Whole House Fan

[John Morris]

Good day folks, we are looking at Whole House Fans, our early evenings and nights are very cool outside, and we would love to get that cool air into our hot home instead of the AC.

Any recommendations in brands or technology?

Thanks!

[Gunny]

My house had one installed before I bought it, unit has a date of 1983.  All original except for the belt.  Works off a two speed selector, hi or low and I put doors in front to close it off instead of the curtain the old owner used.  A mechanical timer controls how long it runs from 5 minutes to 12 hours.  Things to improve?  I would have added a screen to keep pest out, such as hornets and such.  When installing through the attic original owner used a 2x4 for a walkway.  I installed a 16 inch walkway and put a 24 inch pad around the entire assembly.  Made changing the belt easier.  Write the belt number in large letters somewhere easy to see.  Old owner left the belt box, but it was too faded to see.  Had to measure and do this the hard way.

 

Me, I would keep the electrical just as simple.  All the bells and whistles are too easy to shut down and no fan.  Other than that this keeps us from running A/C most evenings except with high humidity.  Then it is just too sticky to sleep comfortably.  

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

Years ago I had one installed in our house, and the installer insisted he buy the fan...he wanted a belt driven fan (instead of direct drive), and as I recall went with an Emerson made model. Not sure what's available anymore, I'd just do my best to avoid an Asian import. I loved having that fan, BTW. Should ad: make sure you have enough venting in the attic eves, gables, whatever to let the fan discharge all the air...I had to add vents to my attic (PITA).

Edited April 29, 2020 by Fred W. Hargis Jr

[HandyDan]

Never had a fan but have wondered what would happen in an attic full of blown in insulation.  Maybe a roof or gable fan with duct work is in order.

[Gene Howe]

We have one and, have blown in insulation. when I installed it, I boxed it in with 18" high pieces of ply to keep the insulation safe. The peak of the attic is barely 6' high, width is 37' and length is 80'. The fan is roughly centered. There are vents at each end of the attic. IIRC, they are 6" X18". The fan is 24", a direct drive, single speed. It does the job.

When we cook exceptionally greasy stuff, or something gets overdone in the oven and sets off the smoke alarm, that fan remedies the situation in seconds. It also cools the house by forcing the heat out of the attic as well as bringing in the cool night air. Humidity is no problem here. I'd guess that using the fan causes the AC units to run maybe 25 to 30% less at night. Maybe more. 

 

[Danl]

John, I can't answer your questions but I had one many years ago in a different house.  When ever we turned in on, it would suck in a lot of dirt.  Not sure if the dirt was coming from the attic or from the air outside, but it was very annoying to the point my wife did not want it turned on.    Danl

[kmealy]

We have had one in the houses for the last 35 years (on third house now).   When we moved 3 years ago, my plan was to put one in here, but health and balance problems prevented me from wanting to crawl around the attic.  And this one I could not locate near the attic access door like the prior two.  So I finally hired a guy to put it in.   Last two had variable speed, this one just has a high and low.  Typically, we turn on the a/c for about a week twice a year.   My rule is 70-70.   When low temp for the day or dew point is above 70, we use the a/c.

 

There is a new style that's expensive, comes with a self-opening door on the top and has two small fan blades.  I looked at it and CFM appeared to be too low to do a whole lot of good.

 

 

 

 

[FlGatorwood]

Like Fred said, you need to ensure plenty of exhaust air space.  At the same time you need sufficient draw.  Where my wife grew up, they used one from Sears, don't know the brand name, but it is belt driven which is quieter.  Before bedtime, the dining room and living room windows were open.  It was cool after dark.  It did draw in humidity.  When it was time to go to bed, they opened the bedroom windows and after everyone moved to that side of the house, the other windows and doors were closed so you got the draft in the bedrooms.  Middle of the night of most times it could be turned off.  Home Depot has one just like the one we still have in that house. 

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Air-Vent-36-in-6900-CFM-Electric-Powered-Belt-Drive-Whole-House-Fan-with-Shutter-WH362BDX/308306170?mtc=Shopping-B-F_D28I-G-D28I-28_20_FIREPLACE-MULTI-NA-Feed-PLA-NA-NA-BASE_SHP&cm_mmc=Shopping-B-F_D28I-G-D28I-28_20_FIREPLACE-MULTI-NA-Feed-PLA-NA-NA-BASE_SHP-71700000041073829-58700005431790630-92700051935565326&gclid=Cj0KCQjwy6T1BRDXARIsAIqCTXqUhkAn2t2xLRtZ67_A4OHU8SiWqKlivpNnDUA8WOmzbIaLdhQlb4IaAnLmEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

It will save on your electric bill.  And, I wonder if there is one that is solar powered.  

[Gunny]

20 minutes ago, FlGatorwood said:

When it was time to go to bed, they opened the bedroom windows and after everyone moved to that side of the house, the other windows and doors were closed so you got the draft in the bedrooms.

That is what we do, open bedroom window and turn it on, plenty cold.  

[John Morris]

On 4/29/2020 at 6:52 AM, Danl said:

John, I can't answer your questions but I had one many years ago in a different house.  When ever we turned in on, it would suck in a lot of dirt.  Not sure if the dirt was coming from the attic or from the air outside, but it was very annoying to the point my wife did not want it turned on.    Danl

That is a good point Danl, our area is very dusty.

