Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm (hot). When
we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat roil in from the
attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story house).

Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the attic
to the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I realized that I
didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The only ventilation for
the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole in the wall that leads to the
attached garage. The instructions stated that some type of "intake"
ventilation is necessary in order for the attic fan to be used.

What are my options? Is there any reason why I can't install the fan
without having any type of "intake" ventilation?

Thanks - AL

"AL" wrote in message ...
Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm (hot).
When we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat roil in from
the attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story house).

Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the
attic to the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I realized
that I didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The only
ventilation for the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole in the wall
that leads to the attached garage. The instructions stated that some type
of "intake" ventilation is necessary in order for the attic fan to be
used.

What are my options? Is there any reason why I can't install the fan
without having any type of "intake" ventilation?

Thanks - AL

You do need to add intake ventilation or what you'll end up doing is sucking
nice air conditioned air from inside your house and venting it to the
outside. That'll certainly cool your attic, but not a good trade-off in my
opinion.

Is there any room on your soffits to cut-in some vents? Not a fun job, but
it would be the right thing to do in your situation. Beyond that, if you
added a fair amount of soffit vent, it and your ridge vent would probably
make the forced air solution unnecessary.

KB

"AL" wrote in message ...
Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm (hot).
When
we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat roil in from the
attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story house).

Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the
attic
to the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I realized that
I
didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The only ventilation
for
the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole in the wall that leads to the
attached garage. The instructions stated that some type of "intake"
ventilation is necessary in order for the attic fan to be used.

What are my options?






Is there any reason why I can't install the fan
without having any type of "intake" ventilation?

With out a supply/intake and a place to exhaust the fan will not do
anything.

AL wrote:
Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm (hot). When
we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat roil in from the
attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story house).

Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the attic
to the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I realized that I
didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The only ventilation for
the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole in the wall that leads to the
attached garage. The instructions stated that some type of "intake"
ventilation is necessary in order for the attic fan to be used.

What are my options? Is there any reason why I can't install the fan
without having any type of "intake" ventilation?

Thanks - AL


Hi,
Law of physics.
Most of cases attic vent is inadequate even brand new houses being built
today.
Tony

SQLit wrote:
"AL" wrote in message ...

Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm (hot).

When

we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat roil in from the
attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story house).

Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the

attic

to the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I realized that

I

didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The only ventilation

for

the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole in the wall that leads to the
attached garage. The instructions stated that some type of "intake"
ventilation is necessary in order for the attic fan to be used.

What are my options?







Is there any reason why I can't install the fan

without having any type of "intake" ventilation?


With out a supply/intake and a place to exhaust the fan will not do
anything.


Hi,
It may even disturb inslation sitting above ceiling for an instance.
Tony

AL wrote:
Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm
(hot). When we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat
roil in from the attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story
house).
Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the
attic to the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I
realized that I didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The
only ventilation for the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole
in the wall that leads to the attached garage.

STOP. There should not be any holes or vents between the attic over the
living area or to the living area and an attached garage. There should be a
fire break between the two. I suggest you get that fixed first. You may
find it a lot hotter than it is now.

Other than that, I would suggest you don't need a fan, you need proper
attic ventilation. It is difficult to see your home from here, so we may
not be able to make good specific suggestions, but the general ones offered
should be close to right and certainly better than what you have now.



The instructions
stated that some type of "intake" ventilation is necessary in order
for the attic fan to be used.
What are my options? Is there any reason why I can't install the fan
without having any type of "intake" ventilation?

Thanks - AL

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Kyle Boatright wrote:
"AL" wrote in message ...

Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm (hot).
When we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat roil in from
the attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story house).

Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the
attic to the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I realized
that I didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The only
ventilation for the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole in the wall
that leads to the attached garage. The instructions stated that some type
of "intake" ventilation is necessary in order for the attic fan to be
used.

What are my options? Is there any reason why I can't install the fan
without having any type of "intake" ventilation?

Thanks - AL


You do need to add intake ventilation or what you'll end up doing is sucking
nice air conditioned air from inside your house and venting it to the
outside. That'll certainly cool your attic, but not a good trade-off in my
opinion.

