Whole House Fan Vs Attic Fan

Attic fan vary by region causing some confusion.

Whole house fan vs attic fan.

A gable attic fan is mounted to one of the gable walls in the attic. Attic fans are designed to run on hot sunny days to clear super heated air from your attic. Whole house fans should provide houses with 3 to 6 air changes per hour varies with climate floor plan etc check with a professional to determine what is appropriate for your. The whole house fan pulls air in from open windows and exhausts it through the attic and roof.

A whole house fan moves air throughout the entire home including the living space and attic while an attic fan merely circulates air inside the attic. A whole house fan is mounted in the ceiling between the living space and that attic. If your attic isn t ventilated well that humid moist air will build up in the attic space and can cause mold to grow. However the whole house fan is an entirely different concept.

A whole house fan doesn t just push hot air out of the attic it draws it out of the entire house. The attic fan on the other hand blows warm air out through the roof or a gable vent and the fresh air is drawn in through the roof and vents. It provides good attic ventilation in addition to whole house cooling. The fan is used to remove hot air from the attic space in order to limit heat transfer to the living space below.

Even though one is less difficult both projects should only be tackled by professionals. Whole house fans draw air in through the windows of the house and blow hot house air out through the attic. The results are far more effective than the simple attic fan. In a nutshell whole house fans are designed to run after sundown using cool night air to ventilate and cool your entire living space.

Installing a smaller fan on the roofline 1or in the gable is easier than putting a much larger fan in the ceiling of the home. At first glance it seems that whole house fans are similar to attic fans but the function is different. Attic fansare easier to installthan whole house fans because of their location and size. How does it work.

While quality attic fan is designed specifically for the removal of air on the attic with the gable vents exhausting the hottest atmosphere the whole house fan just brings in cold air from outside. How is an ac system different. The whole house fan pulls the warm air from the living rooms into the attic and fresh air is drawn in through open doors and windows. Attic fans which are often mistaken for whole house fans and vice versa are not the same thing.

It is used to suck warm air out of the living space up into the attic. Sometimes whole house fans are called attic fans. The issue with a whole house fan is that the hot air needs somewhere to go.