It is used to suck warm air out of the living space up into the attic.
Whole house fan vs attic fan.
The fan is used to remove hot air from the attic space in order to limit heat transfer to the living space below.
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 does it work.
The issue with a whole house fan is that the hot air needs somewhere to go.
Sometimes whole house fans are called attic fans.
The whole house fan pulls air in from open windows and exhausts it through the attic and roof.
At first glance it seems that whole house fans are similar to attic fans but the function is different.
Attic fans are designed to run on hot sunny days to clear super heated air from your attic.
Definitions of whole house fan vs.
Attic fansare easier to installthan whole house fans because of their location and size.
In a nutshell whole house fans are designed to run after sundown using cool night air to ventilate and cool your entire living space.
A whole house fan doesn t just push hot air out of the attic it draws it out of the entire house.
However the whole house fan is an entirely different concept.
A whole house fan is mounted in the ceiling between the living space and that attic.
It provides good attic ventilation in addition to whole house cooling.
Of course a whole house fan would never be used simultaneously with an air conditioner.
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.
If your attic isn t ventilated well that humid moist air will build up in the attic space and can cause mold to grow.
Attic fans which are often mistaken for whole house fans and vice versa are not the same thing.
A gable attic fan is mounted to one of the gable walls in the attic.
Whole house fans draw air in through the windows of the house and blow hot house air out through the attic.
Even though one is less difficult both projects should only be tackled by professionals.
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.
The results are far more effective than the simple attic fan.
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.
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.
Attics fans prevent damage like ice damming in attics during winter.
