Lower power battery operated fan to move hot air

[ma4t]

I have my water heater and furnace in the same room in my apartment, right next to the living room. It gets really hot in the closet, and we have a big vent close to the ground (between the closet and the living room). The vent is on the floor, so the hot air rises and does not escape in to the living room. So right now, the hot air is wasted. We have a small child and we don't want her to get in to the water heater closet, so we want to leave the door closed.

I am looking for an efficient way to redirect the hot air through an existing vent in to the living room. I want to turn it on all night and just forget about it.

Here are the requirements:
The fan must be strong enough to push the air about 2 or 3 feet.
The fan must be battery operated.
The fan must be quiet.
I want to do it without spending a lot of money.
Since it's an apartment, I don't want to change any of the structure.
It must be very simple, not more then 2 or 3 pieces or 2 or 3 steps.

If you have any ideas that somebody with ADHD can do (no more than 2 or 3 steps), I'm interested.

Best,
MA4T

[GasSavers_Erik]

Here's a simple idea.

Remove the closet door and install one of those expanding doorway gates to keep your daughter out. Sit a plug in box fan behind the kid gate pointed into the closet and the hot air will exit out the top.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

1. Go to Radio Shack and get a 12v Muffin Fan. (RadioShack nowadays...)
2. Cut hole in the door (you can always patch the hole, or replace the door...they're not that expensive) and mount the fan.
3. Enjoy warm air.

Alternative method...

1. Cut hole in top of door. Use thermosyphon method of air circulation. No fan needed. Doesn't move as much air, but is free.
2. See #2 of last method...
3. Enjoy warm air.

[theholycow]

Why battery powered?

[bobc455]

The trick would be to circulate air through the room. You don't just want to put a "sucker" fan on the closet without knowing where the makeup air will be coming from. For instance, you don't want to pull air out through a hole in the door, while you pull air in from your basement (which is air that is presumably colder, and would make a less efficient use of the extra heat).

When we build electrical cabinets at work, we typically put two holes in the face of the door - one at the top for a "puller" fan (pulls the hot air out at the top of the cabinet), and a vent at the bottom (with a filter) for makeup air to enter the cabinet.

-BC

[DRW]

If I'm reading this right, you already have a vent on the floor between the living room and closet? That can be used to let cool air into the closet. I'd just put some type of vent at the top of the closet door to let warm air out of the closet and into the living space. Maybe just shave an inch off the top of the closet door to create a gap for warm air to escape.

[ma4t]

I appreciate the suggestions. I especially appreciate the reminder on the fluid dynamics issue. There will need to be some air going in if I'm going to pump air out.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough on the rest, though.

I'm not going to change anything. I should expand that to mean I don't want to rip apart the door, either. My projects are all budget driven. If I end up spending more for a new door (plus the hassle of running to Home Depot right before I move out of this rental) than the dough I'll save by grabbing this wasted hot air, it's not really cost efficient. I can spend a few bucks on a small fan and a few batteries. That probably won't even save me the cost of the fans and the batteries. But I can live with that.

There's already a vent there. And I'm not really into the idea of taking off the door (or any part of it) because behind the door is my furnace and water heater. The door keeps the noise out of the living room. It also keeps it so we don't have to look at ugly appliances. So as you might guess I'm really not in to the idea of fiddling with that door. Any other setting, I might.

I will be going to radio shack to look for a small fan that can be powered by a battery.

I'm thinking something like this.

1 or 2 should do it. It will be quiet. Now I just need to find out how to power it with a AA or D battery, or whatever works.

Finally, I want it to be battery powered because there is no outlet in the room. And since it's a rental and I am trying to do it as cost-efficiently as possible, I won't be running a power line in to the room for this project.

Once again, thanks for the suggestions.

[ma4t]

Originally Posted by bobc455

The trick would be to circulate air through the room. You don't just want to put a "sucker" fan on the closet without knowing where the makeup air will be coming from. For instance, you don't want to pull air out through a hole in the door, while you pull air in from your basement (which is air that is presumably colder, and would make a less efficient use of the extra heat).

When we build electrical cabinets at work, we typically put two holes in the face of the door - one at the top for a "puller" fan (pulls the hot air out at the top of the cabinet), and a vent at the bottom (with a filter) for makeup air to enter the cabinet.

-BC

In those cabinets, what kind of fans do you use, and how do you power them? I have seen custom entertainment centers with fans to cool the electronics. Is that the kind of cabinet you're referring to? Or are you referring to server cabinets?

Oh, look at what I just found.
http://www.servercabinetfan.com/
I'm getting warmer (no pun intended).

Cheers,

M

[theholycow]

I don't think D batteries are going to provide worthwhile service. I think you're going to need a car battery.

Why not tap power from the wire for the equipment in there? Or, run a thin wire from somewhere else along the baseboard or under the carpet?

[ma4t]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/102348...y_powered_fan/

How about that? A 12 year old kid with a soldering iron made his own, and posted it on Metacafe.

If you have the parts laying around, you can make one. Simple. No need to remodel the apartment.


The hits just keep coming.
http://www.shindigz.com/party/Mascot-Fan.cfm

Of course, I'm not going to pay that much for a simple gadget. I'm going to make one myself. You can get these little fans from just about anything these days. I have a few in mind that just might do the trick.

The best part? No remodeling!!! I don't have to tear up the place. It's a rental and I want my deposit back.