Attic Fans & Whole House Fans

[BikingBrian]

Does anyone have either of the above, and is one or the other useful in WW?

[2CatMama]

We don't have one, and we don't live in Wrightwood.  I wanted one, but hubby did the research and, at that time, they were NOT reccommended for people with allergies.  I guess they have a tendency to pull into your home whatever is floating around or has landed on your house.  With two asthmatics in the house we had to veto the idea.  Too much pollen.  Neighbors here in OC have it and love it.  It reduces the temp upstairs by a good 10 -15 degrees upstairs when they run it at night.

[BusDriver]

We had a whole house fan when we lived in Llanno.  They are wonderful.  In the evening when it cooled down we would turn it on and almost instantly the house would go from hot to the temp outside.  We would run for just a short time and open the windows at night.

[SenD-n-SpiN]

We don't have one (yet) but will likely have one by next summer.  Had to get some evaporative cooling happening first!

A guy I work with just bought one of these.  A bit expensive but it's supposed to be quiet, insulated and doesn't require a huge hole in the ceiling (installs thru the vent hole) or dedicated wiring (has a plug-in).

http://www.airscapefans.com/whf17/


Don't forget 2 important things:
1.)  Make sure you have proper venting in your attic or you will back-pressure the fan, not get enough flow and turn your attic into a pressurized vessel.

2.)  Send in for the Edison rebate
http://www.sce.com/RebatesandSavings/Residential/_Heating+and+Cooling/WholeHouseFan/

[campstertim]

I have a whole house fan in my house.  When I get home from work, and the inside of my house is still 88 degrees, and it 70 outside, I'll open a couple windows and turn the fan on to bring in the cooler outside air.

That's about the only time it's useful.  And it sounds like a prop airplane engine in my house.  Incidentally, I'm going this weekend to Lowes to pick up a portable a/c unit, if that tells you anything.

[Toolman]

Brian.... My experience and quest for restfull sleep in the heat.

We're going into our second summer this year and weighing all the options and the efficiency values of an evaporative cooler vrs. an AC or fan venting units, we decided to install the evaporative cooler. They are more efficient in our dry climate vrs. air conditioning, costs 2/3 less to operate, my nose and sinuses aren't as dried out in the morning, and we got a $300 rebate on the model we installed. I just finished the install last weekend and it's sized to cool the entire house. It's quiet and effective enough on low that high output is run for less than a half hour. When the evening temps stay in the high 70's and the upstairs bedroom is 88 + degrees I can't sleep very well. Since I finished the installation we can bring the house into the low 60's if you chose to. The first night I ran it, the temp in the family room actually got down to 54 degrees. That was a little extreme so we learned quickly to run it on low....burrr. The unit is made by Master Cool and has a 12" thick cooling pad, 3/4 hp motor, 18x18 outlet through the wall. You can also run just the fan in high or low speeds also without running the pump for the cooling. I thought it was the best of both worlds for our application and desires.

 I had to fabricate the exterior feed through wall register myself although, any sheetmetal shop can do this type of work. I made my own because I have the capabilty to do so. I found a unique flush mount internal wall register that only opens when air is detected and closes automatically when no air flow is detected. It is available at Mc Master Carr. Complete install time was about 3hrs. not including building the deck/foundation it rests on.

 We were out the door for less than a grand and while adding value to the home we can now finally sleep under covers in comfort and a complete night sleep with out listening to all the traffic and other nonsense in the middle of the night.

[RennMan]

We have both a whole-house fan, and a powered attic vent.

The whole house fan was installed by the previous owner, before we bought the house 4 years ago, and just takes the ambient house air, and draws it into the attic.  With the windows open at night, it generally cools the house off pretty well.

Just this year we had a solar-powered attic fan installed on the peak of the roof.  It is made by Solatube, and has photovoltaic (PV) cells on the cap.  Powered by the sun, it only runs when there is enough light to trigger the fan.  And yes, it will run every day of the year, whether hot or cold in the attic.

The attic itself has 3 gable vents.

With all the heat this year, I'm starting to wonder about a evap cooler or "swamp cooler" and whether it would be a good idea for our home.

[Toolman]

With all the heat this year, I'm starting to wonder about a evap cooler or "swamp cooler" and whether it would be a good idea for our home.  

