Question on ceiling fans in Singapore

[ecureilx]

I just found out that the roof in my house is false or made of gypsum board, at this point this pretty much blows all the plans i had for a ceiling fan in the bedroom out of the water.

What about wall fan?

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I have a stand fan but I don't like the noise it makes i might go and get that vertical fan with fins instead.

Did you check Vornado?

[JR8]

Well this is an interesting thread encompassing air circulation, DIY, TCM, and ‘quantum science’. What next, the psychology of how the sound of a ceiling fan can start composing music in your head?

And to combine the sound of ceiling fans with one facet of the expat experience, esp. the effects of leaving and becoming an ex-expat, we have...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEgqIY7xgtE
Re-Cut of Sheen's Opening Scene in Apocalypse Now... [1:23Mins]
------------------- [V.O. = voice-over of the thoughts in his head]

‘ INT. SAIGON HOTEL - DAY
The CAMERA MOVES slowly across the room...and we SEE
WILLARD, a young army captain. He looks out the window to
the busy Saigon street.

WILLARD (V.O.) *
Saigon...shit. I'm only in Saigon.
Every time, I think I'm gonna wake
up back in the jungle.

He moves back to the bed, lies down. He's unshaven,
exhausted, probably drunk. We SEE alcohol bottles, photos,
documents scattered on the table.

WILLARD (V.O.)
When I was home after my first
tour, it was worse. I'd wake up
and there'd be nothing. I hardly
said a word to my wife until I
said yes to a divorce. When I was
here, I wanted to be there. When
I was there...all I could think of
was getting back into the jungle.
[snip]

[Steve1960]

I have a stand fan but I don't like the noise it makes i might go and get that vertical fan with fins instead.

Alternatively don't worry so much about the fan noise, get some airline style ear plugs and sleep peacefully

[JR8]

I just found out that the roof in my house is false or made of gypsum board, at this point this pretty much blows all the plans i had for a ceiling fan in the bedroom out of the water.

The sheets of gypsum would usually be screwed into timber ceiling joists above. Back home those 'timber members' tend to be 12"*2", and they are set about 18" apart right across a ceiling. (They're often also form the floor joists of the unit above!). If I were to put up a ceiling fan back home I would have to locate one of those members/joists and bolt it into that. Even bolting a small light-fighting into just the gypsum is not a good idea.
Locating the joists is not that easy as on top of the gypsum there is usually a layer or 'skim' of plaster. That serves to hide the joints between the gypsum boards, and also the fixing screws, yielding a uniform smooth finish. I suspect identifying the position of joists like that is beyond the scope of most DIYers.

I appreciate that here most ceiling/floors between units are likely to be concrete. Thus the lowered ceiling is likely to be bolted into something much smaller than structural-size joists. It's likely these joists are simply what's required to keep the gypsum/skim up. The gap between gypsum and concrete is also going to be smaller, much less than 12", but probably enough still to invisibly run cabling, and avoid surface ducting/cabling.

Anyway, I reckon retro-fitting a ceiling fan, into a ceiling of which you're unsure of how it's constructed is going to be a thankless task, which might end up failing anyway. A wall-mounted fan, into a concrete wall, would be sooo much easier to accomplish and know it's not going to land on you in bed one day at 4am.

... Meanwhile, I find floor-standing fans accomplish everything I need. ...

[sundaymorningstaple]

Standing tower fans are pretty quiet as they use roller fans. My daughter has one and you cannot even hear it running. This might be a viable option...
http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Ultra-inch- ... B1S7F4KBQJ

[ecureilx]

Standing tower fans are pretty quiet as they use roller fans. My daughter has one and you cannot even hear it running. ...]

It's quite until the dust starts to choke the intakes

Had a cheap one that was noisy

Swapped to a better one with easy filter cleaning .. works fine now.

Actually vornado claims to lower the room temperature by 2 to 5 degree due to the turbine design, having a Bernoulli effect...but for the prices. ..

[rajagainstthemachine]

@squirrel - Vornado fans are expensive but i quite like how they operate i saw some at a DIY store the other day expensive is not the word!

@WD40 Indian made fans are much cheaper, I don't understand why ceiling fans cost 200$ here.

@JR8 its a real nightmare option, I'd have to find out what kind of beams support the gypsum board/false ceiling, i suspect it is wood and I'd have to locate where that wooden beam runs across the bedroom, drill into the gypsum board and into that wooden beam, attach the bolt and then mount the fan. and yes it's a thankless job, one i would readily do in a house I owned and not rented.

so it looks like it's going to be a fan of the the SMS posted which I quite like. those purr like a kitten.

[ecureilx]

@WD40 Indian made fans are much cheaper, I don't understand why ceiling fans cost 200$ here. .

Bit out of topic, if you know an organizer you can get an Amma fan from India .

[taxico]

please keep your rooms (with running fans) properly ventilated on hot nights (>30'c).

What so specific about portable electric fans?

i think you would have to read the PDF and recognize the context of an excessive/extreme heat event - usually resulting in people (americans) buying portable fans as an economical, convenient and temporary measure to cool themselves down.

i assume the intent of the OP was similar to that.

my was point... whatever sort of fan one uses, don't run it in a closed up room when the temperatures are high.

the results can be more fatal than one may think.

[x9200]

please keep your rooms (with running fans) properly ventilated on hot nights (>30'c).

What so specific about portable electric fans?

i think you would have to read the PDF and recognize the context of an excessive/extreme heat event - usually resulting in people (americans) buying portable fans as an economical, convenient and temporary measure to cool themselves down.

i assume the intent of the OP was similar to that.

my was point... whatever sort of fan one uses, don't run it in a closed up room when the temperatures are high.

the results can be more fatal than one may think.

I actually read this (warning part) some time earlier before you posted it and what I didn't like about it was that there was not even an attempt to explain why. This may be dangerous because people could make some wrong assumptions and to be frank, myself, reading it, I am not sure at all where is the problem. Clearly it is about body overheating but is it because of insufficient hydration (so one may assume it is enough to drink more and everything will be fine), or combined effect of small room with heat dissipated by the running electric motor, where in extreme cases no hydration may help, or built up of the humidity and less effective evaporation of sweat from the skin, or all together, or yet something else?

[Steve1960]

In a closed room a fan will only increase the temperature due, as pointed out, to heat from the fan motor. The cooling effect is just wind chill, blowing the air over your sweaty body.

We do close our bedroom doors as it helps the kids sleep better especially when we are awake in the living room with TV on.

Air con is really the only solution for us I think.

[Strong Eagle]

Fact is, though, all other things being equal, I am better off having air passing over my skin for evaporative cooling. It does cool me. Unless you have zero windows open a fan is much better than no fan.

[nakatago]

In a closed room a fan will only increase the temperature due, as pointed out, to heat from the fan motor. The cooling effect is just wind chill, blowing the air over your sweaty body.

We do close our bedroom doors as it helps the kids sleep better especially when we are awake in the living room with TV on.

Air con is really the only solution for us I think.

Most rooms, even Singapore ones, I think have enough heat capacity to accommodate fan motor heat.

A better argument would be is to let all that stale air and humidity out so that evaporative cooling would work. I'd be restless first before I overheat.

[JR8]

I'd be restless first before I overheat.

My three girlfriends would become restless before they let me overheat

[nakatago]

I'd be restless first before I overheat.

My three girlfriends would become restless before they let me overheat