I am not yet convinced that the whole house fan was totally worth it... but the attic fan has made a HUGE difference already.
It got to 100 yesterday and usually, if it is 100 outside by 5pm it is 100 inside and it only got to 85 inside the house AND the ceiling to the attic was opened up half the day.
Turned on the WHF at 7pm and temp in house went down about 10 degrees (to the outside temp) in an hour.
WHF is loud, though... but we don't spend a lot of time standing under it.
Took guy longer than he thought and timers, permits, etc where more expensive than he thought... so it ended up being $1,400... And it won't save us any energy, as we don't have AC anyway. But we'll be more comfortable.
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
If it isn't humid where you live I think it is a GREAT option. Our neighbors in Georgia had one and used it through much of the summer and they would say "We just use our attic fan and it keeps things cool enough that we don't need to run the A/C."
Well, it was somewhat cooler in their house, but it did NOT help with the humidity and that's what makes things so uncomfortable in humid areas.
edited to add: We have venting skylights in our sunroom. I would love to open them to see how they work, but one was leaking when we bought the house because it had not been closed properly so now DH is paranoid about opening them.
Dawn
"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You have to set yourself on fire." anonymous
Posts: 4533 | Location: Indianapolis, IN | Registered: March 15, 2004
Originally posted by D in St Pete: I have absolutely nothing of value to offer, but I'm intrigued by this "other" life people lead, one without AC.
Me too!! I am unfortunately a slave to my AC. I made it until June 1 w/o turning on the AC here in the new condo, which is new ground to me...cuz if I'd still been living in the apartment, I would have probably had the AC on by May 1, given that the apt. only had 2 windows and no cross ventilation.
I did grow up w/o AC, but the only time I remember being uncomfortably warm was at night. We only had one fan in the whole apartment (kitchen window).
My best friends here in Reho have AC but are choosing not to use it this summer to keep their bills lower as they are all having lean financial times. I can barely stand to be in their house during the heat of the day, but the Florida room (all windows) is fine in the evening. They spend a lot of time out in the yard--their back yard is full of trees and gets a great breeze (like the trees behind my veranda).
Posts: 7864 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
Originally posted by D in St Pete: I have absolutely nothing of value to offer, but I'm intrigued by this "other" life people lead, one without AC.
ROTFLOL!! The only time I’ve ever lived with AC in in Houston… and it was still like living in a sweaty armpit.
quote:
Originally posted by p7eggyc: I didn't pull a permit for mine FWIW. I understand though.
Yeah… I couldn’t decide if I was being a total priss about the permit. The guy looked at me like I was nuts and the only person to ask about one.
But we had this nightmarish electrical work done in the old house… and I ended up so mad and frustrated with them that I went over to the permit office and pulled one myself half way thru the job. The electrician was really mad at me… and he had to purchase a Fremont Business Lic. But, I was really glad that I had the building inspector look at it… as some of it wasn’t to code. This also made the electrictian mad at me, since he had to redo a bunch of work that he said was just fine and perfectly safe.
The building inspector told me that his job was to make sure that it was to code… and not necessarily done “well” and while (eventually) it was up to code… it was really an awful job and the electrician punched 11 holes in our roof, cut a water pipe in the wall and did an AWFUL number on the sheet rock. At one point, I needed sheet rock work done in all 3 bedrooms and the kitchen. I had two people look at it and say that they didn’t need the money that bad, it was such a crappy job. It was just a nightmare.
But I WAS glad that at least the work was done safely… and the roofer pulled a permit… and the sheetrock patcher had to get OK’s and signed off by the inspector.
But now, I’m sort of wary if somebody doesn’t want to pull a permit… and automatically think… they don’t want anybody looking at their work.
My stepfather was a bldg inspector… I think I’ll call him and see if this is a job that needs a permit. I think that the city had some kind of cut off, like $2000 or $3000. And ventilation work is definitely on the permit… as I just looked.
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Originally posted by p7eggyc: I also think you'd have more luck getting the temperature down further overnight.
That is my hope. I'd like to get it to be the same temp inside as outside.
quote:
Are you in a strict covenant comunity? You might look at evaporative coolers. They work in your climate nicely and I would've definitely done that over the WH fan if my covenants had allowed.
Not that I know of. I think that we can stick anything into our windows or roof or whatever.
Hmmmm.... I've had swamp coolers outside of Visalia... and in AZ. Lived in Lake Havasu, AZ... which has got to be one of the hottest places on earth... or at least North America... and didn't have AC.
It might be a little too humid for swamp coolers here... I don't know one single person who has one...
Weather.com for Fremont is usually 10 degrees low in the middle of the day. Weather.com says 81 degrees right now... and that is what it is out by the bay... but it is more like 90 here. But I think that the humidity is correct... and it says 48%... which is a little higher than normal but we don't have REALLY, REALLY low humidity.
Fan Man just left. He quoted me $1493.75 to install a GAF 30" belt drive unit, 3 speed unit with wall mount ON/OFF and timer. He said that he uses GAF, as they are well known. He said that installation prices have gone up as his expenses (ie gasoline) have gone up. He was the only name given to me by Service Magic... and is in Antioch.
I asked about the cat. and he said that the best thing for the cat (that didn't involve AC) was to install a Gable Ventilator and it is on a thermostat and when the attic hits 105 degrees... this thing will come on and move the hot air out of the attic. That would be another $455.
