Does a whole house fan need vents?
Question:I live in a townhouse where messing with the roof is a no-no. Is there a whole house fan that needs very little ventilation? I’m so tired of using the A/C on a beautiful day just because there is no breeze outside. I also have casement windows so I can’t do much in the way of a fan in the window blowing out.
Answers:
Certainly to be most effective the fan needs to have a basis for circulation and expelling hot air. Fans are designed to cool people, not strictly rooms, but most often, even on a hot day, without using AC, outside air, as long as it's moving, is a bit cooler than stagnated interior air/temps.
No matter what window type you have, just opening a few, on the side of the house, opposite the sun, at the time, and running a fan on the other side of the house to circulate air and expell heat is the design of your notion.
Beyond that any fresh is better to have circulating than the air in ones house. Hopefully you have, or can install screens, either in or out of the windows in question.
Some people vent into their attic space.
take the cover off the entrance to the attic, is it is the ceiling, hotair rises, , this is what i do
A whole house fan can blow air out the soffit vents if there are enough of them and they aren't plugged. However, it draws a lot of air, so you must make sure there's enough ventilation in the attic.
When we only use our whole house fan when it is nice outside. It is great at night when it has cooled off a little bit. We open all of the windows in the house and the whole house fan pulls in the cool outside air. But it wouldn't be bad without the windows however it won't cool it off a whole lot. You can also use it with the a/c to circulate the air.
Its part of your a/c. turn the fan from auto to on, then turn the other nob for cool to off. Its in between cool and heat. thats you house fan, and no it doesnt need very much ventalation, if you can crack a couple of you windows you will be just fine. Good Luck!
Notwithstanding all of the other information, the answer to your question is, "yes."
Vents are not necessary unless you have air you need to remove from, or introduce into, the house. If you just want a "little cooler feel" of the air in your house on a great day, air movement will produce that feel.
While a "whole house fan" does exist as the blower of your central HVAC system, and you can run the fan with the AC unit off, it will probably not move enough air for you to "feel" it. They are designed, if properly installed, so you cannot feel the air movement.
What you probably need, is the old fashioned oscillating fans in each room you want to "feel" the cool, or ceiling fans.
Moving the air will make you feel cooler on great days without turning on the AC, until it gets too hot, then you have to close the windows and turn on the AC - the extra air movement from the fans will allow you to feel cooler than the thermostat setting on the AC, so they are still a good idea with the AC on, and will save you money on the electric bill.
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