Disturbing Fans--Funny story

[Kevinpreston3]

I always loved desktop fans. But as a kid, fans hidden in walls kind of scared me. Especially noisy ones that automatically came on with the light switch in an unfamiliar bathroom...

There was one kind of fan that really bothered me though, and it's a specific type of "whole house fan".

When I was a kid, I had a friend and we would sometimes play in his house. His tract was different than ours, and the houses were unfamiliar. One time when his mom was busy, he said he wanted to show me something he was not supposed to. He said look up the staircase at the ceiling.

There was a panel there with lines in it. He said "Watch" and he turned this pointer dial on the wall. There was a momentary pause, and like a thump. Suddenly, the panel opened up like shutters, and this rumbling big fan kicked on with a roar. Scared the heck out of me. The fan was big, and it looked like it had some sort of cloth on the outside of a spinning disk instead of traditional blades. For years I thought of that, and tried to explain that there was a big fan in the ceiling, with most people not believing me. Bear in mind, this was the late 60s.

So here is the funny part. My wife and I were house shopping prior to buying this house. There was a "distressed property", basically the guy ran out of money to finish building it, and the garage was never finished. It was a rambling ranch.

So we took a tour, it was very nice. My wife went off to look at the details in the kitchen, and I went down the hallway. I notice this dial switch in the hallway, and it totally took me back. No, it couldn't be...

I looked up, and THERE WAS THAT PANEL! So, of course, I had to turn the dial.

There was a thump, and a pause, and suddenly the panels open up, AND THERE IT IS AGAIN!!!! ERGHHHHHH!

But that is not the worst part. While it didn't "scare" me, I found it very disturbing. I went to turn the dial off, and guess what, the plastic dial switch broke off the metal stem. I couldn't turn it off!

I had to take two car keys and squeeze the metal stem of the switch between them to gain a grip on the switch. I frantically worked it until I just barely got it to switch off. I turned and the realtor and my wife were just standing there. And I just said, "I hate those fans."

Ok, ok, we all have our phobias!

 

[westytoploader]

Another interest that I've had for a long time was fans, and I always thought older attic or whole-house fans were cool. On a house we looked at near where we live now, it had a dial-controlled monstrosity, and of course being 5 years old I had to play with it. It wasn't in the attic, but by the staircase, in full view. Thought it was the neatest thing, and moved some air too!

Bath and wall fans...now I was REALLY fascinated with those! Spent a lot of time at the bath fan arrangement (with the test buttons) at Home Depot and (no longer existant) Builder's Square, as well as looking through the Granger catalog at different types of fans. My favorites were the small round Broan bath/utility room ceiling and kitchen wall fans (especially the Room-to-Room and Motordor). I might grab a round one for the shed and mount it on the wall just for the "cool" factor, and would probably come in handy when I get the 2 dryers down there.

There was this old hotel in Port Isabel/Padre Island that we stayed at a few years ago, and it had a vintage-1970's fan/light/heater units in the bathroom, controlled by a wall switch with Osterizer-type pushbuttons. Had to mess with that too. Hit the "Fan" button, and it was quiet for a bit, and then it started rattling like crazy! That was too annoying...we just left it off when we took a shower.

--Austin

 

[whirlcool]

Those attic fans were quite popular in homes from the 1930's to the 60's. I have seen many a home with those. They are what a lot of people had before air conditioning.
As it would cool down at night you would open the windows and doors in the home and then turn on that fan. Cool air would come blowing in the house cooling it down rather quickly. Then during the day you would keep the blinds/curtains drawn to keep the cool in. These worked better in the mid-south rather than the deep south due to the extreme heat of the deep south. But you do find them all over the place in Texas and Florida, mostly in older homes.
I think you can even buy them new too.

 

[gansky1]

Attic Fan

I grew up with one - we used it all the time. We only had a window a/c in the downstairs of the house so the living room, dining & kitchen were kept cool but the bedrooms upstairs were ovens! We'd turn on that attic fan and open the bedroom windows and within 1/2 hour, the volume of air moving through the rooms brought the temps down to a very comfortable level. On crisp spring and fall days, it was wonderful to pull in tons of fresh air - it always felt clean and fresh, like sheets on the line - but the whole house! As a very young child, I would toss squares of toilet paper up into the air and watch them get sucked through the fan and into the attic... In later years, when mom wasn't home, I'd talk on the phone and smoke cigarettes under it.

A good friend of mine just bought a house with one in the hall, the belt is broken but it should work just fine. I can't wait to crawl up there and take a closer look at it.

 

[Cybrvanr]

Whole-house fans were extremely popular around these parts here in Virginia during the 60's and earlier. I remember my grandmother having one. Her's was mounted in the ceiling in the hallway, and had the slats on the house side of the fan. The fan turned really slow, and had a subdued rumble sort of like an idiling musclecar. That thing would move some air though! I remember sitting in the back room of the house by her picture window looking out into the woods behind her, enjoying the cool breese, and listening to all the crickets and other night creatures outside.

