Why are people asking the same questions over and over again? (Or the Regulars' Chatroom) šŸ¤·

All I know is I have stared at the direction of my ceiling fan fins way more than I should since this conversation started :upside_down_face:

3 Likes

I just recently went and upgraded all my ceiling fans to smart fans and being able to reverse them anytime I want on a whim without getting on a ladder and flipping a tiny switch has been amazing. But also at the same time, I had to check to make sure they were all in summer mode earlier because I doubted myself. :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

1 Like

I Hope some AI catch up this conversation, and suggest where to place temp and wind-speed sensors, so someone can automate the ceiling fans optimal :laughing:

1 Like

hahaha you say that and Iā€™ve actually done it (minus the wind speed). I use the average temperature of various sensors in every room and if it gets above 78F, the fan kicks up to 80% to cool the room down. If itā€™s between 72F and 78F, then the speed is 40%. Lower than that, keep it at 10%, but only when Iā€™m home and only when the room is occupied (for most rooms at least). The one in my kitchen actually uses both temperature and PM2.5 readings so that if Iā€™m cooking, it kicks up to 80% and then once the PM2.5 readings go down again, it goes back to ā€œnormalā€ operation.

Still need to automate my kitchen hood thoughā€¦ sigh itā€™s on my to-do list. lol

1 Like

I use the temps on my motion sensors to execute something similar. Fan speeds and direction are automated. It actually helps!!

1 Like

I went with Aqara temp/humidity sensors in every room along with the temps from my motion sensors. I then combine them into a helper and do an arithmetic mean on them and use that as the temp. Works perfectly. I had originally had my door and window contact sensors in there as well, but my house is east/west facing and they would get WAY hotter than the indoor temp was. Gave me some wonky readings until I face-palmmed myself and had another ā€œduhā€ moment.

Especially in the Southern US. Iā€™m dreading summer this year. Last year was brutal enough. This year is supposed to be worse. Yay. :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

Haha, well actually i could use ceiling fans here, but only have 1 stuffed away, bought when it was a ā€œCool-Deviceā€ here in the 90th

Im more thinking about, installing ā€œexhaust air heat pump(air>Water)ā€ here, could also contribute to per-heating fresh air, until now i have been focusing on a good ā€œmanualā€ circulation and ā€œopen airā€ style Kitchen-Living Area
Fanā€™s have never been very popular here in scandinavien, unlike in US and other place

When itā€™s very hot here, i have ventilators pulling air from the basement, free cooled air through a 25m x 12cm pipe buried in ground, into the basement , and up ā€¦ but most of the year i need this to be pre-heated :frowning:

I havenā€™t lived in a single house anywhere in the US in my entire life without there being at least one ceiling fan installed. I couldnā€™t imagine living anywhere without them, tbh.

Although thatā€™s interesting that they arenā€™t more prevalent in other countries where mild temps would actually help with heating and cooling. Especially someplace like Sweden. IIRC, thereā€™s also not much central A/C there either, right?

1 Like

Yes, you are right, there is a saying here " We are heating for the birds " :grin:

Iā€™ve been twice in US , visiting my Uncles family/My Cousins, and traveling around the States, so ive never been in a house without a fan there :slight_smile: , only thing that ā€œpuzzledā€ me was that ā€œHumongousā€ Box (AC) outside each House , well it was September/October , so they just told me to come next Summer, instead (which i havenā€™t yet) :grin:

PS: thou lately ( some say do to the ā€œClimateā€ ), it seems like we are hitting new Heat records every summer now, so there has become more and more demands for AC, and Fans( Floor/Table Fans ), 2 years ago everything was sold out, and people was complaining, huge daily ā€œsubjectā€ ā€¦ for some

I use sonoff ifan controllers, there is an ifan03 in my bedroom with a temp sensor I baked into it. One of my blueprints is to monitor that temp and the AC window unit and change speeds based on the room temp.

1 Like

Hahahaā€¦ yeah, we do love our central A/C here. I really want to get rid of mine and go with mini-splits eventually, but the way my house was built (and the age of it) kind of prevents that. If nothing else, itā€™s going to be a challenge to find wall space and such to install them.

