Reddit attic fan. It wouldn't circulate air at all.

Reddit attic fan Quote from that article: “Increasing attic ventilation rates in existing residential buildings is often accomplished by adding forced ventilation using attic temperature Get app Get the Reddit app Log In Log in to Reddit. It would be sized for this purpose. was super popular in the 50’s i believe. Now, both are still hot, but the one with the fan is less of a death box. Thank you. I lived in a couple places with them. I went in the attic and expected to find a sort of thermostat box connected to the fan. I am considering an attic fan. you are cutting a hole in your roof, so spend fan in the hallway is good but look into an attic fan. The contractor said if I haven't had a problem by now, I probably won't ever. Have a contractor do it, since they'll be bonded and insured against those "hole-in-the-attic" fears you're justifiably worried about. The manufacture confirmed that the original one could have its motor and thermostat removed and replaced with the newer model they have. The access to the attic is pretty a pretty small opening in my laundry room so I don't know how much would be involved in getting one installed up there. Let me 'splain. Apparently it was vented into the attic when it was first installed. Initially I wanted to install an attic fan on the opposite end but I’d have to cut a hole in the stucco. Edges and seams of foam board will be sealed with tape and/or foam. I have a 5 ton unit cooling the house and I've had HVAC check it out and say that it should be more than enough to cool the home and that there's plenty of insulation in the attic and said he highly recommends installing either a Gable fan, or ideally I am considering an attic fan and/or a whole house fan to help lower the temperature on the 2nd floor. Having attic venting will limit the chance for this. r/fixit has temporarily gone dark to protest the proposed changes to Reddit's API ADMIN MOD How to insulate this whole house fan from inside the home? open This whole house fan is radiating heat, it’s almost too hot to touch and it ’s I have like 15 inches of fiberglass insulation covering it in the attic Sadly, spring this year went from snowing winter to brutal hot summer inside of a week so this was the first spring we didn't use the attic fan at all. Big price difference. Log In / Sign Up; Advertise on Reddit; Shop Collectible Avatars; If you just add a power attic fan next to the 750s the fan will pull intake from the 750s AC systems cost tons of money. It will need to be wired in to There is great debate about powered attic ventilation. Since adding blown in insulation and an attic fan, my attic is 20 degrees cooler than last year and has yet to get over 125 degrees this summer. Best case you attic is the same temp as the outside that's ideal Does your local power company offer free or low cost energy audits? If so, talk to them please. Exactly what the name suggests. See these pics in the link. In So Calif. Less of a concern than the attic, but can still be quite helpful. You put it up there, it gets dust and grime and stuff blown into it, and eventually something in that $49 made-in-china fan throws a bearing and starts overheating or shorts or blows up it's battery if it's solar and no one notices because it's up in the attic and While the house's energy source is solar, having an independently powered solar attic fan provides redundancy and ensures attic ventilation even during cloudy periods or nighttime. Somewhat helpful if you have a basement to draw cool air from, but really only knocks down the temp a few degrees. looks crappy. It wouldn't circulate air at all. A true attic ventilation fan would pull outside air into the attic and force the existing hot air out of other vents in the attic. Inspector says the attic was getting to above 156F on a day that was only a little hot so he suggested a solar powered attic fan. In our old house, we used the attic fan throughout April and May and then again from late September until mid-November. Electricity bill is down too, despite keeping the house at 70-72. If the opening is large enough a simple $20 box fan and some zip ties will work great. (Not A good attic fan can reduce the attic temperature by 50 degrees on a hot day. My attic with the fan is older construction and doesn't have ridge vents, just gable vents. So, all that is to say that you should vent to the exterior, not the attic, as venting to the attic means you'll be increasing the humidity in the attic, on average, and you'll also be susceptible to condensation in your attic in the late fall, winter, and early spring when the Focusing on attic ventilation is usually misguided, as this article lays out in a multitude of ways. Rigid foam board will be installed directly over existing fiberglass insulation. If the fan is actually depressurizing the attic, and thus pulling conditioned air from the living space into the attic and then outdoors, the net effect is that your A/C units start running overtime like crazy to catch up. The best scenario to run it is when outside temp and humidity are lower. Can measure the temp in attic if it's close to outside temp then your good but if it's over 15-20f higher maybe more ventilation. On a hot day, when it is (for example) 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside but 130 degrees Fahrenheit in the attic, when I turn that fan on, the entire attic cools down (to, say, 100 degrees Fahrenheit) in like 15 or 20 An attic fan can be set pretty high, especially if you have good insulation. Improve attic insulation. It can either be roof or gable mounted. But you need an attic