As it's been getting warmer, our area outside has reached the mid to high eighties. In this warmth our down stairs w/o ac typically would get to 75 and our upstairs to the 80. You could feel an appreciable difference when you walked upstairs, and without AC it would stay warm up till 930PM opening the windows open to cool in the evening. We normally would use AC off and on to keep temperature 76. It would be on probably 40% of the time. Now, with the attic fan, the upstairs stays at 75 and sometimes even a degree lower than downstairs throughout the day. You can hear the hum, which is barely noticeable, of the 130 watt fan whose thermostat is set at 95 degrees. It usually turns on between 1 and 2pm. It stops around 6pm. After it stops at 6pm, the upstairs warms to around 77 degrees so we use the ac for about 1/2 an hour to bring back to 75. I'm not an insulation expert, but I checked the attic with the electrician and he said that compared to other attics he has seen, it appeared well insulated. The install cost $325. If you do a search on attic fans it's a wash on whether it's worth it and I was going back and forth on its install. But so far, I've been impressed and I'd highly recommend it if you're interested in reducing your AC use and bringing down your electricity use.
Sounds great. Can you adjust the thermostat on the attic fan; and if so would it make sense to lower the thermostat temperature so that the fan will run for a longer duration, thus reducing or maybe eliminating your need to turn on the AC in the evening?
Enclosed attics can get amazingly warm, and obviously they heat the rest of the house too. Any kind of vent, even without a powered fan, can make a significant difference. Ridge vents, gable vents, and wind turbines will exhaust the heat without using additional power. Just be sure they're well screened to prevent critters getting in.
Last year I bought a large window fan to use in lieu of a whole house fan. I works great at bringing the cool outside air into the house during the evening and night. I greatly reduces our A/C use.
I think I could adjust it. I'll see how it goes first. Using the AC a handful of minutes here and there is a sin I can live with.
