Are you tired of soaring electric bills and having to run your air conditioner day and night in summer? Have you developed allergies, likely brought on by stale, non-ventilated, “shut in” air? If so, you might consider installing a whole-house fan. This can provide much needed ventilation and cool your home using far less energy than that consumed by an air conditioner.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, whole house fans are a simple and inexpensive method of cooling a house. They provide excellent ventilation, lower indoor temperatures, and improve evaporative cooling. The cost for a whole house fan is $150 to $350 versus the cost for central air conditioning, which runs $2,000 to $4,000 or more. In addition, whole house fans use one-quarter the power of central air conditioning.
The word "ventilation" comes from the Latin word for “to fan.” In the case of houses, this means out with the hot and in with the cool. With proper ventilation, stale, overheated air in a home or attic is vented out and fresh air is pulled in to replace it.
The attic is the target location for a whole house fan because hot air rises, and, especially during summer, attic temperatures can reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Because the attic is not only at the top of your home but mostly enclosed, the hot air gets trapped in the attic, causing the interior of the home to heat up.
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Why we like it:
• 2 Speed wall switch included
• Relatively quiet
• Automatic shutters open and close
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A whole-house fan goes in the ceiling between a home's uppermost rooms and the attic. It pulls cool outdoor air through open windows and doors through the house. The warmer air in the house is drawn up into the attic where it becomes quite hot; this is then pushed back outside through roof vents. The attic fan is far more effective at expelling the hot attic air than passive attic vents working on their own.
Whole house fans cool the entire house using outside air instead of “conditioning” inside air. The truly “cool” part about them is that they keep air moving through a home, and moving air feels cooler than still air.
For help with selecting the right model to buy, see Selecting a Whole House Fan.
