Danbury Installs Energy-Saving Fan Control

When Douglas Roberts of Willington built the ceiling of his new house, he spent hours below the wooden cathedral ceiling attaching the tongue & groove bead board.

“I spent a fair amount of time up there,” said the mechanical engineer. “It was hot.”

Roberts wanted to put that wasted heat to use. He later installed two ceiling fans, but he had to turn them on with a switch. If his furnace went on at 4:30 a.m., and he woke up at 6 a.m., the air in the room didn’t circulate until he turned the switch after 6 a.m. What he wanted was a temperature control switch on the fan so the fan turned on when the air at the top of the ceiling was five or so degrees hotter than the air near the thermostat.

“What I wanted to do was pull up the cold air and mix it with the warm air as it went down the sides,” Roberts said.

With the help of a $10,000 economic development grant from the state of Connecticut, Roberts created a temperature control system that will adapt to most ceiling fans. It is now being beta tested in Danbury City Hall’s entryway.

Synergistic Controls LLC of Willington is the company Roberts created. He will collect data from the Danbury City Hall to help prove the device saves money and grow his business. For information about the company, click here.

The controller attaches to the wires on the ceiling, and the temperature is set by a hand-held remote control device.

Instead of running all day and blowing cold air down to the point where people could feel the air on their skin, the new system draws air up and that reduces the wind on the ground.

Mike Patton, an electrician with the Public Buildings division of public works, installed the device Monday at 7 a.m.

Public Buildings Director Rick Palanzo said he is interested, because the fan used to run constantly and it was too breezy in the City Hall entrance.

“If it works, it’s going to save us money,” Palanzo said. “It will only turn on the fan if there is hot air up there to blow down.”