Home Building Ideas

[Mr Lee]

Where, what, why and how. As the time for us moving over gets closer, I would like to see and hear some more ideas on the subject. Anyone??I still lean toward staying in our condo, or possibly buying a bigger one, or readjusting the one we have to better suit us. This would be my first choice if I can make it all work. Originally when we bought them, we were thinking along the lines of keeping them separate at least until we moved there full time and that idea changed when the fellow we were going to rent the other unit to, did not seem to really want to follow through, but that is a whole different story and I really do not want to get into that here. Anyway, back to where I was, the building only had 2/1's and they were on the sides and next to the stairs or elevators and garbage chute and I did not want that for noise or bugs, and the 3/2 was on the ends we wanted but was way too expensive for us at the time and also too big to keep cool, so it was more than we needed, so we bought two 40 square meter studios and cut a walkway in between them making them into one 2/2 and that worked out great except for moving the air around with minimal expense. The problem with what we did was that we installed two 2.5 hp units and it would only takes one of those to keep the whole place cool if we can get the air to better circulate. The two units are long and narrow and for the time being, both bedrooms are at the end and next to the sliding glass doors that lead to the patio. I could change the A/C to a split unit but the cost would be too much and it would be too messy and I am looking for a sneaky way to solve this and besides I like the idea of having a backup unit if the other should fail or if we get company and they want to freeze. :23_11_60[2]: One idea I have is to cut a hole maybe 12 inches in the wall that is between the two bedrooms and put in some type of fan to move the air from our bedroom A/C unit (it is so cold in our bedroom anyway) into the other bedroom and then move it with fans up into our sitting room. Has anyone done anything like that and what type of fan might work? An exhaust fan would work but probably be too noisy and maybe just a good 12x12 inch fan with a moving director might be perfect?I am open to thoughts on this, and I and I am sure others would love to hear building and renovation ideas.

[tom_shor]

Without some kind of floor plan it would be hard to say for sure. You obviously need some type of fan and vent arrangement. Or maybe trade the two big A/C units for two smaller ones.Are these load bearing walls? Maybe a complete interior remodel is what you need.

Edited December 4, 2008 by tom_shor

[Mik]

At the hardware stores they can plug in the various exhaust fans so you can decide which one is powerful enough yet not too noisy. Before cutting a hole in the wall you could try putting a fan in the bedroom doorway and see if that would blow out enough cold air into the other rooms. Or maybe installing a smaller air-con in the bedroom and moving the 2.5 hp unit into the sala?

[Mr Lee]

Without some kind of floor plan it would be hard to say for sure. You obviously need some type of fan and vent arrangement. Or maybe trade the two big A/C units for two smaller ones.Are these load bearing walls? Maybe a complete interior remodel is what you need.

Here Tom, this should give you some idea of what I am talking about but it is really hard to describe.and Mike, maybe this will give you a better idea, I think the fan in the wall will be the best idea and will save me the most electric and money.

Edited December 5, 2008 by Mr. Lee

[tom_shor]

Well I am not a HVAC guy but one flaw I see in your plan is it seems like it will only work well if all the doors stay open. There may not be a cheap way to do this right. Do the closets go all the way up the wall? If not one thing that might work is to put a vent or fan above the closet into the adjoining room and another between the two front rooms near the doors. Then back into the second bedroom. I'm not sure this would work well. Just something that poped into my brain. If it worked it would give you circulation through the whole unit. I still think it might be better to put a smaller A/C in each bedroom then use fans to move it to the front. You should get a pretty good breeze up there do you really need the A/C? I guess I talked in circles sufficently for now. Just some things to think about. I am sure someone with more know how can come up with a more efficent plan.

[Mr Lee]

Well I am not a HVAC guy but one flaw I see in your plan is it seems like it will only work well if all the doors stay open. There may not be a cheap way to do this right. Do the closets go all the way up the wall? If not one thing that might work is to put a vent or fan above the closet into the adjoining room and another between the two front rooms near the doors. Then back into the second bedroom. I'm not sure this would work well. Just something that poped into my brain. If it worked it would give you circulation through the whole unit. I still think it might be better to put a smaller A/C in each bedroom then use fans to move it to the front. You should get a pretty good breeze up there do you really need the A/C? I guess I talked in circles sufficently for now. Just some things to think about. I am sure someone with more know how can come up with a more efficent plan.

