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You’re totally correct about the noise, however I actually use a commercial all-metal box fan to ventilate my apartment and it’s really awesome. I only run it

You’re totally correct about the noise, however I actually use a commercial all-metal box fan to ventilate my apartment and it’s really awesome. I only run it at night, and I put it in a window in another room, facing out with some material around it to make a snug fit. The result is a steady breeze coming in the bedroom windows at night and a muted hum from the other room. It makes regular plastic box fans look like a joke. It easily moves 10x the air on low as a plastic one on high. This approach greatly reduces the number of nights we need to use the AC in early summer/early fall in NYC, when it’s warm but not so humid as in July and August. I’ve tried the same thing with a plastic fan and it’s way less effective...we can come home to a hot stuffy apartment on a Sunday night after a weekend away and have it totally comfortable inside in a matter of minutes.

notatoad 5y ago
yeah, i don't mean to say that no commercial-grade products are suitable for home use, just that you need to be a lot more careful if you're buying products for a use they aren't intended for. if you buy a product designed for home use, you can be reasonably sure that it will work in a home setting if you buy a commercial-grade product, you just need to pay close attention to what trade-offs have been made that might be a poor fit for home usage. it's almost always a good idea to buy the professional-grade items you've used at work and know are awesome, it's almost never a good idea to buy a professional-grade item sight-unseen unless you know there's a local used market for it.
- Wistar 5y ago
  I have been, over-time, retro-fitting my home with pro/commercial-grade infrastructure items such as: quarter-turn marine-grade ball valves for the water-main; toilets, clothes washer, fridge and dishwasher; recessed sillcock valves; outdoor hose reels and hoses; sprinklers (this is a biggie as so many sprinklers are one-season junk); heavy-duty light switches; ceiling fans (the wonderful Big-Ass fans stuff); locks and latches, fencing hardware; outdoor lighting, and so on. Stuff that is fairly invisible but which offer high utility and, especially, durability and trust without being inconvenient or weird. At one point, years ago, my brother and I considered creating a web site that explored these kinds of high-integrity options, and acted as a directory and maybe a review site as well. A site that evangelizes high-quality, well-engineered items that are easily integrated into a home and provide much greater longevity without costing a fortune. "Overkill" is probably too strong a term for the idea.
  - na85 5y ago
    I'd be interested in a site like that, as I have a similar appreciation for high-quality stuff that's built to last. What kind of dishwasher/fridge/laundry appliances did you end up getting?
    - ornornor 5y ago
      For laundry, these are amazing: https://www.vzug.com/ch/en/product/ch-Catalog/287600 https://www.vzug.com/ch/en/product/ch-Catalog/287600 Impossible to break, engineered to was several loads every day, etc. But they’re not cheap.
      - watersb 5y ago
        In the US, there's Staber laundry machines. https://www.staber.com/residential-clothes-washers https://www.staber.com/residential-clothes-washers
    - Wistar 5y ago
      I apologize as I wasn't clear enough: I was not focused on the appliances themselves but, rather, the water valves, and hoses, used to supply the water. The small but really important stuff. Crummy valves break. Most builders use the cheapest crap they can get. They save a couple thousand dollars building a house but replacing the $2 crap can sometimes cost a fortune. One of the worst offenses I have had to deal with is the use of C-PVC pipe which is brittle and will eventually crack or burst. Ideally, the site I thought about would be to educate folks about the kinds of things, components, they should specify when building or remodeling.
      - bombcar 5y ago
        These are the ones that are really annoying because the cost difference is so minimal between the cheap junk and the good quality stuff, and most of the cost is the installation.
        5y ago
phamilton 5y ago
I've got that in our attic with a nice little light switch in our bedroom to turn it on. Crack open the window, turn on the attic fan and the whole house cools down nicely. The only problem is that I forget to turn it off in the morning. Out if sight out of mind. Switching it to a timer is on my list.
- macNchz 5y ago
  Yeah I was inspired by an amazingly effective attic fan in an airbnb I stayed in a few years ago...definitely will be installing one in any future attics I own.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  Smart plugs loaded into home assistant are good for this. Then you can turn the fan off after a period of time, at a specific time, at a certain temp etc. It risks over complicating things though.

notatoad 5y ago

yeah, i don't mean to say that no commercial-grade products are suitable for home use, just that you need to be a lot more careful if you're buying products for a use they aren't intended for. if you buy a product designed for home use, you can be reasonably sure that it will work in a home setting if you buy a commercial-grade product, you just need to pay close attention to what trade-offs have been made that might be a poor fit for home usage. it's almost always a good idea to buy the professional-grade items you've used at work and know are awesome, it's almost never a good idea to buy a professional-grade item sight-unseen unless you know there's a local used market for it.

Wistar 5y ago
I have been, over-time, retro-fitting my home with pro/commercial-grade infrastructure items such as: quarter-turn marine-grade ball valves for the water-main; toilets, clothes washer, fridge and dishwasher; recessed sillcock valves; outdoor hose reels and hoses; sprinklers (this is a biggie as so many sprinklers are one-season junk); heavy-duty light switches; ceiling fans (the wonderful Big-Ass fans stuff); locks and latches, fencing hardware; outdoor lighting, and so on. Stuff that is fairly invisible but which offer high utility and, especially, durability and trust without being inconvenient or weird. At one point, years ago, my brother and I considered creating a web site that explored these kinds of high-integrity options, and acted as a directory and maybe a review site as well. A site that evangelizes high-quality, well-engineered items that are easily integrated into a home and provide much greater longevity without costing a fortune. "Overkill" is probably too strong a term for the idea.
- na85 5y ago
  I'd be interested in a site like that, as I have a similar appreciation for high-quality stuff that's built to last. What kind of dishwasher/fridge/laundry appliances did you end up getting?
  - ornornor 5y ago
    For laundry, these are amazing: https://www.vzug.com/ch/en/product/ch-Catalog/287600 https://www.vzug.com/ch/en/product/ch-Catalog/287600 Impossible to break, engineered to was several loads every day, etc. But they’re not cheap.
    - watersb 5y ago
      In the US, there's Staber laundry machines. https://www.staber.com/residential-clothes-washers https://www.staber.com/residential-clothes-washers
  - Wistar 5y ago
    I apologize as I wasn't clear enough: I was not focused on the appliances themselves but, rather, the water valves, and hoses, used to supply the water. The small but really important stuff. Crummy valves break. Most builders use the cheapest crap they can get. They save a couple thousand dollars building a house but replacing the $2 crap can sometimes cost a fortune. One of the worst offenses I have had to deal with is the use of C-PVC pipe which is brittle and will eventually crack or burst. Ideally, the site I thought about would be to educate folks about the kinds of things, components, they should specify when building or remodeling.
    - bombcar 5y ago
      These are the ones that are really annoying because the cost difference is so minimal between the cheap junk and the good quality stuff, and most of the cost is the installation.
      - 5y ago

phamilton 5y ago

I've got that in our attic with a nice little light switch in our bedroom to turn it on. Crack open the window, turn on the attic fan and the whole house cools down nicely. The only problem is that I forget to turn it off in the morning. Out if sight out of mind. Switching it to a timer is on my list.

macNchz 5y ago
Yeah I was inspired by an amazingly effective attic fan in an airbnb I stayed in a few years ago...definitely will be installing one in any future attics I own.
lostlogin 5y ago
Smart plugs loaded into home assistant are good for this. Then you can turn the fan off after a period of time, at a specific time, at a certain temp etc. It risks over complicating things though.