Whole house fans?

[JettaKnight]

I like the cool air in Spring and Fall, so I'm looking to getting a whole house fan to suck that fresh air into the house. I know it's worthless in the humidity of summer, so my return on investment is going be very small.

There's a lot of newer designs that hang the fan from the rafters and use ducts to keep them quiet, so that's a plus.

And in doing my research there's only a few offering that have anything better than R5 rated insulation, so the options are limited.


Anyone have experience with these?

 

[ruger1800]

they cool a house down quickly by just opening a window on far end of house from fan.

 

[Mij]

With my limited experience, and not in my house. I’ve found in the barns the best “cooling “ to be with the roof mount, wind driven rotating fans. Always a breeze. Hot air rises.

In our house we have been advised to run the furnace/ac fan full time, causing an increased interior pressure all time and drawing cooler outside air into the house. Supposedly this makes the whole house the same temp. in each room.

Having said that I’ve never done that. We open a down stairs window and put a fan in the upstairs game room. Blows the warm air out, draws the cool air in through a cracked window down stairs.

Thats all I got, best o luck.

 

[printcraft]

I really only like the kitchen and the bedroom.

 

[Expat]

They do a pretty good job during that late evening time when it gets cooler outside quicker than in the house.

 

[foszoe]

I really only like the kitchen and the bedroom.

When you posted this at 250 am, which room were you in?

 

[phylodog]

We discussed having one installed in our house when we bought it. The house was built in 1910 so there's no air return upstairs. I'd still like to have one some day but it's pretty far down on the priority list at this point.

 

[bigretic]

I would like to have one because my ranch has pretty poor air flow through the windows just due to the positioning whatnot. Friend in the neighborhood has one, it's central to the house in the roof and is great. It is however old and LOUD.

 

[Slow Hand]

We discussed having one installed in our house when we bought it. The house was built in 1910 so there's no air return upstairs. I'd still like to have one some day but it's pretty far down on the priority list at this point.

Those older houses do well with stuff like this as they were designed before AC systems. The older town I lived in in y college years had many “apartments’ that were older houses converted to multiple living spaces. They did surprisingly well until you got to the really hot, humid times of year. Big windows and tall open ceilings help to keep the heat up and away from you.

 

[Slow Hand]

I can’t comment on the newer designs but will say I love having one in our house. We’ve been here a little under 20 years and we use it a lot. Ours is mounted in basically the far end of The bedroom hallway, right in the ceiling. It has Oliver’s that open up with the suction from the fan. I it’s really cold and windy, you can feel some cooler air seeping out but it’s not bad. I would assume more modern units would be better.
We are pretty energy frugal as it is, but with this fan and having decent insulation in the house, we can put off turning the AC for a good bit every summer. I am up early, before sunrise, so I’ll turn it on to suck in the cooler night air and cool the house down. My wife will shut it off before she leaves for work. It’s stil cool when I get home and even into the warmer days, jsut starts to get ‘uncomfortable’ right about the time the temp starts to drop. So we’ll turn it on after supper and it cools the house down for The evening.

I will say that even if it’s a bit warmer outside than you want inside, the moving air feels better than stagnant air.
you do have to balance the system with windows being open. For instance l my oldest sons bedroom is on the west end of the house and the closest to the house fan. He will be hot when he gets home and open both of his windows all the way up and that starves air flow from the rest of the house. I have finally convinced him of the venturi effect and that if he just has his windows open a couple inches, the air flow will be faster and will make him. Feel cooler! Of course the fact that he has two monitors, a tv, computer, gaming system d speakers going doesn’t add anything to the temp of his room…

 

[Michigan Slim]

We love our house fan. There are limited windows to use it but it keeps us from using air conditioning for a month or so every year.
I can only run mine on low speed due to it blowing into the attic. You can only vent an attic so much.
Another thing that really helps us is the power vent I put in the roof. Keeps the attic much much cooler all summer.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

My only experience with one has been at my brother’s house. It’s an older one, at least 20 years old. It does the job. But it’s noisy.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

My aunt had one in her house that had to be built at least 40+ years ago, similar to the one @Slow Hand desribed (in the central hallway ceiling with louvers). Wasn't the quietest thing, but it was effective in moving the air.

 

[JettaKnight]

This is one I've got my eye on, with the R50 damper.

https://www.centricair.com/whole-ho...an-3209-cfm-hvi-916-certified-airflow-rating/

 

[printcraft]

When you posted this at 250 am, which room were you in?

Office. Backache woke me up, took a handful of advil and was waiting for it to kick in...

 

[foszoe]

Office. Backache woke me up, took a handful of advil and was waiting for it to kick in...

I knew that OnlyFans wasn't live.

Seriously though, sorry to hear that. Hopefully all is better now.

I am out of beer and my knee hurts so I can empathize some.

 

[INP8riot]

I thought about it, but when not in use, I feel it would just become a bug highway into the house. Stink bugs and beetles!

 

[smokingman]

I have one(and a new spare should it ever need replaced still in a box) .
It pulls air in from open windows, and pushes it out vents on both ends of the attic clearing the hot attic. On average it will turn the entire house the outside temperature in about 5 minutes. In the winter I cover it with an insulated cover. It is loud. It also does not need to run long though.

The switch to turn it on is a light switch placed in the master bedroom.

Great in the spring and fall when I use it any evening it is needed, not so much in the summer as it will pull all that humidity into the house just as quickly. Still have AC, but it is amazing how much cooler your house is just clearing hot air out of your attic.

It could have a 18 inch duct installed, but that would defeat the purpose of clearing out hot attic air. It is not a small fan.

 

[cg21]

My parents have one and they have it hooked to their Alexa…… they love it and use it all the time. And they certainly move air. We have one also… use it a lot less than they do, only because my daughters have severe allergies. Very VERY few times throughout the year we can have windows open at all.

 

[JettaKnight]

I thought about it, but when not in use, I feel it would just become a bug highway into the house. Stink bugs and beetles!

I can't say I've ever seen any bugs in my attic; they all come in via the basement.