sjt, I ordered my fan and should have it on Monday. Ordered it from a company in CA and got a few discounts. Exclusive of shipping it cost $65. Shipping was less than ordering from a local compoany here in GA. I cannot wait for the contractor's comments. He thinks I am nuts but always seem to like my off the wall ideas. I think my ideas are creative. He should visit GW :).

We have a Matthews Fan Company Vent-Bettina in our kitchen (mounted between the kitchen and LR--formerly our DR). Ours is the teak blade option, rather than the metal blades with "cage" version (available both ways), but I would imagine they function the same way. One big difference, obviously, is how it looks. We liked it's "funky" and slightly different look--the perfect bit of "bling" for our kitchen reno! Other difference, is how it moves the air. Typical ceiling fan moves in one plane, so the air is circulated either upward or downward in a horizantal, circular motion. With the gyroscopic fans, the fan blades are moving in a vertical plane. while the fan's "body" is rotating horizontally (clockwise), *Note, the fan blades/heads are motorized, while the body is not. The motion of the blades, head position/angle drive the fan's "body" rotation. The air is being moved by the spinning fan blades, and is circulated throughout the space by the rotation of the entire unit. The end result is pretty much the same with both types of fans (air is being moved!), though in our application, this type of fan has the added benefit of visually "serving" both rooms. I would say it might have a bit of an edge (over a conventional fan) cooling our two adjacent spaces because of its design. We did not set up our old fan in the kitchen post-reno (after opening up the wall between the two rooms), so I don't have a true comparison. Here is a link that might be useful: Matthews Fan Co. This post was edited by cat_mom on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 12:04

I don't remember it having any problems before with the pull chain and the switch together. It was 10 years ago I lived there, but then I rented it out. All the light bulbs were out when the tenant moved out. I replaced the old with the new bulbs and only pulled the chain to turn them on only without touching the switch at all. It was only after I installed the new fixture, I used the switch.

Fans help to keep insect populations down, can eliminate or ameliorate the effects of passive solar (heat) gain that occurs when a plant's leaves act as a passive solar collector and over-heat, which occurs much more frequently than sunburn. Air movement also speeds up the nutrient stream and causes an increase in evapotransporation, which means it increases the plant's nutrient load - generally a good thing because it increases both additive and multiplicative growth. Additive growth = lengthening and thickening, multiplicative growth = more leaves, branches, and roots. Air movement also helps the plant retain growth inside the canopy outline (for trees) and increases the potential for back-budding. I have 2 - 4 x 8 grow tables under lights in my basement, and I have 3 fans running 24-7 from mid-Sep until around end of May. Al