Attic Fans Really Work

With the summer season upon us now is a good time to review an uncomfortable topic.

Attic fans really work.

Some of the daytime temperature rise comes from internal loads refrigerator television lights and some from solar gain through windows and attic insulation won t reduce those heat sources. A very hot problem last week we had some warm weather for the first t. By tipsformyhome june 28 2019. Why attic fans don t work well and what to do instead.

I m not experienced enough with your climate to know whether a whole house fan would work but i suspect that it would work better than attic insulation. People who really think attic fans work. You have to apply insulation during some season for it to be effective. Good insulation reduces fan effectiveness.

Here is some information so you can decide whether an attic fan is. The downside of attic ventilation fans. Whether or not an attic fan really works is a controversial subject. Attic fans are not recommended if you have central air conditioning because when you turn the fan on in the summer it depressurizes the attic but also reaches down into your house and starts drawing off air conditioned air effectively driving up your cooling costs.

Attic ventilation fans whether hard wired or powered by their own solar panels seem like a low cost and effective way to help keep your house cool. To determine the number of cubic feet per minute needed for a power vent fan multiply the number of square feet in your attic by 0 7. Manufacturers of attic fans as well as hvac companies will tell you otherwise. Solar powered attic vent fans usually don t move as many cubic feet of air per minute cfm as hardwired fans.

Attic fan ventilation attic fans are intended to cool hot attics by drawing in cooler outside air from attic vents soffit and gable and pushing hot air to the outside. Do attic fans really work. You re pitting your intuition against physics and data. They also create zones of negative pressure that could pull the ac cooled air into the attic.

If you really can t believe it set up some experiments of your own. However if your attic has blocked soffit vents and is not well sealed from the rest of the house attic fans will suck cool conditioned air up out of the house and into the attic. During the different seasons the attic fan will help you in dealing with moisture and heat. Find out whether it is economical to run an attic fan.

The safety and effectiveness of an attic fan is a subject that is hotly debated but line powered products usually cost more to operate than they can produce in savings during the summer. The attic fan can work with the modern air conditioning unit but only if you are in a closed room. Turn your fan off and monitor the temperature in your attic up unitl 2pm or something then. Instead of installing a fan just make sure your attic is well ventilated.

Hot attics and why traditional exhaust fans don t work well enough to cool them off. Solar power is safer to use with an attic fan. Watch this video to find out more. However the utility of attic ventilation fans is actually quite a controversial topic.