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Everything Else Bonaire: Direction of the breeze?
Bonaire Talk: Everything Else Bonaire: Archives: Archives 1999 - 2004: Archives - 2003-04-30 to 2004-02-25: Direction of the breeze?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carl Pflanzer (BonaireTalker - Post #26) on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 3:00 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Quick question - in which direction do the
cooling breezes come from - or go to?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1679) on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 3:28 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

From E to SE, to W or NW. Bonaire lies in the SE Trade Winds modified a little by the South American continent. Try the Weather Underground page for Bonaire http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/78990.html or InfoBonaire.com weather for now and histories.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carl Pflanzer (BonaireTalker - Post #27) on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 6:17 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for the link - that site is great, should have been a meteorologist! It shows easterly winds today. Now, we are looking into purchasing a lot in Santa Barbara, on the hill, facing Klein Bonaire. Worried about the houses next to us blocking the wind from the South or the North, but if the winds blow in from Klein that's one less worry....

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By gregg brewer (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #476) on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 7:25 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Carl,

winds do not blow in from Klein...Klein is west (sun sets in the west over Klein). As Glenn says, wind is from the east and blows toward the west...depending on the season, east and south of east blowing west and north of west

That being said, perhaps folks who have stayed in the Santa Barbara area can comment on the winds

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dara Walter (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #580) on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 9:56 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

the wind always blows from the direction you are riding your bicycle into :-)

the wind is always easterly, but is very dependant upon the topography and houses in your immediate vacinity.....build a two story with the bedroom up :-) Also consider siting and the type of windows installed so that they act as funnels...also, shade on the west/nw is advisable in the form of a porch or wide eve so heat won't build up in that wall and continue to radiate long after sunset.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Barton Brown (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 10:45 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Dara,

Great insight on the heat radiated from the west wall.

We are in the process of designing our Bonaire retirement home and while I had considered most of the obvious siting issues, your recommendation was not one that came to mind - probably because this is not a situation I have experienced living in heavily insulated, low thermal mass houses in the NW of the US.

Thanks,
Barton

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1683) on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 11:31 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Another consideration is that as the constant wind crosses the island, it picks up find coral sand which then blows into any ground floor opening on the east side of a building, even cracks around windows, etc. You don't see clouds of dust, just a steady accumulation. An open window or door is also an open invitation. This is more pronounced if there is open ground upwind, of course, but a lot of the dust is picked up over on the windward side.. Thus a seemingly obvious source of cross ventilation can be a problem and east side rooms harder to ventilate. Don't know how this is on a second floor level; my daughter''s first floor house is my example.

Somehow this near-constant wind should usable for 'low cost' whole house ventilation if the circulation is set up right, along the lines Dara mentioned. Some sort of venturi/eductor devices along the ridge line of a north south oriented roof with openings on the west/dustless side of the house. Or perhaps just the roof-mounted, wind-powered, vertical-axis exhaust fans common in the US.

A feature I have noticed about the building on Bonaire is that they ventilate the attics (the volume between the ceiling of the first floor and the roof) very little if at all; none at all in my daughter's house. That volume must get very hot during the day- it surely radiates into the house all night, like Dara's west wall. At the least, it needs to be well ventilated.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By T-Shirt Divers John and Sue (BonaireTalker - Post #85) on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 4:52 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We found cross breezes important in our house in Republiek.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Barton Brown (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #10) on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 5:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Glen,

Curiosity question - what is the general location of your daughter's house?

The purpose for the question is to start to determine if the dust issue is common to most residential locations or if it increases as one goes south on the island. My impression is that the wind is much stronger in Belnem than Sabadeco which would lead me to speculate that the dust issue would be greater in Belnem than Sabadeco...

On the topic of house design and ventilation, I have wondered many times why the typical houses on Bonaire aren't designed to make much use of the natural cooling (breeze) available on Bonaire. Anyone have any insight here?

Barton

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian (bcj.) (BonaireTalker - Post #24) on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 5:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Belnem was quite windy, especially where my family lived at the time. The wind whipped across the mondi and through our house. I don't recall the dust being a major problem other than the weekly routine/chore/hard manual labor (I was a kid, of course it was terrible) of dusting, but I don't recall this being anything more than the average house-cleaning one would do in a house surrounded by grass.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1686) on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 6:30 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Her house is on Kaya Neerlandia almost at the intersection with Kaya Gob. Nicolaas Debrot/Kaya Grandi. Somewhat behind Voz di Bonaire, i.e., north of K center.

The dust has been less since houses were built upwind of hers so airflow, or windflow, does matter. Something to consider. The 'dust' is more like very fine sand and is unfriendly to computer drives, etc.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Barton Brown (BonaireTalker - Post #11) on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 11:14 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Glen, thank you for the update on the location of your daughter's house.

I guess we have to trade off the weekly routine/chore/hard manual labor of dusting (thanks Brian :-) ) with having a comfortable house with a minimum amount of electrical expense (air conditioning)... We choose doing more dusting.

While I have limited scientific data (winds reported at Flamingo airport and winds reported on Jake Richtor's webcam/weatherunderground site) and personal observations, I do believe it is correct that the winds are noticeably less at Sabadeco (where our lot is located) than at Belnem or Kralendijk. Combining this data with personal stubbornness and the desire to be "outside" even when we are inside, we will continue to design a house with large openings to the outside and deal with the potential dust. NOTE: this would be a great time for someone with concrete, contradictory data to speak up :-)!

Barton

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1687) on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 12:43 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Re wind speed differences registered at Jake's and the airport, be advised that Jake's station is, or certainly was, relatively protected and low compared to the airport station. That accounts for a good bit of the consistently lower readings there, as Jake has agreed.

Have fun with the house!! Have you talked to people living in the different locations you are considering and visited their houses?? If not, it might be worthwhile.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Barton Brown (BonaireTalker - Post #12) on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 1:31 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Yes, we have talked with people living near our lot (we purchased a lot in Sabadeco back in December of 1998) and until your posting, no one had mentioned the dust issue, which is why I was curious where your daughter's house was located.

We have spent some time wandering around the lot area (hard to actually get to the center of the lot with all the cactus, etc :-) ) monitoring wind direction etc and were happy with what we felt and saw regarding the cooling breeze. That said, I must also admit that our trips to Bonaire have been in the Dec - March time frame (might as well go when the weather is bad here :-)) so we haven't experience the dry season and possibly the dust.

Regarding the wind difference (if any), I must admit that I was somewhat biased by Jake's readings, although when we are on the island it seems like it is windier the farther south we go. But this isn't determined scientifically. Maybe I'm subconsciously expecting the higher terrain east of Sabadeco to be influencing the wind speed.

No matter what, I'm sure we will adjust :-) and have fun on Bonaire. Can't be any worse than 8 months of rain in Oregon (OK, I exaggerate a little :-)).

Barton

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1688) on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 9:31 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The airport (thankfully!) and G's house are both on the flat part of the island and get the full benefit of the trades. Sabadeco is on the backside of the hills so would seem likely to be less windy. Enjoy.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1689) on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 3:35 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

In fact, Jake's house is in the 'shadow' of the hill, in Hato, so that accounts for some of the reduced wind speed there.

 


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