Attic Fan or Whole House Fans
 

Any thoughts and/or recommendations appreciated.

Thanks

Yes, by all means, get one.

"Bgreer5050" wrote in message
...
Any thoughts and/or recommendations appreciated.

Thanks

Attic fan cools the attic. Nice if you are running air conditioning as it
will get rid of heat that can radiate down into the rooms below.

Whole house fan pulls the outside air through the house so you do not have
to run air conditioners on a cool evening. Right now, I'm sitting near a
window and had to close it down some as it is pulling so much cool air right
across me.

Attic fan is god in very hot climates where you will be running AC all
summer. Whole house is better in moderate climates with cooler evening
where the AC would not be needed if you can bring in the cool outside air.
By opening and closing windows you can control the flow of air through the
house. If you run it a night and close the bedroom doors, it is of no
value.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 01:38:28 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"Bgreer5050" wrote in message
m...
Any thoughts and/or recommendations appreciated.

Thanks

Attic fan cools the attic. Nice if you are running air conditioning as it
will get rid of heat that can radiate down into the rooms below.

Whole house fan pulls the outside air through the house so you do not have
to run air conditioners on a cool evening. Right now, I'm sitting near a
window and had to close it down some as it is pulling so much cool air right
across me.

Attic fan is god in very hot climates where you will be running AC all
summer. Whole house is better in moderate climates with cooler evening
where the AC would not be needed if you can bring in the cool outside air.
By opening and closing windows you can control the flow of air through the
house. If you run it a night and close the bedroom doors, it is of no
value.


Ditto to the above. I have both and live in a brutally hot and humid
climate. Use the whole house fan in the spring and fall and the attic
fans are set on thermostats to provide additional venting to the attic
when the temperature goes up

Pros:

Whole house fan brings in lots of cool air during the spring and fall,
good for sleeping at night.

Attic vent fans keep the temperature down in the attic, reducing the
AC load and extending roof shingle life.

Cons:

Whole house fan seems to bring in a lot of dust with it and if you
have allergies you can forget it.

Attic vent fans don't seem to last. the little motors seem to burn up
about every two seasons. $50 bucks a pop to replace and I have two of
them.

"Cons:
Whole house fan seems to bring in a lot of dust with it and if you
have allergies you can forget it. "

Also, they don't help with humidity. And they don;t seal perfectly
either, so in the winter, you'll have some energy waste.

A lot depends on the climate and how much you can really use it.

Actually, you may be able to have both, in one.

I recently installed fan rated @ 1540 cfm in S attic gable. About 15"
diam. If I leave door (which is sealed) to attic closed, fan does
decent job drawing from N gable end. Fan has make-on-rise adjustable
temp-switch. Temp rise on floor below is greatly reduced; ditto thermal
stress on lumber & roofing above.

If I leave door to attic open, and open distant windows below, fan
ventilates whole house very nicely. For fall, and beyond, I'll have to
wire in some sort of timer-switch in parallel w/t-stat. Or, a second
temp switch with a lower set-point, switched in parallel with first.
(Or even a timer in series w/ second temp-switch for whole-house, in
parallel with attic-only temp-switch.)

Some folks I've seen in the past use 3' or larger diameter fans sucking
from house up through attic. And may even need them. In my case, such
a fan would suck in the screens or lift the roof-deck, or both.

"Bgreer5050" wrote:

Any thoughts and/or recommendations appreciated.

I installed one of these spring:

http://www.quietcoolfan.com/

It is much smaller and quieter than the old 30" fan with aluminum
louvers (heat loss), which would pull papers off of tables, and blow out
the pilot light in the water heater if it ran w/o opening windows.

Expensive, but very nice fan.