Do Solar Attic Fans Work

You re a pretty clever guy to get the sun to do double duty.

Do solar attic fans work.

This is basically how air naturally moves. Building codes require homes to have a passive vent system. It makes perfect sense to make the sun cool your attic space since it is the source of the problem in the first place. Free fast bids.

But they re much easier to install since no wiring is needed. The sun beats down on the roof surface and heats up the stagnant air inside the attic. Attic fans exhaust hot air from your attic to the outside. Danny s tests of solar attic fans showed that in florida where there s abundant solar energy yearly savings from installing two fans in a house with just over 1 000 square feet of air conditioned floor area amounted to only 460 kwh.

Depending on what your utility charges that s about 40 per year. The downside of attic ventilation fans. However the utility of attic ventilation fans is actually quite a controversial topic. Solar attic fans work by pulling in the cold air from the soffits and pushing out the hot air that has accumulated at the top of the attic.

If a cloud blocks the sunlight the fans slow or stop. Solar powered attic vent fans usually don t move as many cubic feet of air per minute cfm as hardwired fans. If you ve ever been in your attic you know just hot the space can get especially in summer months. How an attic fan works.

An attic fan is installed on the slanted side of your roof or on one of the gable sides of your attic. Cold air is at the bottom and warm air is at the top. But passive ventilation does not. Even if you install it yourself and take the tax credit it could still take you 15 years or.

Good insulation reduces fan effectiveness. The attic fan just helps the air move more which adds cooler air circulation. To determine the number of cubic feet per minute needed for a power vent fan multiply the number of square feet in your attic by 0 7. These fans are designed to remove excess heat from your attic which in theory is supposed to lessen the load on the air conditioning in your home.

As result stale warm air is vented out giving more room for fresh cool air also known as air exchange your attic should never be hotter than 10 25 above the outside air temperature in the summer time. How does a solar powered attic fan work. That means you will need to double up your investment in this area. Solar attic fans work with your existing passive vents.

Attic ventilation fans whether hard wired or powered by their own solar panels seem like a low cost and effective way to help keep your house cool. A solar powered attic fan provides constant steady air flow throughout your attic. Because solar attic fans operate with a lower power output they are unable to move as much air as some of the other options that are available.