[John Morris]

Looks like I am doing the install, folks out here want about 500 bucks to cut a hole in my ceiling and bolt a fan to the ceiling joists. I am all about paying the trades what they are worth, aint saying they aint worth it but, I just aint got that kind of money.

 

So I am looking at a couple fans, the low dollar ones, and the higher dollar ones.

The low dollar ones are along these lines. The standard fan, biggest complaint it noise. About 300 bucks.

 

The higher dollar ones are along these lines, no complaints on these, and they are very quiet. These are 800 bucks, with Lowes veterans discount, it'd be close to 780.00 out the door.

 

Any of these I can install in a short day, but I am torn between them. The big money one is, well big money. If it wasn't for the noise complaints on the traditional lower cost fan, I'd put that one in.

Ho hum.

[Gunny]

Will this be mounted from ceiling or in a wall upright?  I had two last year someone bought from me.  Both were either or models removed from remodels on houses near me.  

 

My House is split level so the lower attic is where the fan blows into from the staircase going to the upper level.  At the far end of the lower level I put in another 18 inch attic fan to help pulled the air through both attics.  Works really good on low, on high, WOW.  

 

 

[John Morris]

Ceiling Gunny. Just need one, second floor small hallway that separates three bedrooms.

[Gunny]

I have the large one, doesn't seem loud to me except when a chunk of belt came off and I heard the thump of the belt.  Easy fix.  Pros are it is cheaper and easy to do any repair or maintenance such as belt replacement. Con's it is much larger hold in your attic and Momma might not like the large louvers.  Mounting will be fun, you have to block off and brace for the fan and of course will have some clean up and touch up trim to do.  You would want a screen somewhere to keep the bugs out.  That is a challenge sometimes. I have two doors I put insulate board inside as I made them and a heavy fleece curtain I sewed up to go over that for winter weather.  Effective and it hides them well.  But mine stands upright.

 

The other unit is pricey but delivers alot for a small package.  Pro's would be smaller unit less eyesore and same or better cfm.  Con's it is direct drive and despite what they claim it might get noisy as time goes by.  Smaller unit mans more heat in a concentrated place as the motor runs. 

 

Are you in a hurry for this?  I put out a few feelers with some people I know.  Might turn up a deal but that might be a week or so before I hear anything.  Can't promise anything but some of these people would love to even up the score sheet on favors they owe.  

[John Morris]

Gunny, thanks for the info, and thanks for the score sheet!

Gonna install tomorrow, the next few weekends I'm booked up, so this weekend is it for me . Going to Lowes tomorrow to kick some tires. We'll probably bring home the Quiet Cool, man it's a lot of money for a fan, but it has great reviews. Installation is easy compared to the bigger fan, the Quiet Cool will fit between any layout 16" and 24" ceiling joists, no cutting or modification to the framing, only cutout square in ceiling drywall.

[Gunny]

33 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Installation is easy compared to the bigger fan, the Quiet Cool will fit between any layout 16" and 24" ceiling joists, no cutting or modification to the framing, only cutout square in ceiling drywall.

Yes I read through it and the reviews.  Pretty impressive and as you said it requires little modification.  A solid addition.  I am working on a small 18 inch or less fan build to go into a storm window to ventilate my new finishing room.  Rule for this project is no modifications to storm window.  Box I make for the fan must be able to sit in window.   So far nothing stock made will do at less than $150.  I can do better.  

 

Kinda like this little gem I made for my shop from a stove vent fan motor.

 

   

 

 

 

 

[Cal]

Please let us know how the install goes and your thoughts on the fan after you have used it John.

Also, please let us know about the dust issue that Danl brought up.  That point has never crossed my mind either, and it can get dusty here during times of drought.

 

I do have another question, coming from someone that has never had one.  Sort of an early spring question.  Imagine the outside temp gets to 75* for a couple hours.  The temp inside is 70* because the heat was on earlier in the day.  If you have a SW-W facing window to open, would that fan pull in 75* air to mix & displace with the 70* air in the house?  Just curious if it could goose the temp up a couple degrees in early spring.  Not a huge energy savings to be had, but it might make the house a bit more comfortable in that late afternoon-early evening time.  And if it delayed the heat coming on for an hour even it would have to account for some savings?  My situation is that I have the windows, and I can open them to get that heat for a couple hours, but it doesn't do much for the whole house, just that one small room where the windows are.

[Gene Howe]

@Cal, never thought of using ours for heat. Might work. If the fan was reversible, pulling the heat from the attic would be even better. With ours, it wouldn't take long before all the heat in the attic would be exhausted, though. 

IMO, the most savings come on the cooling side. 

[Gunny]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

Just curious if it could goose the temp up a couple degrees in early spring.

Yes it will suck whatever air temp is outside into the house.  So if you had 70 inside but 90 outside and the fan on.  It will go to 90 inside the house. 

 

Trust me I know.  

[FlGatorwood]

If the side of the house that is allowing in the air, it will be cooler than the side in the sun.  And, the passing air will also feel cool.  Back in the 1950's some folks had window fans.  The arrangement would be to put a fan near one end or side of the house blowing out and another on the shady side to blow air in.  It would create a draft and feel cooler.  Of course, then we also had screens over our windows and that kept out the bugs.  If you don't mind dusting, it is much more affordable.