Why attic fan

You don't want your unfinished attic cooled by your air conditioner. To prevent this, follow the air sealing and insulation strategies in this guide and make sure the attic is well-ventilated using passive vents and natural air flow. Laying fiberglass rolls is easiest for a DIY job.

If you have any type of insulation between the rafters, install the second layer over and perpendicular to the first again, the second layer of roll insulation should be unfaced — with no vapor retarder. This will help cover the tops of the joists and reduce heat loss or gain through the frame. Also, when laying down additional insulation, work from the perimeter toward the attic opening.

Never lay insulation over recessed light fixtures or soffit vents. Keep all insulation at least 3 inches away from "can" lights, unless they are rated IC Insulated Ceiling. If you are using loose fill insulation, use sheet metal to create barriers around the openings. If using fiberglass, wire mesh can be used to create a barrier. To completely cover your attic floor with insulation out to the eaves you need to install rafter vents also called insulation baffles.

Complete coverage of the attic floor along with sealing air leaks will ensure you get the best performance from your insulation. Every roof mount fan, solar and smart, comes with a bug screen that keeps bugs, insects, animals, and unwanted debris from getting into the attic.

We are attic ventilation experts and have decades of expertise and experience to help make your home more protected and energy efficient through better ventilation. An attic fan replaces the air inside of your attic with the air outside using the existing attic vents.

They are usually installed on a gable vent or into the roof of the home. With energy costs higher than ever, many homeowners are looking for ways to reduce their bills while still keeping the whole house cool. Choosing a more energy-efficient air conditioner is one solution but for many homes, an even better solution is an attic exhaust fan. QuietCool Solar Attic Fans are the most powerful solar attic fans on the market today.

Our solar fans have a large industry leading solar panel to ensure max performance. Our solar attic fans have an ultra-energy efficient DC Motor that allows the fan to never stop cooling, ventilating and exhausting your attic. This motor leads the industry-leader in durability with no maintenance. Most manufacturers recommend sizing an attic fan at 2 to 3 CFM cubic feet of air per minute per square foot of living space.

This recommendation is typically based on the location that your home is located in. For example, for coastal or mountain climates, the recommendation is typically 2 CFM per square foot. There are three types of attic fans.

All three types can be installed on a gable end or roof mounted application. Smart attic fans are the newest revolution in the attic fan industry. In the summer months, a smart attic fan will prevent the attic from reaching scorching hot temperatures that, in turn, transfer into the living space below.

These smart fans typically feature a smartphone app that offers the ability to control all parameters of the fan from temperature settings, humidity settings, and it even allows you to see the current conditions in the attic. Studies have even shown that a smart attic fan can keep your attic within 10 degrees of the outside temperature, even during the peak heat of the day.

Solar Attic Fans are ideal for any homeowner who wants attic cooling but does not want to use any more electricity. This helps the homeowner save the maximum dollar amount on their electricity bill every month. These fans operate solely by using solar power to push air from the attic vents, throughout the attic space, and back outside.

If you only want to use solar power, you can choose to have the inverter disconnected on install. Solar attic fans are ideal for any homeowner looking to keep the world green and their home cool and healthier.

Traditional Attic Fans are what most homeowners have in their homes when it comes to attic fans. These fans push a lot of air, are powerful, and reliable. These fans often come with a thermostat and are single speed only typically that can be set to when you want your the fan to run and can push air at up to 2, CFM.

Rather than bringing in fresh air from the inside of the home like a whole house fan, for instance, a gable attic fan is a specific type of fan designed to remove the hot, stale air from the attic of a home. You will feel the benefit of this fan mostly on your cooling bill. Since gable attic fans remove the hottest air in the home, your air conditioner will be more efficient and you may be able to run it less while still effectively cooling your home.

Attic fans are very popular in cold climates because they can help to prevent ice damming in attics during the coldest months of the year. A typical attic can build up a lot of moisture during the winter due to the warm temperature in the home and the cool temperature outside and in the attic which can cause serious problems to appliances in the attic or even the structure of the home.

By ventilating the attic, it can help mitigate that humidity build-up. With a smart attic fan, customers simply go into their smartphone app and change the climate setting to Winter; no climbing up into the attic needed!

No need to enter the attic during winter to operate or adjust. Attic fans are very popular in cold climates because they can help to prevent ice damming in attic during the coldest months of the year. So you got a whole house fan but need to add more venting. But other times, it can be much more difficult. Power venting is the process in which a whole house fan is powered on and the attic fan is powered on as well to help move the air out faster.

We recommend using an attic fan to boost the ventilation when you are 1 to 2 square feet shy of the venting requirement. Attic ventilation is crucial to homeowners because attics can be like an oven on top of your home, heating up your living space from above. When mid-summer comes around, a typical attic can reach temperatures of over degrees! In a two-story home, this heat can make the top floor unbearable! Installing an attic fan helps to lower those outrageous temperatures in the attic, thus helping the home stay cooler.

For this reason, they can help homeowners feel more comfortable. If living more comfortably is not enough to attract you to an attic fan, perhaps saving money on your electric bill while preserving your most expensive home appliance will. All homeowners dread running their air conditioner. The reason for this is the duct work for the air conditioner is surrounded by extreme attic temperatures. These temperatures obviously heat up the duct work so when the system is first turned on, it begins at a deficit.

The duct work must first cool down before homeowners feel any noticeable difference in the living space. This is where the attic fan comes in! As we said before, attic fans greatly reduce the temperature in the attic which means your duct work will also stay cooler!

This translates to your HVAC system reaching the set temperature much quicker, allowing it to run more efficiently, thus creating a more comfortable living environment, all while extending the life of your most expensive home appliance! Attic fans are often confused for whole house fans. This confusion remains very prevalent today. Often during colder months, the warm air from your home meets the cold air just under your roof. This could lead to excessive moisture and possibly some damage to your roof from mold or ice damming.

The fan will circulate the air, which could prevent any of this excessive moisture and potential damage. Many people may get caught up in the promises of a fan for the top of the house. Therefore, your air conditioning will not need to work as hard. However, an attic fan will not cool an entire house. Now, what about the cost? Because attic fans take away some of the work that your air conditioning would be doing, you will spend less on running your air conditioning.

However, running an electric fan in attics could mean the cost just goes towards the attics rather than the air conditioner. So are attic fans good or bad? Well, there is thankfully an alternative to choosing between no attic fan or paying for an electric attic fan.

Solar attic fans work just like electric fans and have all the same benefits. The difference is that after you pay to install them, you never pay for them again.

They run on solar energy. So the only thing powering your attic fan is the sun rather than your electric bill. This means that with a solar fan in your attic, you can take the pressure of your air conditioning without paying for it in your attic.

Unlike electric attic fans, this can actually end up saving you money every month, especially in the hottest weeks of summer.

But a solar attic fan will do everything that you would want your electric unit to do. It will push out hot air in the summer.

In extremely warm climates it has been scientifically proved to cool the attic by an average of 20 degrees. And it will keep your attic dry in the winter, preventing future costly roofing and maintenance issues.

Your fan will run 12 months of the year without costing you a dime after installation. Read our review on the best solar attic fans.

Now you know everything there is to know about how attic fans work, and you may be getting a good idea of whether it may be right for your home. But are attic fans good or bad? Knowing the benefits as well as the disadvantages will help you decide if fans in your attic would work in your home.

Based on our industry experience, the answer is, yes. Attic fans do really work. They will help to circulate air in your attic and ventilate the space so that it stays closer to the outside temperature. Attics can reach extremely high temperatures in hot, summer months and gather an excessive amount of moisture in the winter. Attic fans will help fight these problems.