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 product that may alleviate your troubles and even offer some rebate money in the process.

According to the EPA, most home heating and cooling systems are not engineered to circulate fresh air into the home. A whole house fan could be the solution.

To “ventilate” means to provide with fresh air or to provide with a vent for fresh air. The word comes from the Latin word for “to fan,” which is the action of moving air. In short, it’s out with the hot, in with the cool. Ventilation allows air to flow and creates an “air exchange”—a condition where stale, overheated air in a home or attic is vented out and fresh air is pulled in to replace it. It is not, however, a breeze blowing through your house but rather a cooling process that provides a steady high volume of air movement with a potential year-round benefit.

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 F. 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.

Leaving the attic without a ventilation system means you’re allowing passive attic ventilation vents to do all the work. Gable vents on the front or back, soffit vents in the eaves, and ridge vents along the top of the roof require wind to drive them, and many of the hottest days are so because there is very little wind.

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 (by changing the air inside the house and venting odors quickly), 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. In addition, whole house fans use one-quarter the power of central air conditioning.

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.

The way it works is that the fan mounted in the attic pulls the cool outdoor air, originating from open windows and doors, throughout the home. The superheated attic air and warm air from inside the home escape via roof vents.

See more about whole-house ventilation and fans:

• Evaluating Your Whole House Fan Needs
• Selecting a Whole House Fan
• Installing a Whole House Fan
  
• When and How to Use Your Whole House Fan
• How to Build a Box Cover
• Whole House Fans vs. Attic Fans
• Whole House Fans: R.E. Williams Company
• Whole House Fans: West Connection Enterprises
  

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