I was a bit frightened by the one my parent's fried had. She lived in an old house in downtown (Oddly enough, the neighborhood is called "the fan"!) That was a huge industrial beast of a machine that her husband obtained from his work as an electrical engineer. The fan was in a large, unfinished room upstairs and was about 3 feet or more in diameter. To a 6 year old, that thing was HUGE. It turned slow, and in the dark room, it chopped up the bright sunlight that streamed through the slats, giving it a real menacing appearance It had a large belt drive on it that flapped and shook as it turned. She had to keep the door open to the room for the fan to work, there was a child gate in front of it, and she always warned us "Don't ever go in the fan room!!!"

 

[Kevinpreston3]

A fan room!

Cybrvanr, that is even WORSE than my story. Don't go into the fan room. Ergggggggggggggggggggghhhh that would have scared me as a kid.

I never thought of these in the context of how well they might work, and Gansky's recollections seemed to be very nice, especially with the fresh air.

I have looked on the internet for new ones, out of curiousity.. The one question remains--did any of these ever have more of a disk with some sort of shroud on them versus a traditional bladed fan?

 

[Cybrvanr]

Home Improvement TV show

Do any of you all remember the episode where Tim Taylor builds a house for Habitat for Humanity?

Tim was real proud of his house, and especially his exhaust fan that he had re-wired for more power. When the inspector came to look over the house, he turned on the exhaust fan in the hallway to demonstrate it. Papers and debris start blowing down the hallway, and the inspector's baseball cap gets sucked off his head and into the fan above!!!

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Wholehouse/Attic Fans:

My Parents had an "Attic" Fan installed in 1962 at this house and a Screen Door for the Front Door, from a company called The Yancy Company. The Fan was a 30-inch Diameter, with 4 or 5 blades and B-D with a 12-hour Timer, that also had a "Hold" Setting, that would allow the Fan to stay on until you wanted to turn it off. The Louvers were quite Noisy, later on, when they got older.

I had the Fan replaced in 1995, when I Inherited this house, that my Parents bought in April 1957, when I was 7-years old. I got the new Wholehouse Fan from a company called the Fan Man. This one has a B-D Fan with 6-Blades. The Louvers are real nice, heavier Metal used and there is Weather-Stripping like Material used to cushion the Louvers to keep them quieter. This also has a 12-hour Timer, but without the "Hold" selection and this one also has a 2-Speed Selection. I don't remember how much the first Fan Installed cost, but the one that I had installed replacing it was $795.00 total. The original Fan "BTW" only had the Belt replaced once in the 33-years that it was operating and I had to Lubricate the Motor a few times, when it was getting a little Noisy.

I found out about the Fan Man Company, by seeing them at their Booth's at our Local Home & Garden Shows and at our State Fair, as well as all the many other Companies Showing their Merchandise Ideas for House Decorating and helping with things like Cooling Down Houses and making Living more comfortable around your House and Yards.

When my Parents got the first Fan, the Sales-Pitch was about not only cooling down the House and Attic, after a Hot Day, but it was also great for clearing out the Smell from Smokers and if you had cooked Fish for a Meal, as well as any other smells that might be in the House. I used to also do similar to what "gansky1" mentioned, but I threw Kleenex pieces up towards the Fan, to watch them get pulled into the Fan and ending in the Attic, giving extra Insulation. {LOL} I didn't really throw that much Kleenex, but what I did throw was sure fun watching it get pulled into the Fan Blades.

Peace and Happy Wholehouse/Attic Fan Enjoyment, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[tolivac]

A very large old house I lived in in clearwater Fla had one of those whole house fans.Just as described-you flip the wall switch-you hear the fan start and its louvers opening.It sure felt good on hot summer days in that house-you opened your windows and kept your bedroom door opened-A disadvantage to this was our cat would take turns visting you while you slept.I rolled over on him one night a he really dug his TALONS into my back fortunately me nor the cat was really hurt.
A radio station I worked at also had a very old Grainger fan in the building attic.The station cheif engineer wanted it to move more air to exhaust the attic-originally it did fine-He had me put a 2Hp motor on it-org had half HP-when I started it -reminded me of an airplane propeller on a test engine stand-It shook and vibrated-and LOTS of attic insulation got sucked into it and blown outside-was sort of funny.the building was in a residentual neighborhood-wondered what the neighbors thought of the soupted up attic fan!!

 

[neptune2000]

Attic fan memory...

Hello,

I grew up in the middle of New Jersey - at the foot of one of the so called " ramapo Mountains " ( they were really only big hills ) We had a whole house fan of the type previously described, with louveres. It ran very slowly, but the blade pitch was such that a tremendous amount of air got moved. Was really totally adequet for summer cooling - we didn't have Air Conditioning.

We learned real fast to be sure enough windows or doors were open before turning the fan on... on one memorable occasion the fan was started and then a window in the dining room was opened - the storm window was sucked in and broke into a zillion pieces..! Not uncommonly, insects would be sucked to the window screens and trapped there by the suction for as long as the fan was on. ( we had one of those 12 hour timers too.)

