Imagine this—but powerful enough for the whole house!
Air conditioning costs get steep during the hot summers we experience here in the Central Valley. Temperatures in the high 90s are common throughout the season, and most people simply can’t make it through a hot day without an effective air conditioning system to cool down their homes.
However, there are ways to supplement an air conditioning system so it doesn’t have to put in as much work during summer, helping to chop down scary monthly electrical bills. One method we strongly recommend is putting in a whole-house fan. Continue below for more about how these systems work and their benefits.
What’s a Whole-House Fan?
A whole-house fan is a type of fan installed at the peak of a home, usually up in the attic. The fan opens up on the rest of the house through a set of louvers that shut whenever the fan isn’t in use. When the fan comes on, it draws air up through the rest of the living space and then exhausts it out of the roof. This provides better house ventilation, but it also helps with cooling: when the air is removed from the house, it creates a vacuum that pulls in air from the outside.
A whole-house fan works best during the early evenings. You can shut off the air conditioner, open up the windows, and turn on the fan to draw in the cooler outside air into the stuffy air of the house. You won’t have to rely on your air conditioner as much—and you’ll enjoy fresh air moving through the living spaces. But whole-house fans can also work well during the day, providing enough air movement that you can reduce air conditioning use. Because a whole-house fan doesn’t have to power a compressor, only run a fan motor, it uses less electrical power than a standard AC. When a whole-house fan is combined with ceiling fans, the difference in indoor comfort in hot weather can be tremendous.
But Aren’t These Fans Really Noisy?
Whole-house fans used to create quite a racket, and homeowners often decided against having them installed for this reason. But the noisy whole-house fans are things of the past. Thanks to rubber and felt gaskets and other mechanical innovations, modern large capacity whole-house fans create little noise—provided they are properly installed!
Keeping noise under control isn’t the only reason to rely on professionals for whole-house fan installation. It requires skilled technicians to take the attic measurements, ensure proper ventilation, and to see that the fan is correctly wired into the electrical system. (You don’t want a whole-house fan that trips a circuit breaker each time it comes on!) The professionals will increase attic ventilation to ensure the fan can do the full job you want from it.
If you are thinking of having a whole-house fan installation or any type of cooling system installation in Kerman, CA or elsewhere in the Central Valley, make sure you contact us!
Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning: Quality is the Cornerstone of Our Success Since 1952. We serve the entire Valley with air conditioning, heating, and ventilation.