fan if the R rating is less than 14. and do not buy a solar star. An attic fan pushes out stale indoor air and brings in fresh outside air. An attic fan would be mounted in an attic which would usually be above the ceiling of living space. Those just vent the attic, whereas a whole house fan pulls the air from the house into the attic, then out through the attic vents. His top solution was to properly vent the attic using soffit and ridge vents. I want to add an attic fan to offset the high heat this summer. Additionally, a fan is another thing to maintain / replace. But it seems like every roofer recommends an attic fan instead. I think the normal/average setting is 110 or higher if you are in a hot climate. Used to exhaust heat out of the attic and subsequently reduce heat gain through the ceiling. And the mold deal is not from a While House Fan, that is either an attic fan, or bathroom exhaust fan - totally different things. Its purpose is not comfort of the living space, but to regulate the temperature in the attic for the purposes mentioned above. Guess what? So the fan could end up drawing in even hotter air (from sun-baked shingles) and messing with the overall passive system. Or, in the case of the attic fan, most product reviews compare how well the fan works compared to a fan they just replaced, rather than a new install. The main purpose is usually to improve airflow in the attic and reduce the temperature so that the rest of the house stays cooler. Even if your your attic is air-sealed and insulated from the house (which it should be), the fan will depressurize the attic and will pull conditioned air from the house through every little crack and imperfection in the air barrier. I have an attic fan in our new house and have never had one before. I have a Quiet Cool Whole House fan. I don't think what you refer is a whole house fan. I have no issues with any of the bathrooms, drains, sinks, etc. Once we took out the fan and sealed the ceiling, our temps were much more even through the upstairs area of the house. House stays more comfortable upstairs during the day since heat doesn't leak from the attic. Problem is I don’t have too much room between the studs. Have no idea what it is. View community ranking In the Top 5% of largest communities on Reddit. Just bought our house within the year and immediately replaced the attic fan as it was not working. I can find the article if anyone wants. Attic fan and sweating, muggy kitchen and hallway. No moisture/mold issues at all. I added 5 roof dormer vents and 12 6 x24 eve vents. Is the fan in the roof (typically near middle of attic) or in a gable? Gable fans are usually fully serviceable from inside the attic. No! Don't install an attic fan. $225 - Insulate exposed walls in lower attic with 2" rigid foam board (100 sq ft). But how effective are attic fans in cooling your house? While attic fans may be able to considerably reduce the temperature in your attic they may or Attic fans are a bad idea in general, but especially if you have AC. The ridge vent is enough. Vent fans do help keep the attic cooler, but in my mind aren't really capable of keeping the attic as cool as a whole house fan. Attic fan. They work perfectly while horizontal and cost next to nothing. I do have a vented attic. I have these vents available. The installers turned me off of the QuietCool Bluetooth/Wifi module as they said it's super buggy. Improve wall and floor insulation. Maybe 12 inches. Generally speaking attic exhaust fans are never a good idea, because they will almost always pull air from the living space. In this guide, you will learn The top pros and cons of powered attic fans; Why attic When it comes to home ventilation, attic fans are often touted as a must-have solution for combating heat and moisture buildup. It died once, so I was sent into the attic to replace it. My house is 2490 sq ft. And it appears the attic is in very good condition. I live in southern California where I get minimal humidity. At least for 125 years old. And it's worth the cost of installation. I don’t know if the other people commenting are understanding exactly what you’re asking about. Powered attic fans are even more misguided, as they actively use energy to create negative pressure in the attic. I did not install it, so not 100% sure how everything is set up, so if you have any questions - I can go up there and take a look. It's also hard to tell if people say radiant barriers don't work because they installed a roof underlayment radiant barrier, rather than on the trusses. It sounds like you may already have this covered. You’re talking about an attic fan. When I turn on the attic fan, I can feel outside air being sucked in from the opposing window, and air in the attic is blown out of the window that the fan is installed in front of. There should be insulation between your attic and the cooling envelope of your house. You want your attic to be close to the outside temperature. How? Because heat rises to th Hi HVAC dorks it’s your friendly neighborhood gay electrician here to pick your brains My 1952 home has an attic fan that doesn’t work. The solution he proposed was to put cardboard (Like flattened out amazon box sides) in between the conduit pipes - basically wrap those pipes with a kind of cardboard to provide some padding. Thank you for any feedback or advice Possible that the exhaust fan vent goes through ( or worse ends in ) your attic so it’s carrying sound. It’s only meant to cool the attic (and therefore help with the rest of the house temps). Ended up taking it out because we could feel the heat or cold, depending on season, pressing in through