I started thinking about the cooling of my shop and had just assumed I would put in a window AC if/when i needed it. To be honest, it doesn't get that hot around here (we've went entire summers without breaking 90º) and even when i had a window AC (last shop) it wasn't used that much. But an attic fan might be something that would see more use and keep the shop comfortable. I'm guessing there are some reasons not to do install one, like the fine dust getting into the attic and maybe other stuff i haven't though of. Anybody do this? Thoughts?

I have my shop insulated. and I have 1 double garage door and 1 entry door and 1 window. I have 4 box fans. 1 in the window and the entry door blowing into the shop. I have 2 box fans blowing the air out the double garage door. I start early in the morning and it cools my shop down. I close the doors and window when I have reached the outside temperature. Sometimes I can work till six pm till  it starts to heat up. I also have a ceiling mount dust collector which helps when its dusty.  I sometimes leave the window open at night to help precool.

 

Preston

Edited January 16, 20179 yr by steamshovel
FORGOT

I've put attic fans in our last two houses (30 years worth of life).   I can't speak to workshop use, but we'd turn it on in the evening and let it run, often overnight.   We would rarely use A/C -- my 70-70 rule of thumb was overnight low above 70 degrees or dew point above 70 degrees.   Even in just the house, it did push some dust into the attic.  Another option might be to put one in the wall near the ceiling and just let it vent the working area and perhaps put a thermostatically controlled roof fan to cool the attic.    When I was in high school, I spent a summer working at an executive air service.  You could really tell when the hangar doors were closed and when they were open a just ambient breeze went through.   That's my contribution of random thoughts.

Edited January 16, 20179 yr by kmealy

My shop is in the basement, so it's always cool. 

 

I did need to create some sort of dust management. I took an old hot air furnace blower and mounted it in the basement window- blowing out. It worked great for removing the dust. 

 

The unintended benefit was that, in the summer, I can turn the blower on and open an upstairs window and it will cool the entire house. It works as an attic fan but sort of in reverse. 

 

The only down side is that I cannot use the fan in the winter unless I make sure the furnace is turned off. The fan will pull furnace fumes down the chimney. Don't ask how I know this!

Edited January 16, 20179 yr by lew

In the summertime, I open the double doors plus three windows and place an industrial fan blowing out the doors. It rarely gets to 100 degrees here so it's tolerable most of the time. When it's not, I go in the house. 

Once a month, I blow out the dust with the reversed vacuum. 

I realized (too late to edit) "attic fan" can mean several things. The one I'm considering if the type that would be mounted in the ceiling and draw air through the shop, exhausting it through the attic vents. We had one when we lived in Kansas and I really liked it.

Yes, I was referring to a "whole house attic fan," that  I think is what you are describing.

I've noticed in homes being built today, instead of installing vents in the eves to vent attics, they instead install venting along the ridge of the roof for the entire length of the building to provide a means for natural venting of the rising hot air  from the building.  Not sure how this might work.

Edited January 16, 20179 yr by It Was Al B

Al, I have the ridge vent along with a lot of soffit venting. Even so, I think with a whole house fan i would probably put in some gable vents to make sure I had adequate exhausting.

20 hours ago, It Was Al B said:

I've noticed in homes being built today, instead of installing vents in the eves to vent attics, they instead install venting along the ridge of the roof for the entire length of the building to provide a means for natural venting of the rising hot air  from the building.  Not sure how this might work.

Building regulations here call for ridge vents as well as soffit vents. This produces a flow of air from the soffits to the ridge, carrying moist air out the top.

John

Again, my observations are only half of the story.  The gable vents haven't disappeared, but the ridge vents have been added in newer homes. I don't believe Soffit venting was installed in older Colonial style homes because there was very little roof overhang.  This caused icing along the roof edges and eventually water damage in the homes when melting occured.

3 hours ago, HARO50 said:

Building regulations here call for ridge vents

I hope that's for attic areas only.   With my Cano house it's just not possible in the living space.  ???

I would love to have a whole house attic fan in the house. We had one when I was growing up and the breeze through the open windows was very nice. However, if you didn't have enough windows open it would suck the drapes off the windows.

If I remember correctly, we also had one of those turbine fans on the house. I think they work on thermodynamics. If the attic is hot the fan turns due to the escaping heat. It could also turn due to wind.  I am not sure but I think you have to have soffett vents for them to be effective. If you have peak vents or dormer vents they don't work so well