Attic Fans

Attic fans can be an economical way to reduce the heat build up in your house. There are several options to choose from when buying a new fan and you can either install it yourself (not difficult) or hire a professional.

Benefits of Attic Fans

The main purpose of an attic fan is to get the heat that builds up in the upper part of your home out. Studies have shown that attic areas of homes in full sunlight can reach over 150 deg. F. This intense heat soon begins to heat up the upper rooms of the house often to the point where your air conditioner either has to struggle to keep up or in fact cannot keep up. By removing the heat from the attic, your air conditioner can run less often and for shorter periods of time which will mean less energy consumption and a more over all efficient home.
For some homes, having an attic fan on can completely stop your air conditioner from having to come on at all. As a further option, people are often able to turn off their air conditioner at night, when the outside air is cooler and have their attic fan pull in that cool air through open windows and vents. The best situation of all, is where you are able to use an attic fan instead of an air conditioner completely. This typically involves a 'whole house' venting system where the attic fan blows the heat out of the attic which is replaced by cool air that is pulled in through vents or open windows. The attic vent can actually create cool breezes which are very pleasant.

Drawbacks of Attic Fans

Drawbacks are usually found in powered attic vent installations only. Specifically, with the vent on there is the potential that dangerous fumes and combustible gases from other home appliances can be drawn into the home. This is especially true in homes that use natural gas or propane as a source of fuel for one or more of the home systems. Care must be taken when using an attic fan that windows or vents near any of these fume or gas sources be closed to prevent them from being drawn into the home. A further drawback can be in very specific cases when large amounts of air is being removed from the house, that the air coming into the home has to be cooled by the air conditioner again which would actually increase the operating time of the air conditioner. Monitoring the run time of your air conditioner with the attic fan both on and off is the only way of knowing if this situation is occurring for you.

Attic Fan Options

There are several type of attic fans to choose from. Most attic fans are powered using a motor to blow the air out of the house. With these powered attic vents, you can choose between solar powered vents or hard wired vents. The solar vents have the advantage of not adding to the power load to your house and are also easier to install as there are no wires to run.
Another option to consider is whether you are going to use the attic fan to vent the whole house or just the attic. Advantages and disadvantages of whole-house venting is discussed above. However, many attic fans are used to cool the attic only, by having passive vents either in the gables or under the soffits where the air is drawn in to replace the air being blown out by the vent fan. This prevents air from being drawn into the house in the living areas below.

Attic fans are a good idea to incorporate into the whole heating and cooling scheme of your home. Used properly, they can significantly reduce your energy bills.