What are the Reasons to Get a Whole-House Fan?

Posted on November 29, 2021

When the weather warms up, your home becomes hot too. While proper ventilation is important for keeping your family comfortable throughout the summer, constantly using the air conditioning can be costly. As an alternative, several families are resorting to whole-house fans.

How Does a Whole-House Fan Work?

So, you might ask, what is a whole house fan? A whole-house fan generates negative pressure by drawing air from the room. Your house will be filled with cool, fresh air due to the fan’s ability to draw in air from outside. Positive pressure accumulates in the attic when the negative pressure in your home rises.

If you have soffits or other ventilation in your eaves, it can reduce the pressure in your attic by pushing air out. As a result, your house will feel cool. It will be most noticeable in spaces with open windows.

Reasons for Getting a Whole House Fan

Installing a whole-house fan in your home is a good idea to cool your house for various reasons. Here are some examples.

Improved Air Quality Indoors

Nowadays, the majority of houses try to maintain a tight construction envelope. This includes the most energy-efficient sealing possible around doors, windows, the foundation, and the attic. A tight building envelope enables your HVAC system to run more effectively.

In addition, it keeps your house from spending excessive amounts of energy. On the other hand, it can also cause your interior air to feel stale, particularly during the summer.

A whole-house fan minimizes this issue by ventilating the entire structure from the attic to the main floor. This system mainly draws fresh outside air into your house and distributes it via the attic, therefore refreshing the complete structure.

Certain whole-house fans circulate air rapidly, with some devices changing the air in your home 30 to 60 times every hour. This translates to air that is so pure that you can smell it.

Sometimes your home may suffer from poor air quality due to pet dander or dust mites. In that case, you can rest assured that most whole-house fans also address these concerns. Along with evacuating polluted air, most devices have filters that trap interior contaminants and prevent them from reentering the air supply.

Increased Indoor Comfort

It is not always simple to be comfortable inside, particularly when the seasons shift from spring to summer.

As spring transitions into summer, the weather can be unpredictable, with scorching heat one day and chilly, wet weather the next. If you have not yet planned your cooling system for summer, turn on your whole-house fan in the morning and evening.

That is how you can take advantage of colder temperatures outside at certain times of the day. Also, you can maintain a pleasant temperature in your house without using the air conditioner.

HVAC Efficiency Increased

A whole-house fan is far more energy-efficient than an air conditioner when operated alone. Indeed, a typical fan consumes a fraction of the energy required by a central cooling system.

However, when the temperature warms up in the summer, employing a whole-house fan in conjunction with your HVAC system might result in even better efficiency. This is because most fans condition the air before it reaches the air conditioner, which reduces the workload of the cooling system.

Additionally, some regular models are available in both continuous and intermittent modes of operation. Having the ability to choose the setting that is most appropriate for your house helps ensure that your HVAC system operates properly, even during the hottest months of the year.

Easy Installation and Operation

If you have installed a new air conditioner or heat pump for your house at any time, you know how hard the installation process can be, much more so when new ducting is required. Acclimating to the ins and outs of a new HVAC component is not always straightforward.

Whole-house fans, on the other hand, are simple to install and run. The types available are intended for easy installation in your attic. Significant effort has been made to limit the noise generated by these systems, ensuring that you are not disturbed by how hard they are working to maintain interior comfort.

Reduced Utility Bills

Advanced HVAC components are not necessarily inexpensive. However, if you are tired of paying high electricity costs from late spring to early autumn, a whole-house fan is one of the best investments you can make.

When used alone, a whole-house fan consumes as little as 10% of the energy required by your air conditioner, resulting in significant monthly savings. When used in conjunction with your cooling system, the fan’s pre-conditioned air assists your air conditioner in using less energy.

Reduced Noise

Whole-house fans are a great option if you cannot hear yourself think when using other fans. You can barely hear them since they are placed in the attic and hung above the ground. Even more so, versions equipped with noise-damping ducting and brushless fan motors are even quieter. With the background noise removed, you will be able to focus on your work.

Increases Your Resale Value

It may seem like a little thing, but installing a whole-house fan in an environmentally-conscious neighborhood can be a huge selling point for future buyers. Buying a home that is energy efficient is a priority for purchasers. New research shows that energy-efficient houses sell for 7% more.

Homebuyers want to know whether the property they are considering is comfortable enough for them to live in. But, of course, that needs a well-functioning cooling system.

Conclusion

Suppose you do not want to put in an air conditioner since you currently have one in your home. A whole-house fan is a more practical and cost-effective solution in this instance.

With a whole-house fan, you can keep your house cool all year long in most regions. However, if you live in an area with moderate temperatures, you may want to consider a whole-house fan to keep your home cool and comfortable.

A whole-house fan might be handy if you are worried about the air quality in your house. Indoor air pollution can be reduced by increasing ventilation and circulation via the movement of the air outside.