OK, today's update may seem boring on the surface. Is this guy seriously going to write about a fan? How boring is that? Where is the high-tech slant? How can old technology like this be worth celebrating?
Well, let me tell you folks! I am sold on the benefits of installing a whole house fan (or sometimes incorrectly referred to as an attic fan).
What exactly am I talking about here?
This is a device that typically does get installed in your attic. And it gets positioned in a location of your attic where it can push hot air out of a vent (typically a gabled vent or soffit vent of some sort if we're being technical).
And while pushing hot air out of your attic, the fan also sucks in cool air from opened doors and windows of your house. When the temperature of the outside air is cooler than the air inside your house, it is high time to turn on your whole-house fan!
It turns out that Northern California is the ideal place for a device like this. Really anywhere with relatively low humidity where the temperature drops noticably when the sun goes down will be perfect for this.
In the Bay Area, we don't get very many excruciatingly hot days. But we do get days where the mid-day temperature gets uncomfortable before things dip down once the sun disappears. So to battle the stuffiness of summer evenings, I went ahead and installed a QuietCool whole house fan this summer. And I have been pleasantly surprised with the results.
A fan like this isn't meant to replace air conditioning in very hot climates. If the air outside is still hot and/or humid, it won't feel good to suck it into your home. But if you live somewhere that gets stuffy during the day, and need help pulling in the cool air in the evening, this is the best way to do it.
Installation really isn't too difficult. In our scenario, we already had a hatch in our hallway to access our attic. We just needed to do some minor patching to match the fan grate size to the existing opening. And then we just cut another attic access point in a bedroom closet. Fairly painless as a DIY project, but it won't break the bank to hire someone for the job either.
But there is a bit of high-tech magic in this tried and true home-cooling solution! I was able to install a smart controller in my attic that allows for the fan to be controlled by QuietCool's smart app. This lets you program scenarios for the fan to run automatically! Want the fan to turn on when the temperature in the attic hits over 80 degrees? No problem. Want to just let it run on an 8 hour timer every night when you sleep? Yep, that can be arranged. Or you can just manually turn it on or off and set the speed of the fan using the app. It's pretty easy to do from anywhere in the house rather than needing to walk over to a switch on the wall.
No, it's not the sexiest piece of smart home technology in my house but it may be the most practical. I've been amazed at how quickly the fan can clear out the hot air and lower the temperature in the upstairs bedrooms of our home. It becomes a fun game to check my Nest temperature sensors to see how quickly I can get that temperature to drop a few degrees. And it's way easier to get the perfect sleeping temperature at night even after the hottest days.
Of course, maybe the best part is just how little energy gets used by a fan like this. Even if it runs all night long, you're using a tiny fraction of the energy used by a traditional window-mounted air conditioner. It's good for the earth and great for your electric bill. Plus you have the added benefit of improving your air quality and quickly expelling any odors that may be lingering in your home.
No, this isn't a sponsored post from QuietCool, but I have really become a believer in the product. Yes, there are other companies that make fans like these, but QuietCool has become the big name in town. And the product definitely lives up to its name. On the low setting, the fan is hardly audible while running all night. The high setting is more noticeable but the low setting is more than enough when running overnight.
It's probably not at the top of your "fun new tech" shopping list right now, but I think a smart whole house fan may be the most sensible purchase I've made in a long time.
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Thank you for writing this!
I live in Sonoma County. We regularly have 30 degree temperature swings and sometimes more. I installed a WHF 5 years ago in our single story home (we went with Centric Air). It was a game changer.
The goal was to not install AC and to use this instead. Had it not been for the fires and smoke days the plan would have worked but alas there have been some periods of time we couldn't bring in fresh air.
Some days our AC runs for a couple of hours (our home is 1961 insulated), but like you I get so excited when the Nest shows the temp outside is lower and I can bring in the cooler fresh air with the WHF.
It runs all night, the vent is 20' from our bedroom and we can't hear it. It's amazing!
Of note, this solution also cools the attic and reduces the heat mass above the attic. This cool attic air helps keep the indoors cool well into the late afternoon for us (our thermostat is set to 72). Not enough people understand how economical/good for the environment/awesome these are. Thank you for getting the word out.