My attic temp is now usually within 12-14 degrees of the outside temperature hottest part of the day and year maybe 20 degrees hotter for an hour ish. During the evening and all morning long my attic temp tracks with the outside temp. that's year round so in the Midwest I don't have a 60 degree attic when it's 30 in winter and it takes longer to heat up cools down quicker now too. All of this was accomplished by proper venting. I'm so glad I didn't get a fan but I did have to do quite a bit of work to get it this way. My utility bill has gone down and comfort level of my house is great. On a side note when I bought the house I wondered why it would be 70 outside but 80 in the house and it would get hotter as the night progressed.lol now I know why good luck to you all
Also, regardless, if you have an attic fan or not, it's a good idea to seal up all of your plumbing holes, electrical boxes, light switches, ceiling fans etc. Make specific gaskets for this purpose, and they do help
This is such a broad statement. There are so many factors that play in on whether or not attic fans are good fit for you. For example, if you live in a extremely dry, extremely hot place such as Texas to attic fans are the way to go one pulling in air from the outside into the attic and the other pushing the air outside to maintain the attic temperature the same as the outside rather then 170°, which then radiates into your home
We have geothermal heating and ac system which why is great for heating does a poor job really cooling our house. Since we had continuous soffit venting it has been an amazing addition to our system. You can always add venting to the home and just clearing the hot air in the attic alone is worth it for us.
What about this scenario: 1950's cape cod; one side has three roof vents (not a ridge vent) and other side has no vents on roof, but there are two windows/grills at each end of the two runs with a master bedroom splitting the two. Also has a gable vent at the top peak. Upstairs gets extremely hot in summer and seems to be a bit of moisture in the winter. The home does not have soffit ventilation. Is an attic fan appropriate here? Thank you!!
Thank you so much for this video. I'm having a problem with humidity. I have two wind turbines on my roof (but no wind here in CA) and was wondering if I can put a fan by one to pull air out and a fan by the other to pull air in. Would that be a good solution to ventilate my attic? Thank you so much!
In South Florida attic fans are worthless. All they do is suck up conditioned interior air and become a hazard with hurricanes. Passive ventilation is what works best in the humid tropics.
You realize that technically your attic should be air sealed from conditioned space and so should only. Exhausting attic air causes a hurricane please explain that.
I know your question was asked a while ago but I just wanna add my two cents as well your attic fan should run according to the timer that you set on it or the temperature level you want to maintain in your attic
Hi Jackie, sorry for the delayed response. If you are in a newer home i would bet that what you have is a fresh air intake system, as the controls for those are typically in the laundry. If that's the case I would recommend consulting the installer as those are calculated by fan cfm, house square footage and area climate.
I have seen a few people talk about this but they aren't in california. I have this fan:2940 CFM Smart App Controlled 2-Speed Gable Mount Attic Fan. IT rocks. I don't run the air conditioner much if at all when its on. Today I was home all day, it was 85F outside and in the attic it went from 120-96 with the fan on and it was 77 in the house. I've seen guys using faulty logic. These fans do wonders in california, I can see the benefits being less if the outside temps were over 100f. When its just 75 f outside the attic could be over 100with the attic fan on that cools off and keeps a cushion between the roof and the ceiling. Yes, my 1956 house has lots of lower vents. lol I can't recommend this fan more. I will say, I had to get a larger dormer vent because the original one was limiting how much air could be exhausted.
I was able to vent my attic properly so when it's 77 outside my attic temp is maybe 87. attic fans work per se but proper venting negates the fan from needing to turn on in the first place. Also depending on where a person is in the USA in winter my attic used to be 60 when it was 30 now it's mid 30s. Fwiw. I know some people have to get a fan but it's better to solve the problem so you don't need a fan. Glad it works for you though.
@@MikeM-bn2ij absolutely not in my case. I live in a house that has vents all the way around it. And they are 100% unobstructed. It was built in 1956 but when I rehabbed it I reducted and made sure every one was clear. It’s been in the 70s all day an my fans on low and it’s 95f up there. You must have giant unrealistic vents
I just got an attic fan for my Calfornia home and the manufacturer (quiet cool's medium size, two speeds, low and high) recommends 80 degree for low and 120 degrees for high. Right now, the outside afternoon temperature is about 75-78 degree and will occasionally get to be 80 to 90 degrees. Should I follow the manufacturer's recommendations of 80 for low and 120 for high? I'm thinking the high setting will never be used. I'm wondering would 75 and 100 be better
I'm going to text you. I'm in California. And I had done alot to my house to keep out the heat. But around my bedroom around 4 - 5pn my room gets so hot. It comes from the vent. It's weird.