1 Like

I actually thought about going with those, but ended up getting Tuya fans from Amazon that I use through localTuya. The ceiling fans I had originally were put up in the 1980s during a remodel (old Hunters IIRC). I couldnā€™t fit iFan3s into the upper housings and I didnā€™t want to go up into the attic to have them just hanging around up there. So, Tuya it is.

To be fair, the Tuya ones arenā€™t half bad actually. Some of them have temp sensors built into them and fairly decent LED lights. Plus, huge bonusā€¦ they barely draw any power. Most of them use about 22-30w at full speed. Iā€™m SUPER happy about that.

Saw that you are in Charlotte, Iā€™m in Northern Alabama and have two ā€œHumongousā€ Boxes (AC) outside the house. :laughing: The heat cometh soon.

2 Likes

Yeah, i liked the idea, when i was showed around, that everything was build-in

To be honest, i would never install these ā€œsmallā€ units they are selling here, for the living areas, maybe garage, as you say , itā€™s not only find a suitable wall space ( for the in door unit ), Iā€™ts a Damn ugly Device to have Hangin on the Wall, And ive been in Hotelā€™s in Asia Having those freezing dry winds blowing right in my Face, when i want to sleep :laughing: , some place they are so old/damage, there is only 1 level full speed/coldest temperature, hahaha, yeah they give me negative vibes

Yeah, Iā€™m about 40 minutes west of Charlotte close to the foothills. Been to northern Alabama a few times for my car club. Nice areas actually.

Summer is coming and coming fastā€¦ Hell, we just had a few days last week where we topped out at 87F and 89F and I was like ā€œIā€™M NOT READY!ā€. Then this week, weā€™re in the 60s and 70s. Seriously weather, make up your mind!

hahaha yeah, I think theyā€™re ugly too, but I hate having to cool the whole house when itā€™s just me, in one room all day (my home office). I do have a window A/C in here, but even then, I hate to run it until I absolutely have to.

And ANY hotel has the absolute worst A/C units. I went to a hotel a couple years ago and they had one of the mini-splits halfway between the floor and the ceiling. I have no idea who thought that was a good idea, but it was literally blowing on the bed all night and LOUD.

Wow. A lot of strong opinions here.

As an open source project HA is absolutely amazing. What has been accomplished is quite commendable.

I have asked many questions that I am sure have been asked before so I apologize for casting a dark shadow on your forum. Most questions have been responded to with very meaningful answers that have been a tremendous help. I am very appreciative.

But here are the cold hard facta. Using HA takes a commitment of a hugh amount of time to learn and ā€œread the docsā€. Just reading something does not immediately impart knowledge and understanding. You have to try and fail. This is not a platform for someone to come and quickly automate their home. It is a hobby that requires a big time commitment. HA uses some concepts and terminology that are clearly unique to HA so it is in fact confusing upon first exposure.

So give the question askers a break. They are just trying to get from A to B as quickly as possible and possibly donā€™t quite realize what they have signed up for. As amazing as HA is, it is clearly not for everyone in its current form. Personally I have paired back my expectations as I can only spend a few hours a week ā€œreading the docsā€, trying things and breaking things. And yes updates break a lot of stuff, that alone requires a maintenance commitment just to keep it running. Maybe when I retire I can be a HA know it all but until then I will have to rely on the grace of some very nice people in this forum. To them I say ā€œThank youā€.

2 Likes

Is this really true? My installation is around 230 devices and I cannot remember the last time anything broke due to an update. Reading patch notes (especially breaking changes) and then take those into account isnā€™t something I see as a ā€œbig time commitmentā€, but I might be lucky not being affected by many breaking changes.

2 Likes

How to help us help them - or How to give a good answer.

You are reading this thread wrong. Some of this is venting frustration so that we donā€™t vent to ā€˜customersā€™.
Some of this is figuring out the best way.
Some of this is having fun.

Donā€™t read too much into this.

We estimate the HA Discord gets 40 or so new members a day. Here I wouldnā€™t think itā€™s too much different. I think we do OK.

I know my patience runs out when people ask for help, I provide it, then they tell me that Iā€™m wrong and get angry at me. People are people.

3 Likes

I believe strong opinions create healthy debates and forward progress. You shared a very strong opinion based on your point of view and we encourage that.

2 Likes