Remote (electric) loft light opener .. ?

Hi All,

I have a glass loft light that when I open that, the loft door and the (nth facing) back door (in the summer) creates a fairly powerful up-draught of cool air through the house.

I was thinking of fitting some sort of automatic opener and my first thought was a basic thermostatic mechanical jobby as used with greenhouse vents?

Then I though if it was 'electric' (satellite disk actuator maybe?) I could include other inputs / interlocks like timers, thermostats and rain sensors?

So before I look into designing / building such, does such a product already exist please?

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m
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You could modify a garage door opener. However, these cost around 140 quid, so there is almost certainly a cheaper option, such as using some sort of worm and rack drive with an inexpensive motor, or some sort of winch. I'm sure you can come up with some sort of Heath Robinson contraption!

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Ouch .. and I just need the window to open not 'up and over' ;-)

Indeed there is / are ;-)

I'm sure I can Christian, but I was hoping for a partly (at least) off-the-shelf solution, even if I have to adapt it slight for my exact needs?

I have found some very nice straight thermostatic greenhouse type openers, strong enough to open this fairly low pitch, double glazed 'light'.

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they don't offer any 'override' abilities.

Then there's this type that may do it (I always feel uncomfortable when I see foriegn plugs) ..

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this ..

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are also more side hung 'casement' type openers and another that use 'a chain' but I can't see how they work?

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

the gas thermostatic greenhouse openers do help a lot, but a properly controlled one can make far more difference. For max effect you want the window open at night not only during the hot day.

Unfortunately I dont have any leads either.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:07:21 +0100, T i m wrote (in article ):

Yes.

I have two of them opening the vents of my conservatory.

Have a look at

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is a controller which detects temperature and opens the vents above a certain temperature and a rain sensor to close them when it rains.

You can also manually part open and close them to any position.

I added a switch such that I can force them to remain fully closed or open or let the automatic controller do its thing.

The actuator unit is fitted to a bracket on the frame or reveal and there is a special chain which is folded inside the actuator and then comes out when the motor runs. The mechanical design of this is such that it projects out, unsupported and opens the window - effectively as a stay would do.

Reply to
Andy Hall

Ok ....

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

Ahhhh, thanks for that Andy! I'd seen mention of this 'chain' but my only understanding of 'chain' was that it was great under tension but useless as a rod (like trying to push a worm back down it's hole).

But you say this is a 'magic chain' that (using some clever electronics and pixy dust no doubt) can flex though 90 deg as it comes out of the casing and turn into a rigid bar!

I wonder if I can afford to put a tick by the price box though .. ;-(

Any chance of finding the links to the actual items you are using please Andy (or model numbers etc)?

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

RS used to do a nice line in pneumatics - a piston, pump, swivel-thrust plates and a couple of microswitches might do it. Problem is RS prices and excessive-precision parts would cost a bit.

My old school (like 30 years ago) used to have some nice worm drive window openers with a fixed pulley for a cord loop. Wonder if you might find such things at a reclamation yard? If so, it shouldn't be hard to put an O-section rubber belt round the 2" pulley wheel and onto a cheap motor (say from a scrappy for much cheapness) ... Just an idea.

The worm units had a throw of about 6" give or take a couple of inches.

Cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim S

Then you'd need a rain sensor to close it too. :¬(

Reply to
PeTe33

Probably. The temp drops further when it rains though, sometimes its worth keeping it open.

Rain sensors cost nada though, just an oscillator, some porous carbon film, and a detector. The whole lot fits on one 20p logic chip.

The ideal thing would be to have sensors and actuators round the house piped to a pc (running the windows, but not running windows), and have the pc calculate how to get the house as close to the comfort zone as poss with little or no energy use.

How much fuel would this save? Will it become worthwhile? I think the answer is probably yes. Used PCs cost little, and a lot of people have one sitting around already. Mass produced window actuators could be made quite cheaply. Burying cat5 wiring at building or time costs sod all. Doing it at a rewire costs not too much extra. The PC could possibly spend most of its time sleeping, or your main pc could run climate control as a background process, perhaps waking up briefly every 10 minutes at night. Or maybe running all night at 33MHz, fans off. (CPU wold eat 1/100th the normal power at that speed.)

The gains from a very simple system I used were typically around 6C cooling in summer, how much heat gain is posible in autumn and spring I dont know. Some day we'll be able to dl a small freeware linux heat&cool distro that runs on 32M, new houses will have cat12 built in along with =A3250 of actuators and fans, and heating and cooling bills will be significantly lower. Add a heliostat on a turntable for more heat gain. Maybe use it at night to chill the house too.

If my programming skills werent rusted solid I might write something. It would heat in spring and autumn, cool in summer, and watch and improve RH as well.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

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