Dan Fixes Coin-OpsJul 10, 2024

I go into my kitchen and I look at my fridge, whose job is to move heat outside of itself into the room. Centimetres to the right of it is the oven, whose job is to make heat, and we don't like using it in the summer because its whole thing is making heat. Further right is the AC vent, which is connected to a furnace downstairs, which is connected to a big fan outside which blows my heat into the neighbourhood for a few minutes each morning to dry out the air and make it tolerable with a fan. Right next to the furnace, within a metre of it, is the hot water tank, which is another inside-out fridge that takes heat from the basement and puts it into my shower water.

None of these machines are connected together in any way at all

Like, what are we doing here. What are we doing as a species.

Show threadDan Fixes Coin-OpsJul 10, 2024

Like, come on, we're clever, we can figure this out.

Running pipes and hoses all through our walls to each appliance so it can send its waste heat back to the water tank? Sounds like a PITA but what with the new plumbing ways, home-run pex and all, no 90-degree joints to fail, it's more do-able now than before.

What about those fridge coils next to the oven? They're probably the easiest, they're right there

Show threadDan Fixes Coin-OpsJul 10, 2024

The water heater and the AC being divorced from each other is some heckin nonsense tho

My furnace fan only turns one way. The system can't flip flaps by itself. It doesn't have any way to hear if the water heater ask for some of the heat elsewhere in the house. My basement is SO CHILLY and my attic is SO HOT

Show threadDan Fixes Coin-OpsJul 10, 2024
My ceiling fan is cooling me down and making it absolutely fine for me to be at 28 degrees, but it's doing that by dumping 40 watts of heat into the room, and can my ceiling fan tell when I'm nearby? Can it bollocks, if I leave the room then it keeps exhausting 40w for blowing onto dead surfaces that can't sweat
Show threadDan Fixes Coin-OpsJul 10, 2024
Moving the heat through fluid would be better than moving it through the air, but we're not even trying to move it through the air, what the heck
Show threadDan Fixes Coin-OpsJul 10, 2024

I had some ideas and I looked on amazon to see if my idea could already be purchased and apparently my idea of a smart fan is very different from capital's idea of a smart fan

Me: 🦝 a smart fan is one that turns itself off when it's not pointed at a person

🦝 also it'd be neat if all the various fans around my house could coordinate with each other to move hot air to where it's either useful or not actively harmful

Capital: 🐷 a smart fan is one where you say "Hey Alexa, turn on this fan" rather than pressing the button

Show threadDoug Baker - Elbows Up! 🇨🇦
@ifixcoinops Probably 30 years ago Bill Gates’ house (on Seattle’s Lake Union, I think) was set so that each room would sense a person’s approach/presence and then turn on lights, audio etc. Your idea should be easily doable.
Jul 10, 2024 at 4:24pmWeb
Show threadTexty the BardJul 10, 2024

@SonofaGeorge @ifixcoinops (Lake Washington)

And yes, smart-home stuff does this easily with motion or heat sensors. My pantry light is motion controlled, as are the lights in the spouse's home office (though if he's just vegging in the comfy chair instead of working, it sometimes thinks the room has become devoid of humans and switches off. Ha.)

Instant water heaters are also nice, though expensive.

Show threadDoug Baker - Elbows Up! 🇨🇦Jul 10, 2024
@textualdeviance @ifixcoinops Lots of offices’ lights are motion controlled after, say, 5:00. If you work late you have to get up every half hour or so and wave your arms around. Probably very healthy, come to think of it. Maybe do that all day?