Thanks Tom for your input. No we do not need ac most of the time but I need it to sleep and sometimes to make it so I do not hear the noise outside. If we leave the entrance door open, the breeze in the aparment is fantastic but I cannot sleep that way.Basically what you seem to be saying is what I am already doing and it works but not evenly. I have a fan in the open way between the two units and I have two floor robot fans and I use one to bring the air out of the room the ac is on in and the other to bring it into the other bedroom. My thought was that if I could bring it through the wall right near the sliding doors of the patio and close to the ac output and then use the floor fan to move it forward toward the living room, it would work better because it would be moving air into an open area instead of trying to move it into a closed patio door or room. I have found that air flows better when it can flow through a room, then when it ends.And yes the wall unit closets are only 6 feet high and the ceilings are 9.5 feet high, so the air can flow over the top and that was how I thought to design it, and I tried fans on top of the wall closets and we also tried ceiling fans but the ones on the floor seem to work much better, so we are using that right now. I am just looking for a more efficient way but I can continue the way we are doing it and it works OK but not perfect and our electirc bill was p7500 a month :23_11_60[2]: earlier this year and I would like to lower that if possible by making it more efficent.

[Mik]

How about taking out the wall between the bedroom and sala thereby doubling the size of your sala. Then you can relax on the sofa and enjoy the view through your glass sliding doors and also that air-con can cool a big room like it was designed to.

[Mr Lee]

Mike, I think that is a great idea and I discussed something like that with my wife earlier today, and the idea of having the patio entrance in the living room would be a definite plus, but while that would cool that side of the house great, I would still need to get the ac into the bedrooms and that would mean running the other ac or again putting that fan into the wall between the back bedroom and the Sala.I guess the perfect thing would have been a split unit ac but my understanding is that those have two compressors and actually run similar to two units, so the cost might be the same as running two smaller units. I guess I am trying to save the problem of putting in two smaller units or putting in a split unit and I still think if I can find an effective way to get the cold air to move from the patio end side of the Sala, or bedroom one into bedroom two, that would make for a much more efficient cooling system.

Edited December 5, 2008 by Mr. Lee

[Jollygoodfellow]

Mike, I think that is a great idea and I discussed something like that with my wife earlier today, and the idea of having the patio entrance in the living room would be a definite plus, but while that would cool that side of the house great, I would still need to get the ac into the bedrooms and that would mean running the other ac or again putting that fan into the wall between the back bedroom and the Sala.I guess the perfect thing would have been a split unit ac but my understanding is that those have two compressors and actually run similar to two units, so the cost might be the same as running two smaller units. I guess I am trying to save the problem of putting in two smaller units or putting in a split unit and I still think if I can find an effective way to get the cold air to move from the patio end side of the Sala, or bedroom one into bedroom two, that would make for a much more efficient cooling system.

Well LeeI'm no expert when it comes to cooling and I know you are trying to save on electricity.I could not think of a solution so I did a goggle and yahoo search on the subject.What I found and it surprised me some what, is the best and most cost affective way to cool your rooms is hire two maids and get some palm tree leaves for them to wave above your bed for you.Hope this helps

[Mr Lee]

Well LeeI'm no expert when it comes to cooling and I know you are trying to save on electricity.I could not think of a solution so I did a goggle and yahoo search on the subject.What I found and it surprised me some what, is the best and most cost affective way to cool your rooms is hire two maids and get some palm tree leaves for them to wave above your bed for you.Hope this helps

Darn Tom, I never thought of that. Pie pie (spelling) is what my nieces call it and they do that for me all the time when we are out in the provinces and they take pity on this old fart. Hey, that would help the economy there too, I could hire a few of my relatives to hang around and fan me and the house to circulate the air :welcome: NOT! and hiring a few cute girls might get the wife a wee bit mad at me. OK, back to cutting the hole in the wall or on to having a split unit installed and selling the other two. :23_11_60[2]: or just staying the way it is and using them less. :D