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27
BayArea
2022 Jul 15, 10:46pm
BayArea
2022 Jul 15, 10:46pm
Can’t stress how happy I am with my whole house fan now that it’s summer again. Money well spent.
It instantly cools the home for a fraction of the cost of central AC
It instantly cools the home for a fraction of the cost of central AC
28
SunnyvaleCA
2022 Jul 15, 11:16pm
BayArea says
I'm singing those exact praises every summer day with my self-installed $400 fan. I can't believe any non-A/C house in the area (and there are a lot) doesn't have a whole house fan. How happy? Please go up to post #10 and seem how happy I am! When the days are hot and the nights are cool, the whole house fan makes total sense.
Can’t stress how happy I am with my whole house fan now that it’s summer again. Money well spent.
It instantly cools the home for a fraction of the cost of central AC
I'm singing those exact praises every summer day with my self-installed $400 fan. I can't believe any non-A/C house in the area (and there are a lot) doesn't have a whole house fan. How happy? Please go up to post #10 and seem how happy I am! When the days are hot and the nights are cool, the whole house fan makes total sense.
29
BayArea
2022 Jul 15, 11:24pm
BayArea
2022 Jul 15, 11:24pm
I’m spreading the word because up until very recently, I didn’t know these things existed
Even in this thread, someone incorrectly identified whole house fan as being attic fan. It’s not.
One pulls air from the outside and cools the house while the other evacuates air from the attic.
I’m in bed now running the whole house fan. Breeeeze!
If anyone is interested, I went with these guys:
https://quietcoolsystems.com/
Even in this thread, someone incorrectly identified whole house fan as being attic fan. It’s not.
One pulls air from the outside and cools the house while the other evacuates air from the attic.
I’m in bed now running the whole house fan. Breeeeze!
If anyone is interested, I went with these guys:
https://quietcoolsystems.com/
30
WookieMan
2022 Jul 16, 2:46am
WookieMan
2022 Jul 16, 2:46am
You guys out in CA likely don't have high humidity and dew points. Here in IL it would only be practical for maybe 20-40 days a year, so AC it is to pull the moisture out of the air in the summer months. Spring and Fall we generally just open the windows and hit the HVAC fan to help pull air if it's not windy.
That said I probably will install a whole house fan when we build. It's a quick and cheap add on when building.
Not on topic, but thinking of doing the whole home vacuum setup as well. Much quieter. Haven't really looked into it too much, but I'm sure there's a way with low voltage wiring to activate/turn on in every room. Wrap up the hose and toss it on a shelf in the closet taking up less space than a bulk vertical standing vacuum. We'll have a ranch, but lugging that SOB up and down is a pain. We also have the robot now, but that doesn't do the best of jobs. We'd still use that though.
That said I probably will install a whole house fan when we build. It's a quick and cheap add on when building.
Not on topic, but thinking of doing the whole home vacuum setup as well. Much quieter. Haven't really looked into it too much, but I'm sure there's a way with low voltage wiring to activate/turn on in every room. Wrap up the hose and toss it on a shelf in the closet taking up less space than a bulk vertical standing vacuum. We'll have a ranch, but lugging that SOB up and down is a pain. We also have the robot now, but that doesn't do the best of jobs. We'd still use that though.
31
clambo
2022 Jul 16, 7:26am
The whole house fan is a great idea, and will work in most locations.
(Attic fans are now required for new house construction in California.)
I’m buying a QuietCool fan soon for a little house in La Paz Baja California Sur.
Check out QuietCool, they look great.
A clever feature of the QuietCool house fan is the duct has a thermostat control so it shuts and the fan won’t suck out AC cooled air.
Here the temperature has been going down to 71F at night while 95F-100F in the daytime.
Until a few weeks ago it went down to the 60’s at night.
A house fan is great because the thing cools down the entire house when the temperature drops outside.
The walls, the floors, the furniture, appliances, everything is cooled down at night.
This is all “thermal mass” which is going to take a long time to heat up in the daytime.
I’m in a dry climate so I will get an evaporative cooler, you can also make one for fun.
