Do Solar Attic Fans Work

Even if you install it yourself and take the tax credit it could still take you 15 years or.

Do solar attic fans work.

Good insulation reduces fan effectiveness. Building codes require homes to have a passive vent system. The sun beats down on the roof surface and heats up the stagnant air inside the attic. 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. The attic fan just helps the air move more which adds cooler air circulation. An attic fan is installed on the slanted side of your roof or on one of the gable sides of your attic. 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.

Solar powered attic vent fans usually don t move as many cubic feet of air per minute cfm as hardwired fans. You will probably need two solar attic fans to get the results you want. You re a pretty clever guy to get the sun to do double duty. For the attic fans to work at peak efficiency they need to be on a south facing roof slope if you live in the northern hemisphere.

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. However the utility of attic ventilation fans is actually quite a controversial topic. The downside of attic ventilation fans. A solar powered attic fan provides constant steady air flow throughout your attic.

This is basically how air naturally moves. 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. 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. Attic fans exhaust hot air from your attic to the outside.

It was almost magical to see the solar attic fan work. 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. 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. But passive ventilation does not.

Solar attic fans work with your existing passive vents. How an attic fan works. How does a solar powered attic fan work. Cold air is at the bottom and warm air is at the top.

But they re much easier to install since no wiring is needed. 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. That means you will need to double up your investment in this area.