Perm fishhouse computer fan??s

[boXCar JiggY]

Those that use computer fans to circulate air an push it own to floor level what size fan do you use? I have two sizes, the standard 2.5 inch that I think is most populatr an the 4.5 inch which is much more powerful. have contemplated using the larger but am afraid that its powerful push will cool the air as its circulating, the littel ones seem like they might do the trick, hate to install an find out differently,alos should one install from the ceiling or from directley over the wall mounted heater. Any ideas an pics of your fan set up would be greatly appreciated thanks.

[aanderud]

You can move the same volume of air with the larger fan at lower RPMs, so it should be both quieter and less "windy" feeling directly in front of (or below) the fan.

[Ferny]

We use the ones that are about 3.1"? I think they are really 80mm. They are 24VDC but we run them on 12VDC super quiet just what we had laying around at work. It's interesting to note the current ratings are all over the place for these small cheap fans! Always go for the less current (amps) so it doesn't drain your battery as fast. Every little bit helps. Trade off is you don't move as much air as full voltage. We made dual ball joint mounts so we can adjust the angle. Depending on wind some holes freeze up and others don't. It makes a huge difference in keeping a more even temp and keeps the floor dry.

Good Luck,

Ferny

[Chad Holst]

I used an accordian style tubing from a clothes dryer. Put the fan inside the tube and run it down a wall. When not in use it folds up to a small package. Works amazing. 1/5 the energy to make it twice as warm! There is a u tube video of a guy using it. Plus no worry about it blowing air at you... It can be ran extremely low and is still effective. We ran it with the fan at the top blowing down the tube at the floor.

This worked the best.

[boXCar JiggY]

ok thanks, but how do yu lower rpms/

[boXCar JiggY]

I really like the dryer tub idea, been thinking of trying that, how do you mount it to the ceiling, long screw so it drops a few inches, howed ou a afix them? thanks.

[Gus]

I used a pair of 120mm fans sold as ultra quiet. They seem to work ok. I tend to think they could blow a little harder actually, but they don't make a peep. It's enough to move some air, but you really don't feel the breeze at all. Which might be good... These are the only ones I've had so I guess I don't know if others are better or worse.

When researching computer fans, most say the bigger the quieter because they don't have to spin as fast to move the same amount of air.

[Chad Holst]

Box car jiggy,

I dont have the wheel house built yet, so im going off using this method in a 6 man 6 foot 6 inch high clam pop up hub. However the method the guy uses in the u tube video is the same.

We took tubing that would extend from the middle of the ceiling, across to the pole on one wall then down that pole to the floor. It bunches up to about 1 1/2 feet long when not in use. We attached the male end of a clip to the hose/tube about every 1 foot and then the female end we attached to the poles on the house. We used black zip ties. We would "pop up" the house, pull out the duffle bag with the tube and clip it in. All set!

After experimenting on several set ups, it turned out that having the fan on the ceiling end, pulling air in and pushing it down the tube worked the best. However, we ended up having to put the fan at the bottom and pulled the air down the tube, simply because of the weight of the vexlar battery we used to run the fan. It was too heavy to mount at the middle of the ceiling.

In a permentant house i plan on running 2 of these, one on each side/end of the house. Im going to toung and groove the walls, so we will just box out a small box down 2 walls...maybe 4 inches square. Then run the hose inside that..so you wont see the hose and it will hide the wires. Put the fan at the top and then put a grate/vent accross the openings at the top and bottom. (a mini forced air circulator for the cost of 7 feet of tube and a $20.00 fan and some wire.

As far as the "regulating the speed" question. We played around with this ALOT. I forget the name of the type of "switch" you need..i think its called a potentiometer..or something close to that. Go to radio shack and ask the guy with the thickest glasses, he will know. its a turn knob. which would work good to just mount as a wall switch. they are made to have a standard light knob fit on them. We marked ours based on how long we were going to fish. on XX setting, we could run the fan for 8 hours before the battery would die, on XX setting we could run it for 24 hours and on XX it would last 48 run hours. In a house you obviously wouldnt have to worry about this as much, since your probably powering things of a bigger battery than a small flasher battery.

[boXCar JiggY]

Yeah I think your right, rheostat or potentiometer. The thing is how would one wire two fans to inline potentiometer?

[Chad Holst]

Thats a 3 step proccess.

step one: Find a radio shack.

Step two: Purchase fans and potentiometer from Radio shack.

Step three: find the guy with the thickest glasses at Radio shack and watch him wire it.

The key to this working properly is to have NOTHING to do with actually picking out or wiring the unit. If at all possible, i would try and bribe a friend that wants to fish in your shack to actually be the one going to the Radio shack....OK, maybe thats a bad idea...but you get the picture.

[Whoaru99]

A better way to run the fans would be with a PWM control but that might cost $10 instead of $3.

[Chad Holst]

do tell. pmw?

[JakeJ_Mn]

I use the O2 Cool fans with the magnetic base. I screwed the bases in a couple places near the ceiling. The fans set up there nicely, and have 2 speeds. Not near as quiet, but after a few minutes you don't know they are there. Plugs in the a 12v outlet and I take them down when traveling.

[TyGuy02]

I have seen 12 volt ceiling fans on the market now too. Something to think about if the house is big enough

[ZachD]

12v fork lift fans are good as well