Do Solar Attic Fans Save Money
The only time i would ever use an attic fan is if i had a roof that was unusually difficult to vent passively.
Do solar attic fans save money. Cold air is at the bottom and warm air is at the top. Because of the negative pressure inside the house that these fans create i don t feel that they save you money on electricity or cooling costs. Hip roofs are tough. Danny s tests of solar attic fans showed that in florida where there s abundant solar energy yearly savings from installing two fans in a house with just over 1 000 square feet of air conditioned floor area amounted to only 460 kwh.
Solar attic fans work by pulling in the cold air from the soffits and pushing out the hot air that has accumulated at the top of the attic. 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. Ad the infrared rays from the sun are powerful. The attic fan just helps the air move more which adds cooler air circulation.
Larger homes that need larger a c units can save even more. Attic fan savings claims. Let s assume that you have a supertight house and no. You re almost always better off using passive ventilation like a ridge vent a soffit vent that sort of thing to reduce attic temperatures and not use an attic fan.
Meanwhile solar attic fans are free to run lower your electric bills and have few costs beyond purchase and installation. Here are some more benefits of getting a solar attic fan. Depending on what your utility charges that s about 40 per year. The solar attic fans all moved less than 1 000 cubic feet of air per minute cfm and they did nothing to lower the temperature inside my own attic.
For example if you had a hip roof. Attic fans cool the attic which helps cool the rooms just under it. 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.