 After installing ours last weekend, it makes me wonder why I didn't do it last year. 

[Toolman]

I'm going this weekend to Lowes to pick up a portable a/c unit, if that tells you anything.

 Be sure to pick up a pair of ear plugs while your there too. 

Not only are they noisy, they are not very efficient. We bought one last year rated for 12000 btu (should be suitable for a 800sq.ft. room) and it barely cooled off the bedroom 5 degrees. Window mount AC units are slightly better but not much better and almost as noisy. If you do get one.... go watch the meter spin itself crazy. 

[Wrightwood]

We have both gable (attic) vent fans and a large evaporative cooler.

I wouldn't want to be without either. The fans help cool the attic as it begins to cook in the afternoon sun. I generally run the fan that is in the shaded end of the house and it helps cool the attic dramatically.

I can't say enough about evaporative cooler use in Wrightwood. Ask anyone that's been over here when it's real hot outside.

Hmmm... I wonder why Toolman forgot to mention why he went with a swamp cooler?

If Toolman would not have went with a jet engine style cooler he would not be needing earplugs and his bunny slippers.

[Toolman]

Hmmm... I wonder why Toolman forgot to mention why he went with a swamp cooler?

If Toolman would not have went with a jet engine style cooler he would not be needing earplugs and his bunny slippers.

Ok sir I will explain that question...

Wrightwood and I are bad influences on each others bank accounts lately. I think I'm in the lead though.... I bought a jack hammer for digging in the yard after borrowing his...price 800 bucks. I decided after spending time at his place on several occasions in the cool fresh air I would investigate this evaporative cooling vrs. AC. The decision was to go with the evaporative cooler....price 900 bucks.

 Now on the other hand, my Ham radio gear recommendations have set him back a cool 6k or better in the last few months.... I think I'm ahead.   

 Yes this cooler puts out some pretty serious air from the caged fan but as far as ear plugs go they aren't needed with this puppy....nice and quiet but maybe the isolation pads under the unit are doing what they are designed to do as well as isolating the exterior feed through register with weather insulation. If ya want something installed right, sometimes it's best to do it yourself.

I was suggesting  ear plugs if in the event Mr. Hermit goes out and gets a portable AC unit that I'm sure he will return....but you can't return ear plugs. Bunny slippers and knit cap still required though

[makgirl]

With all the heat this year, I'm starting to wonder about a evap cooler or "swamp cooler" and whether it would be a good idea for our home.

Note: Our house use to be cooler, but after removing those 50+ trees, we now know why.  The downside of being "fire safe" is that we have to invest in some sort of cooling unit. Overhead fans can only do so much when there is no shade...

[bigpines]

we have had our swamp cooler for years now.  I love it. Turn it on in the early afternoon and the house cools quickly.  We take it down in the winter.  My sisters portable ac is noisy and doesn't work all that great.  The swamp is not too hard on the electric bill

[lagomorphmom]

More details on our (Toolman's) install.

First of all, our advice from Wrightwood was to "get the biggest unit you could fit in the truck - leave the box behind" so that way you can get an over-size unit and run it on low: quieter, more efficient. Good advice!!!

We were recommended to H&E hardware by Mtn. Hardware and liked their service (we ran smack into one of the managers who took us by the hand, she was excellent). We knew we wanted a side-mount unit and not a roof unit; however, the floor unit (by Champion, a good brand) was too big for the truck (we have a shell). She had mentioned (but not pushed) that they have more expensive units in the storage barn so I said, "ok, how much more and what size are they?"

The unit was a MasterCool II model HC-44 made by AdobeAir, cost was around $350 more than the Champion (including motor); however, there is a $300 rebate on the MasterCool but not the Champion, so I'm calling it a wash. I'd advise looking at the SCE rebate page (link below) before you buy - only the most efficient units are on the list. While Champion units are on the list, the ones with the thin pads that you see all over are not efficient enough for the list. Our MasterCool uses a 12" honeycomb-style 'pad' which is more efficient because the whole pad is in front of the blower. There is a cheaper 8" unit (MC44), I don't believe H&E had when we were there. The motor is always sold separately (and more expensive for the MasterCool since the 'pad' is so thick).

Be aware these units are not plug and play, you will need a switch (with pump, low, high settings for rebate), and as Toolman said a duct and register. Oh, yeah and a whopping big hole in the side of the house. Water supply is an easy 1/4" copper tubing that anyone can connect to their outdoor spigot.

