Whole-house fan

Whole-house fan

A whole-house fan is a type of fan installed in a building's ceiling, designed to suck hot air out of the building. It is sometimes confused with an attic fan.

A whole-house fan sucks hot air out of a building and forces it into the attic. This displaces the very hot air trapped in the attic (which is pushed out the gable-end or soffit vents). Then, with windows and/or doors open to the outside, the whole-house fan draws cooler outside air into the building to replace the hot air (creating a cooling breeze whilst doing so).

Attic fans, by comparison, only serve to remove some hot air from the attic; no direct cooling effect is provided to the actual living space.

Benefits

A whole-house fan can significantly lower the temperature in a building very quickly, and is much less expensive to operate than air conditioning. Newer whole house fans are extremely environmentally friendly and energy efficient additions to house cooling systems. On temperate days they can be turned on to circulate rising hot air out of the house while pulling cool air in. Also new models are quieter and smaller than their older counterparts.

Drawbacks

Having air enter through an open window means that it is unfiltered, and may contain pollen or other allergens. This is in contrast to an air conditioner, with which the air is drawn in through the machinery and filtered in the process.

The fan can also be very noisy due to the high flow and direct drive of the fan blades. This may interfere with other normal household activities such as listening to music, watching television, or having a conversation. Recently there has been a surge of quieter, more efficient whole house fans that can be a good alternative to their traditional counterparts.

Installation

Installing a whole-house fan can be a do-it-yourself project.

Attics must be properly vented so that the air is able to escape back outdoors as quickly as it is being blown into the attic. A good rule of thumb is to provide the same amount of venting as the size of the shutter hole in the ceiling.

Gallery

ee also

*Room air distribution


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