Does A Solar Attic Fans Save Money

Attic fans cool the attic which helps cool the rooms just under it.

Does a solar attic fans save money.

Using a whole house fan can result in a savings of over 300 each month of running a 3500w a c unit during the hottest part of summer. Attic fans are not recommended if you have central air conditioning because when you turn the fan on in the summer it depressurizes the attic but also reaches down into your house and starts drawing off air conditioned air effectively driving up your cooling costs. Depending on what your utility charges that s about 40 per year. Bridgett w tampa fla.

Instead of installing a fan just make sure your attic is well ventilated. Danny s tests of solar attic fans showed that in florida where there s abundant solar energy yearly savings from installing two fans in a house with just over 1 000 square feet of air conditioned floor area amounted to only 460 kwh. They ll find little gaps inside the walls where wires run and things like that and it s been shown that using an attic fan can actually increase air conditioning costs. Even though electric attic fans can lower your air conditioning costs they cost more money to run than what they save you.

Find out whether it is economical to run an attic fan. That means it could take between 10 15 years to get back to even with this investment. These ventilation fans are usually mounted in the upper slope of the roof and are designed to cool the attic save energy on cooling costs and extend the life of the roof shingles. My husband really thinks it s a great idea to buy a solar attic fan but i don t want to waste the money if it does little or nothing.

It s usually better to take the money you would spend on an attic fan and instead spend it on increasing the insulation levels in the attic and the airtightness of the attic floor plane. As hgtv points out cooling a 1 000 square foot home with solar attic fans can save you about 40 per year in a warm climate like florida. Larger homes that need larger a c units can save even more.