Cooling/heating with Whole house fans / home Economisers

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with the whole house fans or home economisers?

Ideally as I have HVAC im curious if there is any Australian Home Economisers that integrate with the HVAC as there would be a cut over point when indoor outdoor temps don't benefit the Economiser and HVAC must go on.

Thanks in advance!

Any commercial refrigeration mechanic to controls technician working with commercial building automation and mechanical services could help you with this. Alot of commercial programmable thermostats/controllers have some functionality built in for economy. There's more than one to skin a cat so it really depends on what you have, how far you want to go, etc.

What sort of system do you have?

What sort of thermostat/controller are you using?

What sort of house do you have? (single/double storey, brick veneer/ timber cladded, etc)

Hi Bel's, currently have a 3phase Daikin Ducted HVAC in our 4br single storey brick veneer home.

Looking to kdb 2 storey and planning on the most efficient HVAC and if cost effective incorporate an economiser (if possible and viable)

I'd also be looking to add the NEST thermostat that will also tie in with ceiling fan.

I'm hoping that the combination of ceiling fans and economiser reduce the time the HVAC needs to be on, this reducing power bills.

Thoughts

Daikin has available interface cards to allow their systems to interface to external thermostats, time clocks, building automation systems, etc. my knowledge of Daikin isn't as intimate as other brands so unfortunately I can't refer you to the part numbers required for your system. Might be best to contact a Daikin dealer or Daikin themselves regarding this.

You'd require a separate economizer thermostat/controller which would control a couple of fans, one for fresh air supply and another for spill/purge and volume control dampers and also interface to the Daikin control system to inhibit heating and cooling stages when in economy cycle. That's the rough overall gist of how it would work without getting too nitty gritty.

I'm not too much a fan of the Nest thermostats but to each their own.

My suggestion would be to engage a mechanical engineer/consultant as part of your works to look over and design you a system with optimal efficiency and the greatest power saving.

hth

Thanks Bels,

That's starting to sound uneconomical in a home environment.

Possibly a vented skylight with rain sensor (for automatic closing) being the highest point on the ceiling might provide adequate convection to release internal residual heat.

Do a search for ventilators on this forum. I recall someone posted a link to a system which vent your ceiling space out in summer, draw cooler outside air and deliver into your living space, in winter filter and draw the warm air from the ceiling space into the living space.

I.e. viewtopic.php?f=20&t=40965&p=671771&hilit=ventilator#p671771

Hi Bels,

I think i finally found the thread you mention. Is this it?
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=82255&hilit=draw+cooler+outside+air

No not exactly. The thread I'm thinking of had a link to a ventilator system installed in your ceiling space that popped out through a couple of removed tiles. I can't quite remember if it was solar powered or not or just required plugging into a socket outlet.