Ask Dr Stupid: Subject: Ceiling fansReturn-Path: <apache@flatus.studio42.com> Received: from flatus.studio42.com (10.1.42.10) by studio42.com with ESMTP (Eudora Internet Mail Server 3.2.10) for <Dr. Stupid>; Mon, 4 May 2009 15:32:53 -0700 Received: from flatus.studio42.com (flatus [127.0.0.1]) by flatus.studio42.com (8.12.5/8.12.5) with ESMTP id n44NdQIa021591 for <Dr. Stupid>; Mon, 4 May 2009 16:39:26 -0700 Received: (from apache@localhost) by flatus.studio42.com (8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id n44NdQew021589; Mon, 4 May 2009 16:39:26 -0700 Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 16:39:26 -0700 Message-Id: <200905042339.n44NdQew021589@flatus.studio42.com> Received: from [67.34.2.221] by www.studio42.com (NMS FormMail 3.14c1) with HTTP; Mon, 4 May 2009 23:39:26 GMT (script-name /cgi-bin/stupidformtomail.pl) (http-host www.studio42.com) (http-referer http://www.studio42.biz/stupidform.html) X-Mailer: NMS FormMail 3.14c1 To: dr.stupid@studio42.com From: debpolley1@bellsouth.net (Deb) Subject: Ceiling fans Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by Deb (debpolley1@bellsouth.net) on Monday, May 04, 2009 at 16:39:26 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- email: debpolley1@bellsouth.net realname: Deb subject: Ceiling fans env_report: REMOTE_HOST,REMOTE_ADDR,REMOTE_USER,REMOTE_IDENT,HTTP_USER_AGENT Form-ID: Dr. Stupid Form subject: Ceiling fans realname: Deb email: debpolley1@bellsouth.net recipient: poser Message: My husband thinks his eyes get dry if he sleeps with the ceiling fan on in the bedroom. I say that can only happen if he sleeps with is eyes open. What's your opinion? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- REMOTE_ADDR: 67.34.2.221 HTTP_USER_AGENT: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729) Dear Deb: Dr. Stupid's opinion is really irrelevant in this discussion, as would be the absence or presence of factual information or mis-information. Dr. Stupid has run into many such discussions before. In Dr. Stupid's experience, it is of little to no use to trying to rationalize or reason with someone with an attitude like your husband. Before we discuss ceiling fans, it is important to discuss how air conditioning and heating works. Both the heating and cooling processes involve removing moisture from the air. Even though it is more effective to warm moist air because the vapor will hold onto the heat longer, the actual heating process itself is more efficient on dry air. The same holds true for air conditioning. This drying of the air is often more noticed during the hotter months when the air conditioner is turned up in order to try to cool the building or rooms. People will more often feel their nasal cavities and throats feel more dry and scratchy during the summer. Others may have runny noses even though they do not have a cold. The movement from being in and out of heavily air conditioned environments tends to confuse the body a little bit, which can cause such reactions. It is always good advise to consume plenty of water regardless of the time of year because proper hydration is important to good health. Heating and cooling are specific terms used to describe climate control. In general, your home and office heating and cooling systems are for climate control. Climate control systems often use forced ventilation to pull air through the system and push it back into the environment after being cooled or warmed as per the settings on the control panel for the system. As you are aware, your home has ventilation ducts, which are often square or rectangular pathways in your walls and ceilings through which air is often pushed back into your home from the air cooled or heated from your climate control system. It is not unusual for dust and allergens to settle inside your ducting system. Even more disgusting is that sometimes rodents will get inside the ducts and die. To add to this grossness of dead critters in your ventilation, when the heated air is pushed through this, it really carries that dead animal smell through your house. In addition to dust and allergens that can cause symptoms as runny noses, dry and itchy eyes and dry, scratchy or sore throats, dead critter odors can cause more of a real health concern. Even if you don't suspect that small furry creatures have died in your ducts, it is often a good idea to have your ducts cleaned every few years. While you may think this recommendation is a scam, it is not. Clean ducts are not only healthier for your home's inhabitants, but it also helps your climate control system operate more efficiently and last longer. Many climate systems can be fitted with filtration systems. These filtration systems tend to remove a lot of dust, dirt and allergens from the air before being forced through the ventilation systems. Such filtration systems can range from the very inexpensive to quite costly. Dr. Stupid is not referring to the filter that is used on your air intake vent opening in your wall or ceiling. While this is an important filter as well, it is not designed to deal with super fine particles. These intake vent filters should be changed monthly. The filter systems Dr. Stupid is referring to are external equipment units that attach to your ventilation systems. Some people may doubt the effectiveness of such filter systems. Be assured that depending on the brand and capability, such filtration can turn a house into a safe sanctuary for even extreme allergy sufferers. In some cases, they can also help keep the house cleaner due to all the dust and dirt being trapped by the filter. Ceiling fans are a highly recommended upgrade or addition to most homes. Such fans can help circulate the