Patent ID: 8787738

Claim:
An electric heating and cooling device adapted to supplement a furnace or cooling unit having an air duct extending therefrom for transferring air from the furnace or cooling unit to a room, said heating and cooling device comprising: a heater; a fan configured to propel air through the air duct; a housing defining a fluid passageway configured to be arranged in-line with the air duct whereby substantially all of the air passing to the room through said fluid passageway is received in said fluid passageway from an upstream portion of the air duct and is discharged from said fluid passageway to a downstream portion of the air duct, said housing further containing said heater and said fan in said fluid passageway; a control in communication with said heater and said fan, and configured to communicate with a thermostat for detecting a temperature in the room to be heated or cooled and for selecting at least a desired lower threshold temperature in the room, wherein said control is configured to activate and deactivate said heater and said fan in response to a first input from the thermostat; wherein said control is configured to automatically activate said heater and said fan together when the temperature detected in the room by the thermostat is lower than the desired lower threshold temperature; and wherein said fan is activatable, without activating said heater, in response to a second input, to draw air previously cooled, by a cooling unit connected to the air duct, through the air duct with said fan and thereby supplement the cooling unit.