Probably the most memorable incident occurred during a family gathering - perhaps thanksgiving or such similar. someone ( to this day unknown ) was playing with the timer in the upstairs hall ( inquisitive cousins or whatever ) and the fan was activated briefly - perhaps 30 seconds or so. Suddenly the house was filled with black particles - as there were no windows or doors open and the only place the fan could draw from was down the living room fireplace chiminy - no fire was lit , but it was used regularly - sometimes burning cannal ( sp ) coal. The Soot mess was enormous - and got all over everything, and everyone. Nobody ever admitted to having messed with the fan controll - but all the younger folks were considered suspects. It took days to get all the soot particles off of places they had setteled. The following week my Dad put a Key-lock ignition switch in the fan controll box.

It was a messy lesson - and one that I don't think anyone who was there will ever forget... Party Dresses, White shirts, Beehive Hair ( this was 1962 or so ) all with soot particles clinging..... if you tried to brush it off , it just worked itself into the fabric / hairdo etc....
Well - that's my memory of our attic fan...

Neptune2000

 

[Anthonya]

Electromode Anyone?

There are two of these in my grandparents house in San Antonio. My Grandpa picked them out when the house was built in '64, as he did the Honeywell pushbutton light switches and Sierra triple gang outlets. He preferred to light a room using a table or floor lamp rather than having a ceiling light. The switches controlled a single outlet on certain plugs indicated with a red dot. This is where a lamp was plugged in, but I digress. The fans just recirulate air, drawing it in through the vent holes close to the wall. I find it interesting that Granpa chose to use Electromode fans, as being an electrician, he installed Nutone fans and heaters in many of the houses he wired. These work well, despite being very noisy and rattling when shut off.

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Nutone Heaters

One fan that did NOT bother me in the least were the Nutone heaters my dad had specially installed in our homes in Denver. (thanks for the memory kicker there Anthonya.

These were steel colored and jutted out from the wall slightly. Inside you could see the coils that would glow, and they were right in front of the fan. The heater put out an absolutely fantasic, gentle warmth. Many a cold winter morning I would "warm up" in front of the heater, then take the morning shower. They were wonderful.

They kept with that same design for years and years. A great heater and a great memory!

 

[jmm63]

Heres a pic of my whole house fan actually taken from the attic (its a walk up attic). Our house was built in 52 and according to the blue prints we inherited, the fan is original, its made by Hoover of all things. We use it ALOT when the humidty here in NJ doesn't warrant A/C. This is my first house to ever have one and if I ever live anywhere else, I'll have another.

 

[Kevinpreston3]

JMM64....

Somehow it's not as spooky from that angle! Although it appears you DO have the slats....errghhhhhhH....>!

Side note: Were these typically installed as to be directly underneathe an external "rotating" or stationary attic vent? It would seem to me that they would work even better that way.

I still have not seen one with that "mop" fan.....or maybe I dreamt that....

 

[jmm63]

Kevin
yeah, we do have the slats, its kind of standard on a fan like this. This fan is installed on the gable side of the house over the bedroom hallway, there are louvres in both gables as well as a window in the atttic to let the hot air out when the fan is running. Spring start up is to go in the attic, take the covers off the gable louvres, open the window, and take the weatherproofing off the fan. Our first year here we didn't know you had to do that, we never covered the hallway side of the fan with plastic, it was like having a window open all winter long. I find the fan kind of reassuring at night when its running, not at all scary. But I could see why it could be a little unnerving to some.

 

[spiraclean]

Whole House Fan

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the picture I wondered what they looked like. Unfortunately we don't have them in the UK but I have a good friend from Sacremento who has one. I think they are a truly superb idea, they must keep the house so fresh and cool.

All the best.
Hugh

 

[toggleswitch]

Regarding the above pic:

If I can see the guts of the heater clearly [in the above pic], it appears that the heating element is encased in a metal "starburst" that would serve to strengthen it, perhaps not burn dust, and make is suitable for moist environments.

I can see why GP liked this one beter htan a std. Nutone brand.

http://www.nutone.com/support-faqs-10073.asp

 

[westie2]

Electromode heaters

My mother still has a 45 plus year old Electromode portable heater that was a grandmothers. She and my dad used it for years in their Florida home to knock the chill out of the air. They had central air but no heat. It still works. It was I think the first heater to have no exposed hot wires. The metal grid has the heating coils imbedded in it. Come to think of it my wife and I used it when we were in college and in old old apartment with one then two babies.

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Another wierd heater....2 disturbing stories

1) My mom said that when they were starting out, there was one place they rented where there was a heater that was the shape of a radar dish!!! with glowing wires. She hated it and refused to use it.

2) In the second place they lived after the Korean war, my parents got an apartment above my dad's aunt and uncle--a very old building in Chicago. My dad just hated the ugliest light fixture in the world that hung above their bed in the bedroom. It had no bulbs and was just ugly beyond words.

So the next day he got a ladder and decided to take the thing down. As he was prying it off there was suddenly a wooshing sound. He shoved the pieces back into place and the hissing sound stopped.

It was a damned GAS light left over from when they had gas light fixtures, and it had never been removed, nor had the gas line up to it ever been capped off and removed.

How about THAT hanging over your head in your bedroom.

MAN some things give me the chills.