what essentially was a hole into the attic. Works great. Using a small fan, they can calculate how many air exchanges an hour your attic should experience. My rationale for replacing the fan is that the previous owners set it up that way. It is VERY well worth fixing and using this, it was probably built in the early 50s, and could last another 70 years. Attic isn't sealed has ridge vent etc. The quotes are $425 to just replace and leave it vented to attic and $850 to vent outside I guess via the roof. I’ve never had a house with an attic like this before. We have a furnace / ac unit in the attic so a fan to drop the temp is the cheapest way to fix the problem of having the HVAC system outside the thermal envelope of the house. I plan on installing quietcool whole house fan. They Bought a new home a couple years ago and it had a powered attic fan installed with switches for it beside the thermostat. Edit: Right now it seems as if the attic mold smell is coming down into the house. I need about 700 CFM. The attic fan pulls hot air out of your attic, not the house. My attic fan stopped working. We recently moved into a house with an attic fan. As with the attic, you can check with DoE to see what values they recommend for your area. The box on the bottom left is a thermostat that you can set for what temperature you want it to come on. Install an 800 CFM 10-watt solar attic fan (5-year parts warranty) on the roof for $485. They quoted $4000 for air sealing, 18" blown insulation plus knee wall insulation, and a solar attic ventilation fan - honestly this price seems pretty reasonable based on what I've seen on Of course, this is Reddit, so there's always going to be some technical wording someone likes more. I do not know the temperature in the attic, but I know it is quite uncomfortable to be up there during the summer months. Or if your dogs ate a bunch of garbage and won't stop farting. If your home doesn’t have air conditioning then using a whole house fan is far better than an attic fan. Significant heat savings after removing the attic fan and sealing the hole. Originally i had the same question and thought the An attic fan is a way to force more air through the attic if fixing those first items isn't a very economical option. The RP145 is in the attic, but I'm thinking of getting the RP140 as that one is much quieter and prob a lot less vibration I can hear through the walls. 8, 4, 2, 1, and Hold. Instead I found this stuff. And that is really the best way to see if what you have is sufficient. heat rises and gets trapped in the attic, the fan blows all that heat out. The fan runs without the furnace going. Even the RP140 makes some noise I can hear from the deck. It does work, but now you're using energy to do it, so the attic fan may mitigate any savings you would have gotten by running your HVAC less. After a 25yr absence, I am planning on returning to ham radio. As my roof does not have soffit vents, an attic fan can also be used to blow out and create an under pressure in the attic, forcing outside air in, but it's not as ideal. We bought a house with attic fan. I made essentially the same same thing a few years ago, my fan is just the largest diameter room fan that i could find that would fit the diameter of my attic opening. In this case, setting a timer or thermostat might be worth I was quoted two different prices for a bathroom fan replacement in my main upstairs bathroom. He’s wrong. If you add an attic exhaust fan and do NOT air seal the living space, that fan simply pulls nice cool air from your living space and blows it out the roof. Also, as your attic is outside the conditioned envelope of your house, you’re not impacting your heating usage very much whether it’s vented or not. I had an attic fan replaced a few months ago. The house has louvered Attic vent fan. How efficient would it be if I install the fan in one of the existing EDIT - Whole house fan, not Attic Fan. I run a whole house fan when the temp at night drops down enough to provide cooling and get a thermal mass cool off, furniture and contents and pushes out the hot attic air. That information about "working harder" sounds completely wrong. Gets blasted by the sun in the afternoon with no shade either. The construction manager/rep said that the conduit pipes in the attic were hitting against other pipes. I added an x10 outlet in the attic and control it from that. Don't remove it, replace it. I can get 2 @ 365 CFM for $106 or 1 @ 740 CFM for $200. Out of the absolute myriad of things we've done to the house, WWF is def in the top 3. Attic fan, Attic fan. It works exactly as you describe - attic gets hot, temp sensor kicks the fan on. A whole house fan is doing what the attic already does passively- ventilatebut doing so mechanically. A whole house fan pulls air from the house into the attic. Previous owners installed an attic fan on one of the gables. Evenings and nights are significantly cooler. I wanted to add 2 more exhaust vents. Is it absolutely necessary to vent outside? Might just be a bad cap the little black thing hanging off the side. But from everything I have heard is that they are bad idea because they can depressurize the attic. It's the only way to be sure. They say they’ve been installing similar fans for 14 years and nobody has ever reported problems, so they don’t install electricity powered fans anymore. Any insight into what is going on here? It is not clear to me how I can even control my attic fan at all, I have been unable to do so from my thermostat downstairs as well. It’s just the fan running. Some say its of no use at all, (Joe Lsturbek @ Owens Corning) if you have a properly