Is there any room on your soffits to cut-in some vents? Not a fun job, but
it would be the right thing to do in your situation. Beyond that, if you
added a fair amount of soffit vent, it and your ridge vent would probably
make the forced air solution unnecessary.

KB



Right, he already has a ridge vent; the builder
just forgot the soffit vents. And putting in
soffit vents is not that difficult. Use vents
that are large enough to see up and to reach into
to make sure the air can go from the soffit space
up to the attic (might be partially blocked by
insulation). They make cardboard tubes for that
purpose. Screw the vents to the soffit and you
are done. No need for a fan.

If by some chance, the house is built so that the
soffits are not open to the attic, or there are no
soffits, the cutting holes and installing vents
hear the attic floor is the solution. The vent
should be just above the top of the insulation.
Again, not a big problem with most houses as the
only place you put the vents would be on the gable
ends. You just have to provide protection from
blowing rain or snow.

In alt.home.repair on Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:21:29 -0500 "AL"
posted:

Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm (hot). When
we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat roil in from the
attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story house).

Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the attic
to the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I realized that I
didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The only ventilation for
the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole in the wall that leads to the
attached garage. The instructions stated that some type of "intake"
ventilation is necessary in order for the attic fan to be used.

What are my options? Is there any reason why I can't install the fan
without having any type of "intake" ventilation?

Thanks - AL

I don't discount the experience of others who have posted but, mine,
regarding the roof fan, has been fantastically good.

Like they say, you need an intake or there will not be an output**

I use the term "roof fan" to make sure it is never confused with the
other kind of attic fan, the "whole house fan", which sits on the
floor of the attic and sucks from the top residential floor. I know
that's not what you meant, bucause you were clear, "to remove the hot
air from the attic....". Hmmmm. Although why would you want to
remove the air "to the garage". Wouldn't it just end up back in the
attic through the small hole you mention? Or at least make the garage
too hot?

Wouldn't you want the air going outside the house so that it will blow
away or at least disperse?

A gable mounted fan, at the end of the house, which vents to the
outside, seems equivalent to a roof fan. Both should be mounted high,
because that is where the hottest air in the attic will be found.


By 1 1/2 stories, you mean a split level, right? Which iiuc will
still have an attic over the higher part, and also a separate attic
over the lower part? You certainly have one attic, whose hot air you
can feel when open a closet (and in the rest of that floor too, just
not so concentrated.

Maybe I'm wrong about your house so I will tell you about mine. A
standard townhouse, end of group, two stories, basement, and attic,
with one big, one medium, one small bedroom and two baths on the 2nd
floor.

My house was built with a ridge vent from one end to the other, and
with soffit vents both front and back from one end to the other. One
side to the other. It came with crumby brown blob insulation (what's
the name for that?) but the first owner who had the place 4 years put
in good pink inulation over the whole ceiling below, stopping before
the soffitt vents but maybe blocking them a little where the pink
stuff hit the ceiling near the soffit. but it only did that in 3 or 4
places a foot long, and didn't seem to be enough to lower the
circulation. And I putshed the insultation down in those places
anyhow, the first summer I was here.

None the less, my house was so hot in the summer on the second floor
without using the AC that I couldn't stand to go upstairs when I got
home from work even for a few minutes. I would sleep on a loft bed in
the basement, and only go up the next morning to shower and get fresh
clothes.

Three of my 100 neighbors had a roof fan and I asked them about it.
One was a tenant and had no idea. One was the second owner and had no
idea, and one said maybe. My girlfriend's brother had two in a ranch
house he had built, and he seemed the type who would never admit
making a mistake, but even he thought they didn't do much. Of course
his were installed when the house was built so he had no basis to
compare.

