Attic Fan Seasonal Maintenance
DIY and Pro Help With Your Home Projects
 An attic fan is a great way to save money during the warm and moderate months of the year. By drawing fresh outside air into the home, an attic fan sweeps away the heat that entered the home as sunshine and then was trapped in the sealed envelope. In addition, it forces hot air, trapped in the attic envelope, out through the attic vents. This will reduce the radiated heat entering your comfort zone thought the ceiling. This can also make the house more comfortable by remove high humidity air. People and pets naturally raise the humidity in their homes because of their bodies, cooking and cleaning (baths and showers). Attic fans are also efficient because the work with the natural flow of air. Hot air rises and so it only need a little extra push to force it up and out of the attic. Since an attic fan does not use a compressor like an air conditioner, the power consumption are much lower. An attic fan will usually keep an entire house comfortable if the outside temperature is between 60 and 85 degrees. Above 85 degrees, you may want some actual cooling. The big limitation of attic fans is that they cannot drop the inside temperature or humidity below the outside temperature. Attic Fans During The Winter/Fall In many home with attic fans, some of the money saved during the summer months (using the attic fan) is wasted during the winter months. Because attic fans are on the ceiling out of normal view, they don?t jump out as major energy waster. Most attic fans have metal louvers that close when the fan is off. These louvers are in no way airtight, so an attic fan is essentially like having an open window in your house during the winter. To make things worst, they are positioned in the highest point in the house so that the hottest air will rise to this point and then escape into the attic. Most attics will have R-30 insulation in all areas but the attic fan, which has no insulation. This free exchange of heat through your attic fan could be one of the easiest problems to fix If you have a flush mounded louvers, you can install a piece of plastic over the louvers to block airflow. You can also insulating material above the louvers to block heat flow. If you have recessed installation (like the one shown in the picture, you can a more decorative solution. I used scrap wood (old laminate flooring), cut to the correct width. It is 3 pieces that allow it to be passed thought the opening and set on top of the molding for a airtight seal. It is installed tightly in both the width and height of the opening. Above the flooring is thick blanket to provide the insulation. This zero cost solution takes only a few minute to install and remove and it keeps the house utility bill at a minimum year around. Click here for more great energy saving articles. The information on this site is provided for reference only and is provided "AS IS", "AS AVAILABLE" with no guarantee of accuracy. Information comes with no warranties, express or implied. Use the information from this site at your own risk. See our disclaimer for more details. |