There are also “AC/DC” mini split air conditioners which can run on some solar panels.
Here’s a solar fan by QuietCool, it’s an attic fan.
(Attic fans are now required for new house construction in California.)
I’m buying a QuietCool fan soon for a little house in La Paz Baja California Sur.
Check out QuietCool, they look great.
A clever feature of the QuietCool house fan is the duct has a thermostat control so it shuts and the fan won’t suck out AC cooled air.
Here the temperature has been going down to 71F at night while 95F-100F in the daytime.
Until a few weeks ago it went down to the 60’s at night.
A house fan is great because the thing cools down the entire house when the temperature drops outside.
The walls, the floors, the furniture, appliances, everything is cooled down at night.
This is all “thermal mass” which is going to take a long time to heat up in the daytime.
I’m in a dry climate so I will get an evaporative cooler, you can also make one for fun.
There are also “AC/DC” mini split air conditioners which can run on some solar panels.
Here’s a solar fan by QuietCool, it’s an attic fan.
32
Hircus
2022 Jul 16, 11:57am
Hircus
2022 Jul 16, 11:57am
SunnyvaleCA says
They sell kits that reduce noise and vibration by using a flexible coupling. I bet it works pretty good, as vibration is probably nearly fully isolated, and noise is partially absorbed by the ducting.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/QuietCool-4195-CFM-Energy-Saver-Advanced-Whole-House-Fan-QC-ES-4700/206047351
That's how I plan to do it, although I might rig my own kit. The ones they sell seem expensive, although the intake plenum looks well made, they claim the ducting has extra acoustical absorption properties, and the fan may even be optimized to feed from a tube opposed to feed from open air.
Some years back I shallowly looked into the engineering of radiator fans and became aware of how important it was to match a fan to its intended application regarding static pressure differential and air entry/exit approach. A lot of fans are rated at high cfm if they can just operate with nothing in front or behind them, but as soon as a static pressure load is placed upon them to model real world operating conditions, performance drops off a cliff. But fans properly designed for it work well under load. Anyway.
I will also use a thick piece of rubber to hang the straps so as to not transmit vibrations into the roof truss. I also plan to add other attic ventilation, probably a couple small fans, to help exhaust the hot air from the attic so I can run those exhaust fans mid day (without running the house fan) to help keep the house from heating up in the first place. Then as evening approaches and the air outside becomes cooler than the house, I can turn on the house fan.
• Instead of mounting the fan completely flush with the ceiling, build up a 2-foot-tall wall around the opening inside the attic and mount the noisy bits of the fan on top of that (the visible opening and louvers will see be mounted on the underside of the ceiling). This, again reduces noise. It might actually improve efficiency, as it gets the air moving more smoothly into the air blades — maybe.
They sell kits that reduce noise and vibration by using a flexible coupling. I bet it works pretty good, as vibration is probably nearly fully isolated, and noise is partially absorbed by the ducting.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/QuietCool-4195-CFM-Energy-Saver-Advanced-Whole-House-Fan-QC-ES-4700/206047351
That's how I plan to do it, although I might rig my own kit. The ones they sell seem expensive, although the intake plenum looks well made, they claim the ducting has extra acoustical absorption properties, and the fan may even be optimized to feed from a tube opposed to feed from open air.
Some years back I shallowly looked into the engineering of radiator fans and became aware of how important it was to match a fan to its intended application regarding static pressure differential and air entry/exit approach. A lot of fans are rated at high cfm if they can just operate with nothing in front or behind them, but as soon as a static pressure load is placed upon them to model real world operating conditions, performance drops off a cliff. But fans properly designed for it work well under load. Anyway.
I will also use a thick piece of rubber to hang the straps so as to not transmit vibrations into the roof truss. I also plan to add other attic ventilation, probably a couple small fans, to help exhaust the hot air from the attic so I can run those exhaust fans mid day (without running the house fan) to help keep the house from heating up in the first place. Then as evening approaches and the air outside becomes cooler than the house, I can turn on the house fan.
Should have bought one of these sooner.