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News
5/10/2010
Home Cooling Tips: Do Attic Fans Really Help?
Many homes have large electric attic fans to help with summertime cooling. By exhausting hot attic air, they reduce the amount of heat that is transmitted down through the ceiling into your home. If you use air conditioning, this will tend to reduce the length of time that your air conditioner runs, and so reduce its operating cost. In many houses, two other simple measures–insulation and ventilation–are more effective and cheaper in the long run than attic fans.
Attic insulation is still one the best ways to keep your home comfortable in both summer and winter. A thick blanket of attic insulation–12 to 16 inches–will effectively stop attic heat from moving down into your home. In winter, attic insulation works by slowing heat flow out of your home and up into your attic.
Attic ventilation takes advantage of simple passive attic vents to remove heat from your attic in summer, as well as removing moisture in winter. Attic vents should be distributed around your attic so heat or moisture don’t accumulate in the corners, and they should be split with some high and some low in the attic to encourage natural circulation. If installed properly, they will remove almost as much heat from your attic as a powered fan.
Check your attic insulation and ventilation, or have a contractor do so, and add more if needed. These simple measures will last as long as your home and will improve your comfort year round. They’ll also reduce the cost of running an air conditioner or attic fan. Best of all, these two energy-savers don’t use a bit of electricity and they are perfectly quiet.
