On Apr 3, 7:45*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
wrote:
Can anyone speak of the reliability of solar powered attic fans ? *I
can buy one for $217.00 in Lowes and live in an area where electricity
is pretty high. * A comparable electric Attic Fan is $70.00 . *Each
comes with a 5 year warranty . *Thanks.

Solar hot water is often a good deal and passive solar heating helps.

Solar-electric anything is a bad investment.

Check here for the skinny on solar fans (but it's a competitive site, so
take with a grain of salt)http://www.savenrg.com/venting.htm

If one's motivation is to help the environment, it's often better to buy the
"wasteful" alternative and donate the difference to the Plant an Owl
Society.

One calculation you could make is to figure out how long an equivalent
fan would have to run to consume the $217-70= $147 worth of
electricity. That is what you are paying for up front. I'll bet
it's quite a long time because the solar fans are not very powerful.
Balance that against the probability that the solar fan lasts that
long. I'd also bet the $70 regular fan moves a lot more air.

In general, I believe passive attic venting is best, ie good soffit
venting together with a ridge vent.