Re: Trying to keep cool

[paul o johnson <pojhome@SWBELL.NET>]

Brian,

I'm sure you know what you meant but your words are not as precise as you
intended. When you said, "the nighttime temperature dips below the house
temperature," did you mean that the temperature of the nighttime outside air
is lower than  the temperature of the nighttime air inside the house? Then
when you said, " the house warms up during the day," did you mean that the
temperature of the daytime air inside the house is higher than  the
temperature of the daytime outside air?

If that's what you meant, then both conditions are the same -- the air
inside the house is warmer than the air outside the house both day and
night. In that case, you should use your window fans to bring in cooler
outside air.

Paul O. Johnson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Blais" <bblais@BRYANT.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 2:05 PM
Subject: Trying to keep cool


> Hello,
>
>     As I was experiencing the recent heat wave on the East Coast, I was
>     thinking about the most efficient ways to cool a house.  If you just
had
>     fans (no AC), and you wanted to keep your house the coolest, what
>     configuration of fans and open/closed windows would be best?
>
>     If you assume that the nighttime temperature dips below the house
>     temperature, but that the house warms up during the day, it would seem
>     that an initial solution is windows open during the night and closed
in
>     the day.  If you add fans, is it better to try to blow in the cool
night
>     air or blow out the warm house air at night?  Is it better to have
some
>     blowing in and some blowing out?  Empirically, it seems that blowing
out
>     works better than blowing in, although I am not sure why.
>
>     Any thoughts?
>
>
>             Brian Blais
>
> --
> -----------------
>
>             bblais@bryant.edu
>             web.bryant.edu/~bblais