I think that these would be good things to do, since the house is about 50 years old... and really could use some upgrading beyond sticking fans in every window. Eventually the furnuce will need replacing and ducts and we might consider AC then… we might want it when we are older… on the really hot days.
Only thing that I didn't like was, I asked him about pulling building permits and he said that for this, we didn't need them... but if I wanted them pulled, he would pull them... but it would cost us more... in the price of permits (and he didn't say this... but I know that he would have to get a Fremont Business Lic.) and his time waiting for building inspector, etc.
We've had work done with no permits before... and it was a GIANT headache, an awful, awful experience... and for a $2,000 job... I really want permits pulled.
Going to look for a second opinion...
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Denise, Keep in mind that the WH fan must have open windows to work so it won't help the cat. You will still want to turn the house into a cave during the day but then once the sun goes down, you'd be able to pull the temp back down w/the fan and open windows. I also think you'd have more luck getting the temperature down further overnight.
Are you in a strict covenant comunity? You might look at evaporative coolers. They work in your climate nicely and I would've definitely done that over the WH fan if my covenants had allowed. They need to go on the roof or an upper window but my dad's will freeze you out and the operations costs are MUCH lower than A/C and you can have cool air during the day. I don't think they are that much more expensive than WH fans (I spent around $900 for mine installed).
We have 8 window fans and three floor fans. Here is the routine.
All night long: Fans run in our bedroom windows. Bedrooms go down to 72ish degrees... just a teeny bit warmer than outside air.
6am: dining room/living room is 81 degrees. Open and put fans in all the windows in the front of the house (which have been locked since neighbor got up at midnight to find 2 guys dressed in black had climbed in in his kitchen window). Run fans for 2 hours. Temp goes down to 77 degrees (and it is 71 degrees outside)
8am: take fans out of windows and shut all windows up tight and cover all windows as to turn house into a cave.... well except the stupid skylight which doesn't have a cover and sun beams down all day long... well, except that by this time of year... it hasn't rained since March and it is pretty filthy.
12:30pm house is now 81 and outside is now 90.
6:30pm we have reach equalibrium... house is 88 and outside is 88 about. Open all windows and turn on every fan in house. Turn up TV loud so that we can hear it over the fans. Initially, temp in house goes up to 89 or 90... then slooooowly drops 1 degree an hour.
10pm Outside temp is 72 and house has gone down to 83, but we need to go to bed. So we reluctantly close up front of house.
3am outside temp is 69... but house is 81.
6am... do it all again. Every so often a fan falls out of the window.
I'm hoping:
a) whole house fan will be more efficient and we can get house down to outside temp faster.
b) WH fan can't cost that much more than running 11 window/floor fans, can it?
c) WH fan will be cheaper than AC. I personally don't even like AC... and we don't have it... but if we DID have it... ds would crank it down to 60 every time I left the house or fell asleep.
I don't think ds is going away to college. AC could potentially cost us MUCH more than sending a child to college. I think that he could run up an AC bill equivalent to the cost of an Ivy League education.
d) Have heard new WF fans aren't as loud as old ones. Having 3 box fans going in your bedroom isn't exactly quiet.
e) Hoping that we can get venting skylight and WH fan all on timers or thermostats or something and then we can leave cat alone during heat waves and not worry as much... (except that he isn't very good about remembering to take his own thyroid meds).
Also a pain in the butt if we (by we, I mean ME) are not home to do window fan routine... and occassionally will come home to find house at 9pm at 88 degrees because dh and ds are kind of like lobsters and have just gotten adapted to the temp while watching TV and laying in front of a fan going with all of the windows closed.
I think that with WH fan... they would turn THAT on and open windows if it didn't have the PITA factor of installing fans into windows.
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Ours was also two speed but we only ever used "high" too.
It was also super loud but I would suspect they've come a long way in the last 20 years.
No timer or anything else fancy.
I do remember having to put door stops everywhere because if the fan was on and even one window slightly cracked, interior doors would be slamming shut right and left.
I vividly remember having the door stop wiggle itself loose and my bedroom door slamming shut in the middle of the night and scaring the daylights out of everyone.
Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny.
I had one in my last house and loved it. Let's see...
Mine had 2 speeds. I think I generally only ever used high.
I had them put a timer on mine. It was one of those twist timers that could go up to 8 hours I think. Believe it or not, it was too cold for me in the middle of the night once you swapped all the air out so I loved that it would shut itself off in the middle of the night. Wouldn't have one without that. I guess a thermostat would have the same effect.
Ask them about the best plan for opening windows, etc. My girlfriend's family has had one for years and they have all these beliefs about if you only open some windows so much, there is more air movement or pressure or whatever. I personally just opened the house up as wide as possible and let it go but I didn't spend much time trying to figure out subtleties.
No venting skylights for me but will look into someday when the skylight in my bedroom fails.
We have a whole house fan. We like it. We live in the midwest. And I agree it is no substitute for air conditioning, but in the spring and the fall when the weather is really nice, we open a window at each end of the house and run the fan. It does a great job of airing out the house. Ours is original to the house, so it is probably about 60 years old. It is really loud. The cat hates it and usually hides in the basement while it is running.
The house I grew up in had a house fan. While it did cool the house down, it was no substitute for a/c when it got above 90.
I used to hate visiting my parents in the summer once I moved out because the fan did nothing for the humidity levels which were quite high on Long Island. That's probably not as much of a concern where you are though.
Can't help you on the venting sky lights.
Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny.
