Man Cave, Longmont, Colo.
Posted
03/29/2011
David Vanderpool renovated his 18-foot-high, L-shaped storage
unit from Garage Town USA to include a three-person office for his
engineering firm, and to double as his man cave. With an interior
made entirely of metal, no windows and poor insulation, the
1,000-square-foot space was expensive to heat. Aluminum siding,
steel bar joists and metal roof decking is par for the course
within storage units, but Vanderpool added his own element of
functional style with a 10-foot diameter aluminum Isis fan from the
Big Ass Fan Co. to destratify the air.
While often associated with summer cooling, large diameter fans
are also capable of destratifying a space in the winter, reducing
energy consumption by as much as 30 percent. Heated air from a
forced air system (100-125 F) is less dense than the ambient air
(65-75 F), and hot air naturally rises to the ceiling. By slowing
the speed of large diameter, low speed fans to 10 to 30 percent of
its maximum rotations per minute, warm air is redirected from the
ceiling to the occupant level, increasing occupant comfort and
reducing the amount of heat loss through the roof. "I can tell you
generically that [my energy use] has decreased since I put in the
fans," Vanderpool said.
With Colorado winter temperatures averaging in the teens,
Vanderpool said he generally sets his thermostat to 65 F. He was in
the space for a year before installing the fans. Equipped with very
limited heating capacity and the resulting high energy bills,
Vanderpool said, "[The fan] does a really good job of evening out
the temperature, making it much more comfortable."
Fan: Big Ass Fans Co., Lexington, Ky.,
www.bigassfans.com