After install (and Toolman getting the high setting out of his system), we found that cracking 3 windows about 6" upstairs cooled the house last Sat. from 90deg outside to 71deg inside with the fan on low). Humidity in the house was around 50%.

SCE - Evaporative Cooling
http://www.sce.com/RebatesandSavings/Residential/_Heating+and+Cooling/EvaporativeCooling/

[Hillbillies]

If you are in a pinch, you could go "Hillbilly" style like we did.  I have not had time to do any proper purchase/installation due to other interests I have been involved with.  I have been currently taking a Possum skinning course down at the "Y."

My attic access is in the ceiling in our upstairs spare bedroom.  Our attic has two small vents in the wall on the N. and S. side.  These provide zero ventilation.  When we had the first heat spell a few weeks ago, I bet my attic was sitting at about 180 degrees!  Last year I bought a couple of those square fans from Rite Aid to place in our upstairs windows (as if this wasn't Hillbilly enough) to draw in the cool evening air.  This helped a little, but with a virtual oven sitting on top of us, we were still uncomfortable at night. 

This year I grew smarter and placed one of these 19.99 dollar fans up into my attic access.  Rigged four screws to hold it in place.  Turned it on high.  Opened the bedroom window.  And it pushed all the hot air out of my attic!  Now after about 3 days of running the fan, it died....

Next year I'll try something  different.  Toolman's set up sounds real nICE..........

[garski]

 We have 2 portable swamp coolers 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs and they keep the house cool. The portable ones can also be used as a fan only. They do not work as well as the large outside units, but they are a good alternative for those of us that do not want hole in the wall and a perminate install. They also need water added about every 3 hours or so. But can be easy put away in the winter. Expect to pay about $200 for a good one.

[cedar]

My sister has a swamp cooler in Sacramento.  It works great in that high heat area. If the temp goes over 100, the house isn't exactly cool, but tolerable. Fortunately in  Wrightwood, we don't get that kind of heat.

Just wanted to mention that you can get a electronic thermostat for turning the thing on and off.  Maybe they come with them now, but her 10 year old unit didn't have one. The electronic thermostats seem to be uncommon and hard to find.  I found one at Lowes that the employees didn't know was there.  They are a bit complicated to install, had to hire a professional electrician.  My sister loves hers, no more getting up in the middle of the night to turn the thing off when it gets too cool.

I have a portable swamp cooler, cost a bit over $100.  It has storage for a couple of gallons of water  (you can add ice which is really a great feature    ), a timer, and all kinds of cool features, it runs for about 10 hours.  Fourth of July week it made many trips from the living room to the bedroom.  Since I put a shade over my front porch, and a solar powered attic fan, I haven't needed more than that.  Before I put in those two items, my house would heat up to 10 degrees higher than the outside temperature.  Now it tends to stay 10 degrees lower than the outside temperature.  Oh yeah, I also put in two security screen doors, and a large ceiling fan so I can keep the main doors open all night for gathering as much cool air as is available.

Hillbilly, I highly recommend a solar powered attic fan.  Does require a hole in the roof. But it just runs while the sun is shining so the heat doesn't build up like it use to.  I thought about a gable fan, but this one is free to run.

[BikingBrian]

I bought a gable fan at Lowes for $50 and I'm going to install it this weekend.  I just have to decide which gable vent to mount it to.  Looking from above, my attic is shaped like a "T", so I can't decide whether to put the fan on the left top, the right top, or the bottom of the "T".  Ideally, the bottom of the "T" would give the best flow, but that has the smallest gable vents.  But the hottest part of the house (the bedrooms) are under the right top of the "T", so I'll put the fan there.  My only concern is that most of the air flow will be on the top of the "T", with only a little bit coming from the bottom of the "T", but it still should be better than what I have now.

[RennMan]

I vote we need a field trip to either Toolman or WW's homes, and see the setup.  I think I have a good place for the evap cooler, but I would need to cantilever a platform off of an existing deck, but power is right next to the location, and a hose bib is about 8 feet just below it...

Time to go to H&E, ,methinks!

[Wrightwood]

I've heard from a unnamed source that Toolman plans on reversing direction of airflow during winter in order to blow snow for lost snow players to use.