Whole House Fans

[BigDee]

I'm thinking about doing a whole house fan and putting a window A/C in the bedroom to run at night.

Anyone have experience doing anything like this? Opinions? Recommendations?

I got my latest electric bill and it's now running over $300 a month to keep my 3200 sqft home cool. It makes no sense to be spending this kind of money to keep all of these rooms cool when we are not in them.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Just make sure you crack windows to keep the reassure from oing negative. If you don't it can pull the air from the flue vent pipe bringing the combusted gases into the home. There's nice solar powered ones available.

Cheers!

[SideShow Bob]

And don't turn on the whole house fan while your fireplace or wood stove has a fire going.............ask me how I know.........[ROFL1]

[ben4372]

I do just what you are thinking of. window unit and whole house fan works great. You could even put it on a timer. I leave mine on through the night and wake up to a cool house, then close it all up. It also blows out that hot attic air. Keep in mind you need a good bit of venting so the air can get out. lots of turtle vents or gable vents. Even without a whole house fan you should have an attic fan to cool that roof area. I also built a insulated box to cover it in the winter as those louvers are heat holes. One weekend and you'll know you did the right thing.

[Ready Room]

I grew up with whole house fans - best white noise ever!

[Tinelement]

Love ours.

It runs every night!

Go for it.

[CO Hugh]

I have a couple of neighbors that have them and they like them. One house does not have AC at all. I know one said he runs it in the evening and then the AC does not come on until about noon.

I am looking at getting one also. Check some of the comments at the home depot website. One suggestion I was told is to build a box for it so the box extends past the insulation and have a plywood cover for winter time to put over the fan.

While a bigger fan is better, if it is less than 24" to mount you won't have to cut ceiling joists, so i was told. Check yours. If bigger then you will have to cut the joists and reinforce them to put it in.

Also try additional insulation in the attic, about $300 to blow in yourself. Home Depot will loan you the blower for free with purchase of insulation. Also an attic fan either roof or gable mount is supposed to help a lot. I have neighbors that swear by them. Most of the neighbors have attic fans.

[anomad]

I had a whole house fan and two swamp coolers in New Mexico.

The whole house fan was good on cool nights or especially good at opening the kitchen window and evacuating cooking smells if you were frying something up. Overall I used the swamp coolers on fan only mode more than the whole house fan.

If I were retrofitting a house here in the Denver area for cooling I would go with a big swamp cooler in an existing window or easy wall to cut a hole in. I would have done that, but I am in a rental... So I just sweat and use a fan, natures evaporative cooling I suppose.

They also make LARGE evacuation fans that fir into a window, which may be an option for you? http://www.air-n-water.com/product/9166D.html

[gnihcraes]

Be sure you have enough attic insulation, ventilation. Sounds like it's heat soaking and you can't cool the house fast enough.

Place called Colorado Home Cooling does whole house fans. Give them a ring.
(not affiliated with them in any way)

http://www.colohomecool.com/

[rondog]

We have one, and Colorado Home Cooling installed it. I love the thing, it works great! But you have to understand their limitations. If it's blazing hot out, it can't really pull in cool air because there isn't any cool air. But if you leave the windows on the sunny side of the house closed and open the windows on the shady side, it helps.

You MUST have plenty of attic ventilation, I can't stress this enough! CHC will put the vents in, he knows all about this. A big fan blowing into your attic will move a lot of air, and it has to be able to exit or you'll just pressurize the attic and kill the airflow. The venting needs to be capable of letting out all of the air the fan pushes in.

You can tune the airflow in your house by only opening certain windows, like the shady side windows in the day, and the bedroom windows at night. It gets so cool here in the nighttime, you won't need to run an a/c at all. The fan will make it downright chilly in the house. Or if you need to "flush" the heat out of a room or area, leave everything closed and only open the windows/doors in that area.

Opening all the windows in the house wide open isn't as effective as you might think, it's better to open them just a little. The fan will only move so much air, and making it have to suck in a little at each window tends to increase the airflow. Everything wide open and yeah, it'll move air, but there's so much volume available it slows down the airflow and feels like it's not doing anything. Just crack everything a couple inches and it feels more breezy inside.

And if it's going to be a scorcher, use the fan to suck in as much cool air in the morning as possible until it starts warming up outside, then shut off the fan and close up the house, and set the a/c thermostat. The a/c may not come on for quite awhile if you've cooled the house down enough first.

Overall, I highly recommend one! Get the big 36" 2-speed one, you won't regret it. Hi/low is a nice feature to have. And belt drive is quieter than direct drive. Also, have a pro install it, you won't regret that either. Ryan did a great job and it didn't take him long, but he does them all the time.

Oh, forgot to mention ceiling fans. Good quality 52", 3-speed ceiling fans help a lot too! One in each bedroom and one in the living room, they'll stir up nice breezes even if the air's hot. And if you have something generating cool air like a/c or a swamp cooler, they're even better.

[MCarp71]

Had one growing up in Texas. Loved it as a kid. It would pull your hat right off your head when you walked underneath it. We called them attic fans![Tooth]

[XDMan]

had one in the house I grew up in and have installed 2 or 3 in houses we have bought since being out on my own. They're great. At bed time, leave the bedroom windows open and close most or all the others in the house.