designed rood and venting, Other say hes nuts and they pull tons of heat out with a gable fan on one end an an open gable on the other. To the bathroom. Expand user menu Open settings menu. Open all windows, turn on attic fan, enjoy your house cooling off rapidly as the attic fan sucks cool air from outside into the house, I have a 2 fan system. My attic (Virginia) breaks 100 probably every day during the summer. On the other hand, you can run the AC while the vent fans are running. Most furnaces have this setting, and mine kicks on with just a switch on the thermostat (Fan). Your entire roof and attic could be burned away from this before you knew what was going on. One covers 1667-2502 sq ft and the other covers 1859 to 2788 sq ft. The house then pulls air from outside into the house. they are rubbish, next to costco and big box store crap. A whole house fan sucks air from ceiling and exhausts it to attic or outside. Depending on where you live, you may want to install up to R-60 in your attic. When we moved in to the house, there was a fan on one of the gables, but it created too much negative pressure, so I removed it. It might not sound like much, but the simple act of circulating attic air can greatly affect home temperatureand energy consumption. My home is 2200 Square Feet, in the summer time my AC runs constantly to keep the house cool which the temp slowly rises as it does so. Have natural ventilation and it keeps my attic tem 10 to 15 above ambient temp. I have both a whole house fan and an attic fan. I have a two story house in Southern California. I'd use 2" foam board and plastic to tape it shut every winter and it still caused noticeable heat loss. I know its not ideal and an attic fan comes with risks, but I don’t know what other options I have without replacing the furnace and going . The attic with just the ridge vent is typically +25F of outside ambient, and the one with the attic fan tracks very close to ambient. The first has retrofitted ridge vents and a gable fan that was disconnected when the ridge vents were installed. (This is one of two attic fans we had replaced so I know it’s not the wrong parts bc the other is still running fine) Two weeks in and started making this noise. But if your attic rarely breaks 100 then I guess that's the temp to set it at. Attic fans can save you money on cooling costs. I'm also in Indiana and my attic fan is used every spring and fall. I’m kinda lazy in that I didn’t want to be up in my attic trying to figure out wiring so I went with a Switchbot. Although maximum radio output is 100 watts, I plan on running less - Should an attic fan run all the time? Running an attic fan all the time, in theory, is a good idea. I was told that turning it on without the windows open would cause sewer gas to come into my house. I have the fan speeds set to what I typically use the most, and then I have Switchbot do a 3 second press to turn the fan hold on. Is it worth it to upgrade to a thermostat style? I used to have a whole house fan at a house i lived in as a kid. It has a Timer switch set up, upstairs hallway. The return and thermostat is located at the end of the hall. Due to HOA restrictions I am going to have to be satisfied with a fan dipole in the attic. I wonder if that is an option in my current house. The most common cause of residential structure fires in my area of Texas seems like it's poorly maintained attic fans. But the question remains: is an attic fan An attic fan is a fan specially designed to remove hot and moist air from the attic. Just an anecdote I was under contract to buy a home, then discovered an insane amount of black mold in the attic because the bathroom fan was venting directly to the attic. View community ranking In the Top 1% of largest communities on Reddit. An intake fan to your attic would only be necessary if your exhaust fan was sucking so much air that your ridge and eave vents were unable to keep up and air from your conditioned space were being vacuumed out as well. The house fan, in Florida, is best served to move air from outside your house inside, and displacing your home air into your attic, then out the attic vents. It's great to pull in cool night air before bed and before work. Roof mounted fans are partially serviceable from the attic, but if the motor fails, go into the attic to unhook electric and a few fasteners, then go onto the roof to take the dome off, motor and fan blade assembly out, transfer fan blade to new motor and I think an exaust fan would help you since you don't have soffits the air flow is probably low. The attic air is then expelled through your roof vents and gable vents (in the attic) . Growing up we had central air AND an attic fan. That's why we upped the insulation in the attic floor. However, if you have a powered attic fan, you may want it to run only some of the time because of the electric costs. An attic fan would also push air out through a roof vent but it would be drawing air in from the attic space. I think the optimum solution would be to use the whole house fan in moderate temps without the AC, and when you think the attic is overheated. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure an attic fan is different. Whole House / Attic Fan Smart Switch. It seems to have its own thermostat, presumably it turns on when the attic gets real hot. Aquí nos gustaría mostrarte una descripción, pero el sitio web que estás mirando no lo permite. Can I turn it on for a couple of minutes during the high heat to cool the attic to help keep my house cooler? i have installed hundreds of solar attic fans, and replaced many. Generally speaking I am not a fan of attic fans as it generally depressurizes the attic pulling inside air through the ceiling. I'm responsible for a couple households here. A properly vented attic should be enough imho but yours may be not be. People who bark on attic fans don't have proper insulation to start with. I was thinking that if I installed fans at both gables, one blowing out of the attic and the other blowing in, I could equalize the pressures, but despite searching I can't find anyone who's ever done this. It circulates air within the attic by pulling cool and fresh air from the vents and pushing hot moist air outside. Then close up the house to stay cool during the day. This whole house fan is radiating heat, it’s almost too hot to touch and it’s making the ceiling about 2 feet from the edge around it warm as well Skip to main content Open menu Open navigation Go to Reddit Home These are different types of fans you guys are talking about. This would not be used with an air conditioner. The layout of the attic rafters was complex and made it virtually impossible for anyone over the age of 7 to make it to where the mold was on the OSB to try to treat it View community ranking In the Top 1% of largest communities on Reddit. A furnace fan would circulate air though since it would suck air from return grill Aquí nos gustaría mostrarte una descripción, pero el sitio web que estás mirando no lo permite. The other poster is talking about a whole house fan. It appears there are perhaps bunch of vents. Any compelling reason to go with 1 fan over 2? eta: inspection report: Attic was very hot (156 F) I had an energy audit completed by an attic insulation company today. I plan on building the dipole using 18awg insulated wire. I can't decide between two models. Reading online, it’s about 50/50 whether these types of fans are actually a good idea. In the summer and winter I cover it with the box and more insulation. The fan worked great through the summer and The fan pulls the hot air from the house (through the vent the fan comes with) and pushes it into your attic. Was more like 25. On my fan I have built a foam box above it in the attic. So if you open your windows, it will draw air in from the outside - you'd only run it if the outdoor air is cooler than the indoor air. maybe a combination with the hallway fan to the attic fan would be perfect for your super hot house. We have The relatively humid indoor air will contact the cold roof deck and condense. They have efficiency ratings based on lots of calculations, including square footage (obviously), cubic feet, number of windows, type of windows (single or double pane), where the return air register/s are, how big the attic is, how much power available, and especially what kind of R-value insulation you have and where it is installed. I thought I was going to love it. A whole house fan usually goes in the attic space and you turn it on when the weather is nice and cool outside, but your house is hotter than the temperature outside (like right Autumn and Winter nights). I have an attic fan and the only good time to use it is when there's a shit ton of cooking smoke in the house or when its the right temperature outside. I doubt you even need an attic fan if that's the case. one thing i would say is do your research. That being said, my house is 40+ years old and we didn't find out until 3 years ago when we renovated the kitchen and ran a 220V through the attic that a bathroom vent was venting into the attic. Next time the chirping starts stick your head in the attic and see if there is a detector up there or if sound is from a second I can't imagine installing an attic fan would be cheaper than repairing the A/C. Attic Fan not working. Please excuse my ignorance. PS: Here is a list of some good attic fans if you are interested. Editing for clarity: I feel you, OP. Does it help to have it run perpetually during the summer? It's kind of a pain to go up there, so I couldn't toggle it on and off throughout the day. I have an old attic exhaust fan on a switch in my attic. I moved the fan into the attic and put a hole through roof. It costs you energy, rather than saves it. It can help in maintaining a cooler attic, reducing energy consumption, and potentially extending the lifespan of your roof and insulation. That said, ideally, if your ducts are in your attic, you might want to look into turning your attic into conditioned space. Does anyone have any recs? My attic venting allows for either Found the issue or so it seems. It tries to spin up by can't then stops a few seconds later, then tries again in 10 minutes. $50 - Insulate 6" exhaust pipe on kitchen exhaust fan in lower attic. Assuming you have good openings in the attic, and attic exhaust isn’t doable, I would forgo the purpose built attic fan and MacGyver a box fan either under or over your crawl space opening. Related articles: Do I already added more intake soffits. For the whole house fan he recommended to vent it through the attic to the outside using ducts. Home inspector said the fan didn't work but that it also wasn't needed so we didn't have it fixed. They depressurize the house and cause your AC to work even more to cool all the infiltrating air, not to mention the Attic fans can be useful to ventilate problematic attics but there are a few downsides (here is my review on the best rated gable attic fans). I live in a 1950 ranch house with an attic fan at the beginning of the hall. Honestly, in the 80's they were commonly referred to as attic fans. They can provide you measurements of building envelope air exchange rates. tjyxm mjga tur xjjtt aogm ldbiuk xzwznhz dsnzek pjdbu ubofaf zmfeba kestlh zgnqru jghh jzf