Please recommend an attic fan/ventilator.

lnm2016

6 years ago

Hi all,

It's really hot up in our attic. We need to install an attic fan. Can anyone please recommend a brand/model from personal experience. We are looking for electric powered.

Thank you

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Comments (7)

mike_home
6 years ago
I have the Lomanco 2000 attic fan mounted on my roof deck. I had it installed 25 years ago. It works well with my hip roof. Lomanco also has a version for a roof gable vent.

Make sure you have enough air intakes. If you don't you will create negative pressure in the attic and start drawing air up from the house. I also recommend installing an on-off switch. This will allow you to cut the power to the fan so it does not turn on during warm spring or fall days.
lnm2016
Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Thank you! I will pass this info on to my husband.

How is the noise level? Is it quiet? .
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If you use a whole house fan, there is no point in having a sealed attic system. You need an old fashioned "open" attic system. You want the hot air to vent out through the gable ends. You have a grate in a hallway that opens and the (presumably) cooler air from outside the home is drawn in through the open windows through the home, through the grate, and exits through the attic vents. WHole house fans are NOT compatible with conjunctively using your AC system. And, as I mentioned, the exterior of the home must be cooler (and less humid) than the interior for the whole house fan to be a viable option. 85Â° is pretty hot for most people, and I presume you're in the South where the humidity is also very high. Southerners LOVE their AC for a reason and long ago abandoned their whole house fans except for about 15 days in the spring and fall. WHole house fans are like owning a convertable. It sounds like a good idea, and if you live in a place like San Francisco, it probably IS a good idea. But, for folks who live in most of the rest of the country, there just isn't enough ideal weather in the year to be able to fully utilize that top down motoring.
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Will it help in cooling your top floor? It could, although if the attic is properly insulated, it really shouldn't make all that much difference. What determines whether or not your attic needs a fan is the temperature and air flow in the attic itself. If the attic is getting too hot, it will eventually damage the roof. And if you have electric wiring running in the attic (and nearly everyone does), the combination of a very hot attic and a heavily loaded circuit could cause a fire. An attic fan may pull air out of the cooled space if there isn't enough air opening to let the fan draw outside air into the attic. When we moved into a house that we lived in previously, it had a fan for the attic (no other outlets other than a single gable vent). I noticed the first summer that when the fan was on, I could feel air being drawn out of the house through and around some can lights in the living room. I went around the house, counted the soffit vents, and did a rough calculation. I figured it needed about six more, so I added three in front and three in back. I also moved away insulation that was blocking several of the existing ones. That helped a lot, and it made the attic a bit cooler too. (Even though during the summer, with the thermostat set at 100F, the fan ran around the clock except for a few hours in the early AM.) Our current house has a hip roof, but the entire length of the ridge is equipped with ridge vent. And the soffit has continuous venting all the way around the house. I've been up in the attic in hot weather, and although I haven't measured, it didn't seem excessively hot.
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do you mean a powered attic ventilator (pav) a fan controlled by a tstat & installed in the decking of the roof to pull hot air out of attic? what combination of ventilation do you have? any soffit vents to allow cool air to enter attic? gable end venting? soffit and ridge vents? soffit and pav's? answer depends on these factors. if you have soffit and pav..replace pav with passive ventilators. pav's pull conditioned air from inside living space to cool attic. or do you have a whole house fan that is in the ceiling of the house and pulls house air thru open windows & into attic? hard to tell from your post. best of luck.
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You really can't do this, functionally. I am pretty open to alternatives to the conventional on-the-perimeter-with-full-hood option, but if you are going to do a system flush with the ceiling, you might as well install a system designed for it and get some function out of it, or not do it at all. If you install something for cooktop ventilation it will have to be accessible and have accessible removable grease filters. What you are describing might give some room ventilation, but the works still need to be accessible. This system, by Sirius is 60" x 40" x 7" thick. With attic above it could be mounted fully flush which is higher than recommended (I think 84" above the floor is what it's designed for). If you don't do something like this, and you end up doing some sort of fan for room ventilation I would actually avoid mounting it over the cooktop to avoid getting grease in the ducting. Mount some sort of linear ventilation in the ceiling but away from over the cooktop. Not every locale requires exterior venting for cooking so you might be able to get away with it where you live.
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mike_home
6 years ago
It is fairly quiet. I can hear it running in the attic well I'm in one of the upstairs bedrooms. But it is not loud enough that it is annoying.
PRO
Austin Air Companie
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I would not put a powered vent fan in the attic. If you are going to do it put in the whirly bird type you may require more than one depending how big the attic is.

The whirly birds last for a long time it will spin on it's own due to natural venting. Doesn't require power. They are SILENT.

If you live in a hot climate such as Katy, Texas the powered fan will just burn up, you could create more problems than you solve like putting the home under negative pressure as an example.
lnm2016
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks! We live In NYC. So you could say it's hot but only about 2-3 months out of the year.
PRO
Austin Air Companie
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Well you still have the negative pressure issue... it's still not a good idea on any level.

PAV is a bad idea
energy_rater_la
6 years ago
ditto no pav's. passive ventilation.

unless one has a perfect air barrier between attic

and house, no ductwork in attic, or perfectly sealed

ductwork in attic. and no one has perfect air barriers

and perfectly sealed ductwork.

pav's suck conditioned air out of house & ducts.

why build in a problem & pay for it each month

when hot air rises naturally.

soffit vents & ridge or passive vents are long term

solutions that work.

best of luck

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Please recommend an attic fan/ventilator.

Comments (7)

mike_home

lnm2016
Original Author

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mike_home

Austin Air Companie

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Please recommend an attic fan/ventilator.

Comments (7)

mike_home

lnm2016Original Author

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mike_home

Austin Air Companie

lnm2016Original Author

Austin Air Companie

energy_rater_la

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lnm2016
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