Attic Fans Good or Bad? Be Careful if You Do

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Home Comfort Guy

Күн бұрын

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@BarbMcGowan 2 ай бұрын

Great video! Concise and well-explained 👏👏👏

@homeairleakagetest 2 ай бұрын

Thank you so much. I’m glad it helped you!!

@petem6503 4 ай бұрын

People tend to think "exhaust the hot air" is the solution. When you analyse heat through a roof/ceiling system, you find that a lot of the heat transfer is radiation from the underside of the roof to the top side of the ceiling. The radiation process is not interrupted very much by attic ventilation. The infiltration of (conditioned) air from house into the attic is better defeated by adequate attic ventilation openings (eg, soffit vents and gable vents). Sealing holes is important, but reducing the negative pressure in the attic removes the motive force (pressure differential). Mechanical venitilation of an attic is not as easy as it looks, particularly with gable exhaust vents. I've done the calculations of reducing roof load via ventilation, and the cost of running the fan roughly equals the svaings on air conditioning, so no pay back. Extreme heating climates usually translate into sealing holes and cracks being the best remedy.

@homeairleakagetest 4 ай бұрын

Amazing analysis! Thank you for your contribution!

@twistedninjareviews3100 5 ай бұрын

I just installed a Fan and it works way better! I bought bunch of insulation and sealed all leaks and nothing heat from the roof kept my attic super hot. Installed a Remington Solar Attic fan and it is wonderful, temperature is better, lower rooms are cooler and im saying on my bill

@homeairleakagetest 5 ай бұрын

Sweet!

@carlpirkle3175 4 ай бұрын

Any ideas how to seal or close off attic fan louvres in the ceiling? An old house. Fan isn’t used. We’re afraid of varmints coming into the house through the louvres.

@homeairleakagetest 4 ай бұрын

Hi! There is a Velcro cover you can install. a.co/d/5LbEhEC

@jbonet4750 7 ай бұрын

I installed a whole house fane in my home. We lived in an area that often saw 90 degree plus days. The back yard was cool and shady, the front was an oven due to lack of trees. I would turn on my whole house fan and send all the hot air in the house up into my attic. The vents and fans in the attic would exhaust it. I only ran this system when I had the back window open, or it was evening. It worked well, but it was a manually operated, just a simple on off switch that turned on my whole hose fan and attic fans at the same time.

@homeairleakagetest 7 ай бұрын

Okay, I am liking this air conveyor system. You are taking two things that I am not fully convinced are worth the effort/$ and combining their forces to become a productive part of the equation. Personally, I would continue to work towards a really well established insulation boundary with proper air sealing and proper insulation techniques. Over the long, the benefits of investing in insulation will outweigh a nifty air circulator, but it will likely cost more than your solution. Thanks for your comments and it seems you have moved...what is your scenario now?

@jbonet4750 7 ай бұрын

@@homeairleakagetest The house was well insulated, and sealed. I sold it a while back, but in a hot environment, i never needed AC....well it might have been nice a few times!

@excellenttwo 5 ай бұрын

Woo....I lived in Tahus..Sorry Texas and we had a the attic fan. We had a different configuration which we would have the attic fan in the center of the house and we open windows from inside the house and the air from outside flew through the house and through the attic and out through the Attic what is your observation of this?

@homeairleakagetest 5 ай бұрын

I think I got what you are saying here! That is what I consider to be a whole-house fan. That fan is in a ceiling and connects from inside to the attic, as you mentioned. The attic fan is positioned on the roof and is there to draw air from the attic to the outside and help the ventilation process. That is the video's main point; sometimes, the negative pressure can draw your cool AC in through gaps and cracks in the attic floor if they are not sealed. A whole-house fan can be great, but it can also be a huge source of air leakage. If it is of the older variety, you can bank on it unless you have it covered and sealed in some fashion. Newer whole-house fans are covered and are more efficient (when not in use), so if you have one of those, you should be in good shape!