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Whole house fans ?
Anyone with experience with the newer forms of whole-house fans? About a year ago I started this discussion (here http://www.myoldhouseonline.com/forum/topics/awnings-1), which had some good information, but ultimately led me to conclude that awnings weren't a good fit. We live in NE Ohio, which means the winters get pretty dang cold, but the summers get pretty dang hot.
But I'm back looking for more info on whole house fans, particularly the newer ones like the superfan (see here http://www.wholehousefan.com/PRODUCTS/THE-SUPERFAN.html ) or the Comfort Stream (see here http://www.suburbanfan.com/category/1/1/58). Because of the way the house was remodded a few years ago, I can't really vent the attic the way a traditional whole house fan requires (lots of cold water runs in the attic, requiring that it stay warm enough in the winter to prevent freezing, thus making it really hard to adequately vent, and a divided second floor meaning that 1 big fan for the whole house wouldn't generate enough circulation). So it looks to me like I need a fan (or fans) which would (A) vent directly through the roof rather than into the attic, and would (B) allow for 3 or 4 separate ducted inputs from various rooms to the fan unit to promote even circulation through the house.
Which is why I've gotten interested in the Superfan or Comfort Stream fans. They're more expensive, but look to be closer to what I need.
Has anyone out there any experience with these in an old house?
Many thanks.
Richard
Views: 110
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ken the Old House Guy on -
I am very much interested in this topic also. Currently I have a fan in my attic window which really does nothing from what I can tell. I am considering bringing in a HVAC person for advise. Has anyone had luck with HVAC specialists?
Ken
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Permalink Reply by Leslie Molldrem on -
Hi,
I live in upstate NY. We've never really explored a traditional whole house fan, but we have used powerful fans in the attic windows and leave the attic door open. We used to have a fan on a thermostat that was bolted to the window frame, but that died, and I now use a floor fan pointed out the window that is less powerful but still really makes a difference to our upstairs. Air King does make the type of fan I used to have--the larger one moves 3560 CFM with a dBA (sound) of 64 (on high, I'm guessing). Maybe your current fan is not strong enough. It's certainlly a lot cheaper than the heavy duty solutions. I think we burned out our other fan by not having another window open in the attic when the attic door was closed, so that's something to think about.
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