Across the country, the definition of a Whole House Fan and an Attic Fan varies, causing some confusion.
A Whole House Fan :Is a type of fan installed in a building's ceiling, designed to pull hot air out of the building. A whole-house fan pulls hot air out of a building and forces it into the attic space. This causes a positive pressure in the attic forcing air out through the gable and/or soffit vents, while at the same time producing a negative pressure inside the living areas, which draws cool air in through open windows.
An attic fan is a ventilation fan, which regulates the heat level of a building's attic by exhausting hot air. An attic fan can be gable mounted or roof mounted and require additional vents are to draw in fresh air as the hot air is exhausted.
A Whole House Fan is a primary cooling device that can significantly enhance, reduce or even eliminate the need for A/C. Energy efficient, the fan can significantly lower the temperature in a building very quickly. Typically when outdoor temperatures are below 82 degrees and the relative humidity is less than 75 percent, an AirScape whole house fan can cool a house by itself and is much less expensive to operate than air conditioning. Whole House Fans can be used year round.
A whole house fan:
- mounts between living space and attic
- runs only during cooler evening, night and morning periods
- draws fresh cool air in through your living space through open windows
- pulls indoor air into the attic and forces hot attic air out through the roof vents
- cools the living space and draws heat buildup out of entire building structure
Attic fans are run during the heat of the day, in order to reduce attic heat buildup -- they ventilate attic space only. Whole house fans are run in the cool of the evening, night and morning, to draw fresh cool air into the whole house while forcing hot air out through the attic.
An attic fan:
- mounts between attic space and outside
- runs during the heat of the day
- ejects super-heated air from your attic actively (typically, this is achieved passively using roof vent convection)
- creates negative pressure in the attic that draws outside air in through roof venting
- helps mitigate heat buildup in the building
The addition of an AirScape Whole House Fan provides energy efficient natural cooling delivering home comfort and enjoyable evening air. We recommend them for all regions across the US, wherever there is warm days and cool nights. As for attic fans, if you live in a hot, dry, sunny climate, consider adding a solar-powered attic fan in addition to a whole house fan. This device is self-powered, easy to install, turns on automatically as appropriate, and will have a significant impact in reducing building heat load. They are not a replacement for a whole house fans, but is a smart addition to your home cooling strategy in sunny hot climates. Our AirScape Solar Attic Fan is engineered to work with our Whole House Fans, guaranteeing you years of worry free operation.