinding one of your neighbours is a good idea depending on your wallet with solar power becoming more prevalent you can buy panels that generate power i know someone who has them set up in the rear side windows of his 4WD when he goes camping