Using Attic Fans To Cool Down Your Home
Attic fans can drastically reduce the temperature of your
attic and this can keep your home cooler and possibly save you money on
air-conditioning costs in the future. The problem is, do I really need
an attic fan and how much money will it actually save me.
I can't really answer the second part of the question, I don't know how
much money it will really save you and there's a good chance that nobody
else can either. However, I can help you, if you're looking for some
advice about attic fans.
It's time for a short construction story. I had the bright idea of
installing two attic fans in my house, which was located in Riverside,
California. The temperatures in the summertime can easily stay above 90°
for long periods of time, and I mean long periods of time.
I installed one attic fan to blow the cooler air in and one attic fan to
blow the hot air out. I thought that was rather intelligent of me and
had never heard of anyone doing it before. The only problem with this,
was the fact that I was actually blowing extremely warm air into the
already hot attic. This didn't seem to make much sense to me and wasn't
that effective.
I tried using the attic fan in the evening, when the temperatures
dropped below 80° on the exterior, while the attic temperature was well
over 100°. This seemed to cool the house down, but I ran these electric
fans, for about three hours, to get, what I would consider a decent
result.
Electric attic fans use electricity and really don't make that much
sense to me. However, if you could use solar power attic fans, you could
probably get the desired results that you're looking for and save money
on your utility bills.
I hope this article helps you, with any decisions about whether or not
you will install attic ventilation fans, to lower the temperatures in
your attic, even if it's only a little bit.