It may not make sense to you at first, but air circulation in your attic is key to its overall health — and the health of your wallet. Using an attic fan will boost passive ventilation in the space, and help you achieve a space that is durable, and one that encourages long-term savings and a comfortable home.
Why ventilate?
Summer conditions require adequate attic ventilation, as even a well-insulated attic can succumb to significant heat gain, often reaching temperatures upwards of 150 degrees. Intense heat can not only impact the temperatures of the living spaces below your attic — increasing energy bills — but it also can damage wooden fixtures and materials in your home and roof shingles.
Ventilation in the attic encourages air to circulate and exchange with outside air, helping to regulate the attic temperature so that it’s closer to the temperature outside.
How does an attic fan help?
Most homes have a passive ventilation system in the form of vents at the peak of the roof and the sides, which allows hot air to escape as it rises into the attic. Often, however, it’s helpful to assist the air-circulation process with an attic fan.
An attic fan will help to draw hot air outside of the attic space, allowing more air exchanges per hour, and lowering its temperature during the summer. Most attic fans can be controlled with a thermal switch, preset to a certain temperature so that the fan only cycles on and consumes energy when you need it to run.
When selecting an attic fan be sure to:
- Size it properly: The air in your attic should change over 10 times per hour. Your contractor can help you size the fan’s capacity.
- Consider solar power: A solar attic fan will run on power from the sun, so that you can operate the device with free, renewable energy, quickly recouping the costs of purchasing it.
Talk to the experts at Mowery Heating, Air Conditioning and Plumbing about the need for and benefits of using an attic fan. We proudly serve homeowners in the Indianapolis area.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Brownsburg, Indiana and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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