I put my fan in late summer, and the effect was immediate. It was at
least 10 degrees cooler on the second floor -- I wish I'd measured***
and given the insulation between the attic and the second floor, that
must mean it is 20 or 30 or 40 degrees cooler in the attic. I know
slept in my regular bed every night and even though it might be hot,
I'm not using the AC, just a fan in my office and above my bed. (and
it's definitely humid on most days, which is the chief source of
discomfort.) I also live next to a stream, which means I live in a
valley, and I think that is the reason there is not much breeze, which
is why I need the fans.^^ Of course this would also lower the
efficiency of natural ciruculation, without the fan, but there are
other things that would, such as trees, general lack of breeze in the
area. I would read what I say about dust 3 paragraphs down, and
compare my house or others that are 15 years old or more to see if
they have the layer of dust that I describe. If none do, they aren't
getting near the circulation I do.

Right now, around 4:30PM, it is bright but cloudy and about 84 degrees
outside, and in my bathroom which has no windows, it's about 82
degrees, with no AC. If you want, I can check on sunny hot days too.

I love my fan. One of the smartest things I ever did.

BTW, about 15 years after the fan went in (18 years after the house
was built), I noticed that the soffitt vent screens had to be cleaned.
They were not as bad as the lint filter in the dryer, but they were
from one end to the other covered with a quarter inch layer of dust.
I'm positive that was not true when I installed the fan -- they were
perfectly clean than as far as the naked eye could see -- and I don't
think any of my neighbors with without fans whose houses are 26 years
old now have ever had that layer of dust. (I won't wait so long to
check next time. BTW, I live pretty far from the steel mills, which
are much cleaner than they used to be anyhow. I think this dust is
mostly plant matter, seeds, pollen, grass slicing dust from mowing
lawns. It's too light in color for uncombusted furnace oil, and since
the attic fan is off and there is little convection during the winter
when the furnaces are on, I think that is not part of it and the dust
is something that would occur in any neighborhood, except Manhattan
Island, NY.

It shows how much greater the ciruculation through my attic is with
the fan.

The fan goes on automatically, between noon and two iirc in the summer
and goes off around 10PM on hot days. If the radio is off and I
listen, I can hear it when it is running. It's not loud at all, but
it is always stopped by the time I am ready to sleep. The thermostat
is adjustable, but I left it on the setting they had set it. I can
check what that is if you want. I tried to buy the most expensive
model, since I intend this to last as long as the house, but there was
only a small range in price, 22 years ago, it was from 60 to 75
dollars maybe at Hechingers, a big chain big box hardware store of the
time.

As suggested by the maker, I have an override in the upstairs hall,
and in the spring and the fall, I turn the fan off totally so I can
heat the attic in the day and use some of that heat to heat my house
at night. I put in another switch next to that one to turn the fan on
when the thermostat doesn't, so that I can vent the attic if it is too
humid, but since I don't take long or hot showers, and usually take
baths. there has never been a need.

I had put a light in the attic, and the start of a floor, so I already
had eletricity up there.

I guess because of rain splattering through the screen that the fan
comes with, the motor has frozen up 3 or 4 times in the last 18 years.
Or maybe I should have oiled it. I can't remember if it takes oil, but
I think not. The first time I ordered a new motor from the roof fan
company, but since then it's easier to buy one at the motor store in
Baltimore. Takes less than an hour to put it in. Maybe less than a
half hour now. From the inside. If it is the summer time, I do it at
dawn, or at least before 10.


^^I use a table-lamp dimmer, or for fans that won't work with one, a
fan speed control which I mount in a plastic box, to lower the speed
of the fan to where I can't hear it. Much, much better than a fan
that makes noise. It's more like a breeze, and breezes usually don't
make any noise.

***I wish I had measured the temperature change with the roof fan. I
could turn the fan off and measure now, but I don't want to be hot.)

** The fan will spin, but it will be mostly spinning the air like a
doughnut, like a carboard cylinder that spins except it is air rather
than cardboard, and then bending the cylinder until one end meets the
other and it's a dougnut. So you'll be blowing out air you just
sucked in, plus whatever you suck from elsewhere, such as the interior
of your house.


Meirman
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"AL" wrote in message ...
Need some advice.

Hot and humid weather here (NE WI) has made the attic very warm (hot). When
we open our closet doors upstairs, you can feel the heat roil in from the
attic/crawl space that surrounds them (1.5 story house).