Not sure that I ever received anything, but my bet would be that it's a window or exterior wall that faces west or southwest and gets direct late day sun. Not much you can do there but upgrade the window if it's old or plant a good shade tree outside
It depends on what you mean by moisture. For relative humidity, you could put in a simple humidistat and compare that reading to one in your living space as well as outdoors. If you have condensation (water you can see or feel) say from a bathroom/shower where the fan may be operating improperly, you (or someone) may be able to find/fix that issue. If there has been insulation added and/or improperly installed with no ventilation, condenstation and form behine that. If the area smells of mildew or mold, you likely have something going on - blocked soffit vents, etc. If you want to DIY, a thermal imaging cameral (or attachment for IPhone or Android for $200ish) can spot moisture (I have the FLIR One for Android that I use for checking heat/cold that is supposed to detect moisture in, say a wall, tho I've not used it for that yet.)
Intresting...never looked at it that way,,got a question though,,not challenging your knowledge jus curious to know,,you stated heat rises which is fact,,if the heat is generated in the attic from the sun radiated heat correct so heat in home comes from the heat in the attic correct? Because im trying to figure if you can control the heat source which i feel would be in the attic then inside the home will be cooler,,,but i do agree some cooling loss doing so with attic fan venting the heated attic from the sun,,,,guess its a catch 22 lol tit for a tat??? Recieve and lose,,no middle ground lol
Heat doesn't strictly rise though, more than that it is drawn to cool, which typically means it rises but when the hot air is above convection will cause it to come down. If you open your attic access in the summer, give it a few minutes and you will feel the heat coming down through the opening
Also, to add to my reply, I'm not saying that dropping attic Temps isn't good. It is definitely essential to keep attic Temps to a minimum for an efficient home. I just think there are better ways than just throwing on an attic fan. Radiant barriers and properly vented attics are much more effective ways to gain overall efficiency
I know this is a old message in the video but I do wanna add my two cents that is radiant burials is a good way to control and eliminate heat from your attic but it can be difficult to install radiant burials if you’re doing it yourself also it’s very expensive so the attic fan will work like you guys have already stated if you have adequate ventilation like you should have in your attic also placing the fan in a location that will not draw too much of your cooling air from your living space up into the attic is another way to utilize the benefits of gable attic fan systems
Unless very short of soffits, attic fan benefits despite slight negative pressure and drawing air from home. The culprit is not attic fan and the remedy is to add soffits/lower level ventilation rather than blaming attic fans.
Where to do you find lower level ventilation? I tried calling HVAC people to do that. One side of my home is shaded and windy. I asked them to install vents on the ground floor and vents to lead to the attic, but none of them was willing to do that.
My house has a perforated soffit, however behind that is solid osb with no venting. For 1000sqft I have a pair of 2ft by 3ft gable vents. I have 60,000btu of AC. At 96F outside, with the ACs running for the previous 4 hours it was 78F at 67% humidity. After the attic fan it was 117F outside, in the living room 68F, 47% to 57% humidity, and the AC often turned off because it had hit the set temperature. I have fiberglass batts in the attic and intend to install blown in fiberglass when it cools down so I can stand the temperature up there. The rafters are 24 inches apart, 26 inches on center, so next to each fiberglass batt I can see 2 inches of clean sheetrock, or 10 inches of clean sheetrock when they used fiberglass batts for 16 inch stud spaces.
my gable vent consumes 2.4 amps at 110, or 260 watts, and has a 14 inch 6 blade impeller made out of galvanized steel. It is on the same circuit as the microwave, and when they are both on, my breaker blows, so I do need to go up there soon and put it on a different circuit. Yes, that is 6 times as much power (and maybe 6 times the airflow) as those solar ones.
Usually if you have moisture issues in the attic, you have poor ventilation.... and it's only providing you evidence in the winter. If the poor ventilation is due to inadequate lower venting (supply) then when you turn on the attic fan it creates negative pressure and pulls heated air from your home in order to ventilate the attic. The attic fan may be a solution, but it doesn't solve the problem
Attic ventilation is measured by square feet (inches) of vent area. Yes, fans are measured by cubic feet but you need the proper area (square inches/feet) of vent area to ensure there is enough fresh air to supply the air needed for the fan
