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MarcG

Installing a window air vent

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by
MarcG
, 09-23-2010 at 09:15 AM (1695 Views)
I came across a Holmes Digital Twin Window Fan unit at the local Super Target in a clearance section. The sale price was less than $30 and I figured I could use it in my fish room. If it works then great, but if it didn't I didn't spend a ton of money and it claimed to save $$$ on my electric bill.

The unit is programmable to turn on automatically when a certain temperature is desired, or you can program a timer to turn on. Both fans are independently controllable to either exhaust air from the room or bring in air from the outside. Currently I have them set to both exhaust air, the last thing I want is more hot Texas air in my house!



I set it in my window only to find out that there was a huge problem. There were massive gaps around the panels that extended to fit to the window.




I immediately looked around my house for any type of insulation I could cram in those gaps. Over a year ago, I had purchased those twin draft guards for the bottom of doors that you see on infomercials. They come with a flexible foam that fits into the sleeves. I tried cutting the middle of one to fit snuggly over the window unit panels .



That didn't work too well....... So I decided to put those between the frame and the extender panel on the left side and then assemble the draft guards and put those on top and bottom of the whole thing.





My biggest concern with the whole setup was security. How in the world would this stop someone from taking the window screen off and making his way into my house? Well being the type of hobbyist that doesn't like to get rid of anything... lol I found some extra 1" pvc in my garage, cut it to length and fit it over the top of the window to wedge it in. I originally thought of a piece of wood, but I like the pvc better since it is white and you can't see it against the white window frame as much as you would a piece of plywood.



The only problem I have now is that the blinds fit the entire length of the window and in order to use the fan unit, I have to keep the blinds above it or let it down with the blinds open.




Overall I am pleased with the opportunity to vent the humid salty air out of my house, but I still have to wait to see if I really like how it performs.

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Updated 09-23-2010 at 11:36 AM by MarcG

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‎ DIY projects

Comments

  1. RED's Avatar
    I love the idea... My concern is; if the room is connected to the central heat you are removing cool air during the summer and bringing in cold air during the winter, making it difficult to keep the temp in the room constant.
  2. MarcG's Avatar
    That is exactly what I'm wondering as well. I'm going to run it for a while and try to see if it's helping or hurting.
  3. debdp's Avatar
    I had/have the same one. It's sitting in the attic waiting for the weather to change. I've used several types of fans to vent air outside. But the problem I've run into is they're not only powerful enough to pull the air outside, but they've been pulling air from outside into the house as well. Any little unsealed space in windows, doors, etc is an open invitation. Security and rain are the two issues I ran into with that fan, as well as it just didn't have enough power. So I just use it now when the weather's cooled off at night to pull that cool air into the house.

    Deb