Solar Attic Fan

Last summer I blogged about "Living Without Air Conditioning," and had quite a few comments about the benefit of attic vent fans. This summer we decided to put one in.

The intent of the attic vent fan is to vent the hot air which stacks up in the attic and transfers its heat to the rest of the house. In order for this to work, it must be able to draw enough fresh air from the outside to properly vent the hot air. It can do this with gable, soffit, and/or ridge vents. Otherwise it can actually depressurize the attic and pull up air from inside the house (which can make an air conditioner work overtime and draw fumes from things like gas water heaters).

There are two types of attic vent fans, those that are installed in the roof, and those which are installed in a gable end of the attic. Neither Dan nor I was too keen on cutting a hole in the roof, and since we have gable vents on all the gables we opted for a solar gable fan.

Installation was very easy.

First step was to remove the old vent cover.

The fan was slightly wider than the vent opening, so a
little cutting with the jig saw was all that was needed.

Scraps filled the gaps and hardware cloth covers the fan so that things
like bats, snakes, or squirrels can't move in. We still need a new vent cover.

The solar panel went on top of the roof. Dan ran the cord through the
opening that was already there for flood lights (which are disconnected).

This one came with a pre-installed thermostat so that the fan kicks on when the attic temperature reaches 85°F (29°C). It is easy to remove or replace with a programmable thermostat. The fan runs whenever the daylight is bright enough to power the fan (it doesn't necessarily need the sun). It picks up speed and vents fastest when the sun is overhead.

How well does it work? Last Tuesday was our hottest day so far this year.

The top number is the outside temperature, bottom
is inside (kitchen, warmest room in the house).

The high was 99°F (37°C) outside, while inside it was a "tolerable" 84°F (29°C). Some folks may argue the "tolerability" of 84° for an inside temperature, however, there is something to be said for acclimatization. We live in the southern United States, after all, and 99° is a typical summer temperature for us (and the price we pay for having such an early growing season). Dan and I spend a lot of time outdoors, so a 15 degree difference is most welcoming when we go inside. The other benefit is that going outside again isn't a wilting shock to one's system like it is with air conditioning ("hey, it doesn't feel so bad out here"). I'll also add that in the past I've found that to run the air conditioner when the temperatures are that high means it runs nonstop, and that the electric bill is then just as oppressive as the heat.

Of course we do all the common sense things to keep the house as cool as possible:

• vent hot air from the house at night with window fans (a whole house fan would do the best job and is on our someday list)
• close up in the morning when outside temperature matches inside temperature
• keep curtains drawn on sunny side of house
• use ceiling fans
• use a summer kitchen to keep cooking and canning heat and humidity out of the house (also the solar oven and grill)

I have to add that replacing the old windows with energy efficient ones and adding more wall insulation has helped. And I'm looking forward to being able to shade those west-facing windows someday.

The other thing we do is simply accept that summer is hot and winter is cold. That's just the way things are.

Solar Attic Fan © June 2016 by Leigh

at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Attic Access: A Progression Of Sorts

When we first moved into this house, we couldn't figure out how to get into the attic. The house inspection report included the attic, but since we weren't here for the inspection, we could not for the life of us figure out how the inspector got up there. We looked in all the logical places first, then all the illogical ones. At long last we found it....

It was inside my closet.

Now, consider that the ceiling in this closet is almost 9 feet high. Consider that the closet width is barely 2 feet. That the shelf and clothing rod have to be removed in order to get a ladder in there. That the ladder barely fits anyway. Do ya reckon this one qualifies for a "what in the world were they thinking" award?

At that time, we were working on tearing down the old chimney, and installing chimney pipe for the soapstone woodstove. I didn't really feel like taking all my clothes, rod, and shelf out of the closet every morning so we could work in the attic. Nor was it easy to haul tools and heavy chimney pipe up that way. We finally opted for the field expedient method, and cut a rude opening in the front porch ceiling.

This ceiling is a disaster anyway and will have to be replaced when we do the front porch, so what's one more big ugly hole? At least it was close to the part of the attic we needed to work in.

Of course, this is at the front of the house. Now we need to work in the attic area above the kitchen, at the rear of the house (floor plan here.) Not only will we need to haul more chimney pipe into the attic for the wood cookstove, but also materials so that we can remove that stupid post in the middle of the kitchen.

All of this was leading up to the decision to install proper attic access. In some ways we were reluctant, because after the detour with the back porch, we've been anxious to get on with the kitchen project. But really, Dan needs to be able to get up there for that, and in the long run we'll be glad we did it.

Where to put it? We decided that the back porch ceiling would be the most logical location.

Now we have a foldable aluminum ladder, just a cord pull away. I'd also like to put down a sheet or two of plywood on top of the ceiling joists for a little bit of attic storage space as well.

Up next? Well, we're on a slight goat detour at the moment (more on that soon), but the next project on the house will be the electrical work and moving the service panel. For that I need to have my lights, switches, and outlets figured out for the kitchen, (also neglected due to kidding and garden). Funny how summer has a way of shifting our project focus, but we plan to get back on track with the kitchen soon.

Attic Access: A Progression Of Sorts © May 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/