Only thing I would add to the other suggestions here is to put it on a thermostat (place close to the fan). That way if it gets really cool outside in the middle of the night it will shut off by itself instead of you having to get up & do it.

Leo

[CO Hugh]

Approximate cost to have one installed, particularly by Colorado Home Cooling.

[BigDee]

^^What he said.

[rondog]

Check out the website or call and ask. It's been a few years, I don't remember.

[mtik00]

We don't have AC; we only have the house fan.

It works amazingly well about 80% of the summer. Let you'd think, it has to be cool outside for it to work. This summer has been pretty brutal. For those days/weeks, we have a floor-standing AC unit (with a vent that goes to the window).

I put the fan in myself, but I hired a roofer to come put some extra vents in just to make sure I had enough outflow. It wasn't hard to do; I just had to get past that fear factor of cutting a gigantic hole in my ceiling ;)

I have a wireless thermometer so I know when it's cooler outside than inside. That's when the fan goes on, and I don't turn it off until the morning (or we get too cold, or it rains).

If I had the money at the time, I would have popped for something a little fancier. They have units with a central fan that gets put inside your attic, with smaller vents/tubes that go to each room. I would have preferred that for what we use it for: cooling down the master bedroom. Here's one example: http://www.wholehousefan.com/PRODUCTS/THE-SUPERFAN---.html


The biggest downside is that you need to open the windows to the room(s) that you want to cool. I've gotten up a few nights this week when it started raining and water was coming in from the window.

The other thing is that it's loud. I don't mind it very much, but it can be a security concern. I wouldn't hear someone breaking a window in the basement if I was sleeping on the second floor while the fan was running.

All in all, the house fan was a great investment. It super-cheap to run and it works most of the time.

[Jer]

Considering one in the garage to suck some of the trapped hot air up and out whenever I'm out there working in the summer. Seems like a better choice since it starts moving air immediately whereas an A/C unit takes hours to start cooling a space that large enough to even notice.

[wyome]

Had one in wyoming...they didn't believe in A/C up there..FOOLS! It worked well tho
Always have a window cracked somewhere...especially with gas appliances in the house (water heater...)

[mtik00]

I woke up this morning and my house was 70 degrees. Try that with AC!

I should also mention that the better insulated you are, the better the system will work. It pays to have low-e windows and heavy curtains/drapes/etc that get closed during the day to keep the heat out.

My master bedroom would heat up to over 90 degrees by sunset because: a) the BR faces SW; b) it's over the garage; c) we don't have heavy window coverings. That's why we have the AC unit to supplement those super hot days/nights.


Considering one in the garage to suck some of the trapped hot air up and out... I've been thinking the same thing.

[Jer]

I woke up this morning and my house was 70 degrees. Try that with AC!

You want me to try that? It would require me getting up and walking over to the thermostat and pushing the down button one click... don't know if I have that in me today.

[rockhound]

replace your a/c with a whole house evap cooler, cooler house and next to nothing to run the thing all summer.

i think xcel even has rebates if you make the switch.

[soldier-of-the-apocalypse]

I have one it works great and I also use portible swamp coolers I can usaully get my room below 70 at night

[rondog]

The whole house fans are a nice option for those of us that live in socialist communities with HOA's that won't allow swamp coolers or window units. Thou must haveth Central Air, or nothing at all. Or a big ol' fan that nobody can see.

[gnihcraes]

Swamp cooler here, oversized for the SqFt size of house. Feeds into basement window, picks up the cooler air there and pushes it through the upper floor windows on opposite side of house. Works well. ;)

[rockhound]

The whole house fans are a nice option for those of us that live in socialist communities with HOA's that won't allow swamp coolers or window units. Thou must haveth Central Air, or nothing at all. Or a big ol' fan that nobody can see.


actually the state legislature has helped you out on that, the HOA cannot prevent you from installing a swamp cooler,

Here is one opportunity for you to be able to tell the HOA TO GO F... THEMSELVES


Colorado law regulates unreasonable restrictions by HOAs on “energy efficiency measures.”
The Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (“CCIOA”), at C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.7 (http://www.cohoalaw.com/uploads/file/38-33_3-106_7.pdf), defines an energy efficiency measure as “a device or structure that reduces the amount of energy derived by fossil fuels that is consumed by a residence or business located on real property.” CCIOA specifically limits “energy efficiency measures” to include only the following items and devices:

● An awning, shutter, trellis, ramada, or other shade structure that is marketed for the purpose of reducing energy consumption;
● A garage or attic fan and any associated vents or louvers;
● An evaporative cooler;
● An energy-efficient outdoor lighting device, including without limitation a light fixture containing a coiled or straight florescent light bulb, and any solar recharging panel, motion detector, or other equipment connected to the lighting device; and
● A retractable clothesline.

Regardless of what the governing documents say, HOAs are not permitted to “effectively prohibit the installation or use” of these items and devices. However, associations are permitted to adopt reasonable aesthetic provisions (