Attic Fan Useless

Attic fans installed properly don t suck any more air out of your house than a normal bath fan.

Attic fan useless. Powerful fans that are exhausting air from your attic work best when they can get ample amounts of makeup or replacement air from outdoors. Such fans are often called whole house fans. Using a fan to blow hot air out of the attic doesn t address the radiant heat flow from the roof to the attic floor. Attic fans suck air out of the attic to the outdoors.

An attic fan does nothing to slow or stop radiant heat exchange. The only effective means are more insulation preferred or a radiant barrier up against the inside of the roof. Setting them back is what is important so an un programmed thermostat is just as useless as a manual thermostat. This radiant heat in turn heats up the rafters and everything else in the attic.

Even though a manufactured cover costs more it is far easier to install. It also requires no assembly. You need great soffit vents to supply the attic with all of the replacement air. Most attic ventilators fitted to homes are powered off mains electricity.

Fans can cause increased loss of conditioned air. The attic coffin you mention which is used to air seal and insulate pull down stairs scuttle hole or a whole house fan is good in theory but in practice is cumbersome to install. Mechanical attic ventilation fans may be powered in a variety of different ways. If the gaps in your ceiling are so big as to allow too much air through then fix the holes.

Power vented attic fans are a true hazard vinyl is just gross no matter how you look at it fresh air intakes were a sad idea from conception. If you stayed in a perfectly sealed house you would get sick and die. As it turns out because the insulation slows heat from moving down into the living space homes with well insulated attics don t see a significant reduction in their cooling load when they add attic ventilation fans. A fan may be installed in an attic for the different purpose of cooling a whole house venting hot air out via the attic.

Get help with your home improvement projects. Attic fans are typically used in warmer months when temperatures in an attic can exceed 120 f 49 c. Send your questions to tom. One static vent style is the turbine vent which uses wind to power its enclosed fan all it takes is a light breeze to rotate the blades and suck heat out of the attic view example on the home.

Much of that heat then conducts downward and finds its way into the house. But don t go crazy you need oxygen anyway.