Was thinking about adding an attic fan to remove the hot air from the attic to
the garage. When I purchased the fan and got it home, I realized that I
didn't have any vents in my soffits for the attic. The only ventilation for
the attic is a ridge vent and a small hole in the wall that leads to the
attached garage. The instructions stated that some type of "intake"
ventilation is necessary in order for the attic fan to be used.

What are my options? Is there any reason why I can't install the fan without
having any type of "intake" ventilation?

Thanks - AL

This is Turtle.

All You need to get you some eve loovers or air intake screens and start cutting
holes in the eves to be enough to vent the Ridge roof vent and also add the vent
fan if the ridge roof vent does not keep up. It has a thermostat on it and will
never come on if the ridge roof vent is keeping up.

If you don't have air intake for the venting system. Your wasting your time.

TURTLE

In alt.home.repair on Sat, 16 Jul 2005 17:21:27 -0400 meirman
posted:

Of course this [living in a valley] would also lower the
efficiency of natural ciruculation, without the fan, but there are

Well, I put this in to try to seem comparable to and cooperative with
those who say a fan won't make much difference, but I'm not so sure.
a) I do have some breeze, b) almost everywhere there are still days,
c) Nothinkg I have seen anywhere claims to know how much a breeze
increases circulation through an attic. For the most part, I think
people are relying on convection, the natural activity of liquids that
one sees when hot air rises. And no matter what the level or
circulation with convection and a breeze, I think a roof fan increases
the level by a factor of 3 or 4 or more.

Depending on the direction of the breeze, a breeze might affect the
air pressure at the soffits the same as it affects the air pressure at
the top of the roof, at the ridge rail or whatever is there. My guess
is that if the breeze is primariy along the line of gutters, where the
soffits are, rather than at right angles to it, it would have equal
effects on the top and bottom of the attic, the breeze would
accomplish little or nothing.

And even if it does accelerate the convection, as long as the AC is on
in the house, it is very hard to measure the effect. Without AC the
effect is measurable by the temperature in the attic and on the floor
below. With the AC on, the floor below, the story below, is no
measure, and even the attic is cooled by having a cold second floor.
Measuring the amount of AC or electricity used introduces all sorts of
variables from one house to another.

other things that would, such as trees, general lack of breeze in the
area. I would read what I say about dust 3 paragraphs down, and

The amount of dust on the soffitts is one direct measure of
circulation. My soffitts have vinyl window screening in them. That's
what the vents are, holes with window screening. Maybe other
openings are too coarse to trap dust -- I haven't looked closely at
them.


compare my house or others that are 15 years old or more to see if
they have the layer of dust that I describe. If none do, they aren't
getting near the circulation I do.

I've tried to find out more about this topic:

There is a housing development nearby, not cheap, townhouses, possibly
back to back (that is, no one has a back yard, only the back of their
neighbor) where each 24 foot portion of the building, one house
width's worth, has 8! boxes, I think they are fans but they might just
be vents. That is, 4 on each side of the ridge. They're pretty big,
square, at least 2 feet square, and 8 inches high. They really don't
look like the fans I've seen, or like vents (no holes except maybe
under the skirt). (Could they be roof-mounted AC condensors, four per
house? They don't look like condensors either, no fins.) I've been
there and asked a couple residents, owners I think, and neither knew
what was in their attic or why.

Meirman
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I just recenlty moved into a Bungalow style. It has a walk up attic
and Gable sytle roof.

It does get kind of hot. I was thinking of adding a Gabel fan. I have
gable vents (one on the North side and one on the South side) at both
ends of the gable.

Will one be good enough?

Thanks,

Bill

In alt.home.repair on Sun, 17 Jul 2005 08:10:27 -0400 Bill Davis Jr
posted:

I just recenlty moved into a Bungalow style. It has a walk up attic
and Gable sytle roof.

It does get kind of hot. I was thinking of adding a Gabel fan. I have
gable vents (one on the North side and one on the South side) at both
ends of the gable.

Will one be good enough?

See how many cubic feet it says on the box it is good for.

My roof fan said it was good for 2 or 3 times the attic space I have.
They didn't sell a substantially smaller or bigger one, and nothing
has blown away yet.

Thanks,

Bill


Meirman
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