Pros & Cons of Whole House Fans - Brower Mechanical

California is known for its sunny summers and mild winters, and while many homes throughout Sacramento are equipped with air conditioners, they aren't necessary for most of the year. Whole house fans offer an effective way to keep your home cool without having to worry about expensive energy bills.

However, installing a whole house fan without sacrificing energy efficiency leaves little room for error, and professional help is recommended. Keep reading to learn about the pros and cons of getting a whole house fan installed in your home.

What Is a Whole House Fan?

A whole house fan is usually installed between your home’s attic and living spaces to provide affordable and efficient cooling. Whole house fans work by circulating warm air from inside your home into your attic to allow fresh air from a few open windows to come in and create a comfortable breeze. Commonly mistaken for attic fans, whole house fans circulate fresh air throughout your entire home and provide immediate relief from stuffy indoor air.

Pros of Whole House Fan Installation

There are numerous benefits of whole house fan installation for your Sacramento-area home, including:

Instant comfort - Whole house fans start cooling your home down as soon as they're turned on and you’ll feel the difference immediately.

• Low operating costs - Whole house fans use 90% less energy than a traditional air conditioner, drastically reducing your summer cooling costs.
• Better indoor air quality - Whole house fans improve your home’s ventilation and keep odors from lingering in your home from pets, cooking, and other pollutants.
• Longer lifespan for your AC - By switching a portion of your cooling to using a whole house fan, you’ll be using your air conditioner less and extend its lifespan with less wear and tear.
• Environmentally friendly - Since whole house fans utilize the outdoor air and use less energy to keep your home cool, they reduce your carbon footprint.
• Quiet operation - While older whole house fans were noisy, that’s not the case with today’s high-efficiency models—you’ll most likely not even notice it running!

Cons of Whole House Fan Installation

In order to get all the benefits from a whole house fan that we mentioned above, it’s important to have the system installed properly—otherwise, you risk causing significant air leakage in your home. Installing a whole house fan system involves putting a large hole in your attic, and without a tight seal around it, you’ll end up losing energy through the gaps it creates.

Since whole house fans work by bringing in the outside air, they can bring outdoor air pollutants into your home—potentially increasing allergy or asthma symptoms. Additionally, in times when there is poor outdoor air quality—like in the event of a wildfire—whole house fans can increase contaminants in your home.

Whole house fans can also present a security risk since they require at least one window to be open to operate. Depending on where you live, you may not want to use them at night because of this.

At Brower, we recommend making sure your attic has proper insulation and ventilation to ensure that your whole house fan can operate efficiently.

Stay Cool This Summer With Brower Mechanical

With over 40 years of experience, you can trust our team to properly install a whole house fan in your Sacramento-area home. We ensure every whole house fan is installed with minimal disturbance to the ceiling and the attic space around it. Using a building science approach, our team also considers your home’s thermal envelope to ensure that air leaks won’t cause energy loss after the installation process is complete.

Ready to get started with a whole house fan in your home? Call 916-624-0808 or contact us online.

Whole house fans have been around for years. They have started to gain popularity in recent years again due to their energy savings over A/C systems, but should you keep or remove an existing whole house fan? We run you through the pros and cons of a whole house fan.

What is a whole house fan?

A whole house fan is found in the highest level of a house, commonly in the ceiling that separates the home from the attic, and in the center of the house. The fan is controlled by its own switch and usually run during the coolest part of the day, typically at night or early in the morning. The whole house fan is used to exhaust hot air from the home and pull in the air that is cooler from outside.

What is the ideal climate for a whole house fan?

A dry and cool climate is ideal for a whole house fan. It is perfect for those living in areas that have a large difference in temperature overnight.

What are the advantages of a whole house fan?

Whole house fans are often used in the summer months to save energy. They use roughly 10-15% of the wattage an air conditioner uses making your energy bill much lower.

A whole house fan works extremely quickly. Depending on the size of your whole house fan, it can cool the house in minutes by pushing the warmer air out and allowing cooler air in through the windows.

What are the disadvantages of a whole house fan?

While a whole house fan is known for saving money on the cooling bill, it can possibly lead to a higher heating bill in the winter, especially for older whole house fans. An older house fan is a perfect escape for the air you are paying to heat in the wintertime. When your whole house fan is not used in the summertime, the inefficient louvers provide access for the hot attic air to push into your cooler home.

When the whole house fan is running, the windows should be open to pull in the cooler air, which isn’t ideal for those with allergies. Then after the fan has run, the windows should be closed for the remainder of the day to prevent the warmer air from entering the home. If it's humid outside, like it often is here in Michigan, the outside air may not feel that cool as it brings the humidity into your home.

Whole house fans can be very noisy, especially older models. While strides have been made to improve the noisiness of the fan, it is still one of the top complaints among those who have a whole house fan. 

Should I keep my whole house fan?

Unfortunately, there are a variety of variables making it hard to say yes, keep your whole house fan or no, get rid of your whole house fan. At Ecotelligent Homes, we offer three options for a whole house fan. We recommend one of the following after conducting an energy audit to determine the best course of action for your specific home.

REMOVE THE FAN AND DRYWALL OVER THE OPENING IN YOUR CEILING

Removing the whole house fan and drywalling the hole is the most energy-efficient option. Patching the drywall allows for the best air sealing and insulating in the attic space. It also allows for your home's heating and cooling system to effectively and efficiently heat and cool your home. 

REPLACE THE FAN WITH A NEW HIGH-EFFICIENCY WHOLE HOUSE FAN

We do understand that some people prefer to use their whole house fan. They are also a great alternative if you do not have an air conditioner. If either of these are true, we would suggest installing a new high-efficiency fan if you have an older model fan. The new high-efficiency fan should have a built-in insulation cover and airtight seal. 

INSTALL AN INSULATED AND AIRTIGHT COVER OVER THE EXISTING FAN

If you would prefer to not remove the whole house fan or replace it with an efficient fan, we recommend an insulated and airtight cover over the existing fan. The cover will prevent some, but not all of the air from entering or exiting the home through the whole house fan. You will have to remove the cover to operate the fan and then re-install the cover after each use. 

At Ecotelligent Homes, we often suggest removing the whole house fan and drywalling the hole since it is the most energy-efficient solution, but each home is unique so there is not a one size fits all solution. Contact Ecotelligent Homes today to schedule your comprehensive home energy audit to learn more about the best option to improve your whole house fan.