Do Attic Fans Save Money

Attic fans cool the attic which helps cool the rooms just under it.

Do attic fans save money. These ventilation fans are usually mounted in the upper slope of the roof and are designed to cool the attic save energy on cooling costs and extend the life of the roof shingles. Well here s a surprise for you. If you put in an attic fan you may very well increase your central air conditioning cost. Attic fans are not recommended if you have central air conditioning because when you turn the fan on in the summer it depressurizes the attic but also reaches down into your house and starts drawing off air conditioned air effectively driving up your cooling costs.

Using a whole house fan can result in a savings of over 300 each month of running a 3500w a c unit during the hottest part of summer. Find out whether it is economical to run an attic fan. Because those fans can be so strong that they depressurize the attic and then reach down deep into the living spaces of your house and pull out air conditioned air. Of course if the attic fan isn t working correctly and is running all year long that would be a significant problem.

When exploring the best attic ventilation practices consider installing an attic ventilation fan to keep the hot air from settling in. Instead of installing a fan just make sure your attic is well ventilated. If you can improve ventilation in your attic and reduce the amount of heat the space holds and pushes into your home you ll reduce the cooling load on your air conditioner and save money on your utility bills. Attic fans don t save money because they need to do the job with which they were fitted to do whether the soffit vents are properly sealed or not.

The only difference is that when the soffit vents are not properly sealed from the rest of the house the fans tend to suck up the cool conditioned air into the attic a process that makes it to consume more energy thus increase the utility bills. Larger homes that need larger a c units can save even more. It s usually better to take the money you would spend on an attic fan and instead spend it on increasing the insulation levels in the attic and the airtightness of the attic floor plane. My husband really thinks it s a great idea to buy a solar attic fan but i don t want to waste the money if it does little or nothing.