Why Use A Whole House Fan?

A whole house fan is a simple and inexpensive method of cooling a house. The fan draws cool outdoor air inside through open windows and exhausts hot room air through the attic to the outside. The result is excellent ventilation, lower indoor temperatures, and improved evaporative cooling.

What Are The Benefits?

A whole house fan can be used as the sole means of cooling or to reduce the need for air conditioning. Outside air temperature and humidity dictate times when the whole house fan would be favorable over air conditioning. If both methods of cooling are present, a seasonal use of the whole house fan (during spring and fall) may yield the optimum combination of comfort and cost.

First cost benefit
Equipment cost for whole house fan = $150-$350
Equipment cost for window unit AC = $250-$750
Equipment cost for central AC = $2,000-$4,000

Ventilation
A whole house fan can be used to change the air in the house and vent odors quickly.

Economics of operation
Operating a properly sized 2-ton, 10 SEER air conditioner in Atlanta, Georgia costs over $250 per cooling season (1250 hours), based on 8.5¢/kwh, or roughly 20¢ per hour of runtime. A large 18,000 Btu/hr window unit air conditioner with a 6 EER costs more than 25¢ to operate for one hour.

By contrast, the whole house fan has a motor in the 1/4 to 1/2 hp range, uses between 120 to 600 watts, and costs around 1¢-5¢ per hour of use.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors, where concentrations of pollutants are often much higher than those outside. Risk assessments performed for radon, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and lead have shown that health risks are substantial.

Thousands of chemicals and biological pollutants are found indoors, many of which are known to have significant health impacts both indoors and in other environments.

Air inside in our homes is up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. If too little outdoor air enters a dwelling, microorganisms can collect to levels that pose health and comfort problems. This problem can be especially serious in the energy efficient homes built in the last twenty years. These homes may not allow enough air changes, keeping contaminated air in and fresh air out.

The EPA has identified indoor air quality as one of the five most urgent environmental risks to public health.

The majority of all infections and allergies are passed from one person to the other through the air.

The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine reports that exposure to indoor pollutants is a key contributor to the asthma problem of this nation.

Today's tighter, better insulated homes limit natural ventilation and trap indoor air contaminants inside