air quite effectively even in large rooms. It does not take a lot of air movement to make a big difference. Ceiling fans are more energy efficient than using your climate control system. Often, ceiling fans are used in conjunction with a climate control system. Prices for most decent ceiling fans are relatively affordable, but installation is often best left to a professional. Many houses have been build and they have left boxes with the intention of installing a ceiling mounted light fixture or a ceiling fan. Some ceiling fan units also have lights. With a wide range of choices, you should be able to find something suitable to match most decoration schemes. Fans, like your ventilation system, get dirty. Some fans can accumulate a significant amount of dust over the course of a year. Ceiling fans are usually relatively easy to clean and do not require any special tools. You can clean your ceiling fan with a vacuum cleaner, dusting cloths or wipes, soap and water or a huge variety of other cleaning possibilities. Dr. Stupid personally recommends a vacuum with a brush, followed by a damp towel to get the remaining dust, followed by a furniture polish-type/dusting treatment if the fan blades are wood and not painted. The idea is that the vacuum gets the majority of the dust. The damp cloth gets the rest, while the polish treatment not only makes the blades look nice, it also adds one more cleaning pass. A clean blade tends to gather dust much more slowly. Still, regular cleaning is still good advice. The fan itself is not what is causing your husband's eyes to dry out, unless as you said, he's sleeping with his eyes open. That's just creepy. Are you sure he's not a zombie? He doesn't go moping about the house moaning "brains... brains" does he? You never know, he might also be in middle management. The differences are very subtle. Many things either alone or combined could be causing your husband's dry eyes, or what is being diagnosed as dry eyes. Let's examine a few possibilities: It is entirely possible for people to develop allergies at any point in their lives. Allergies can occur because of a previously undetected condition to a substance, often due to lack of previous exposure. Allergies can also develop due to an over-exposure to substances. Some people are more prone to allergies than others. Dr. Stupid is personally aware of people who have been previously undiagnosed with allergies moving into a new region and suddenly becoming miserable due to allergic reactions. As both fans and climate control systems move the air around, it is entirely possible that airborne allergens are to blame for dry eyes. Similar to allergens, some people may be overly sensitive to dust. As ceiling fans are going to move air around, they will also move dust around. This is very apparently if you have not cleaned your fan for quite some time as you will see the accumulation of dust on the outside edges of your fan blades. Most dust tends to settle down on surfaces such as your floor, tables, sinks and other flat horizontal surfaces. It is also easy for dust to be kicked up due to a fan or climate control system being operated. It may be this excessive movement of dust that could be contributing to dry eyes. Most people have experienced itchy eyes when they are very tired. A lack of sleep can often lead to incidences of dry or itchy eyes. As our society as a whole seems to be getting less than the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep, this particular example is on the rise. The best solution is to get more sleep on a regular basis. You may also be sleeping with the window open and the ceiling fan on. If it cools off at night, this is a great way to sleep. The cool night air combined with the additional air movement by the ceiling fan can help provide good rest for a good many people. With an open window means more dust, dirt and allergens can entire your environment. These issues have already been pointed out and discussed. Anther option worthy of consideration is an attic fan or a whole house fan. The concept is similar to the intake vent for your climate control system in regards to removing air from the house. The whole house fan behaves somewhat differently. The whole house fan is designed to create negative pressure inside the house, thus pushing outside air into the house. Whole house fans work best when you open windows and doors to let in cool fresh air from the outside. The objective is to use the whole house fan to rapidly cool your house so you can turn off the climate control system. Dr. Stupid has personally witnessed a whole house fan cool an entire house a full 10 degrees Fahrenheit in less than an hour. Whole house fans typically cost a tenth of what it costs to run your climate control system. Whole house fans do not re-circulate the air, but work by pulling in air from the outside. Your climate control system works largely by re-circulating the air in your house. While whole house fans are energy efficient, as stated, they do operate best by pulling outside air inside, and this outside air can be full of dust, dirt and allergens. Whole house fans can be very affordable to purchase and have installed. While it may take a few years to see the benefit of the investment, it will increase the value of your home. As you pointed out, unless your husband is sleeping with his eyes open, the ceiling fan alone is not the cause of his dry eyes. The ceiling fan may be a contributing factor, but there are other explanations. There may also be medical reasons, such as blocked tear ducts. Consult a physician and see if over the counter eye drops bring any sort of relief. Back
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