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.
Hey Neighbor! (I'm in Petaluma) Thanks so much for the reply!
Yeah, it's wild how few people know about this solution in Northern California. There is really no reason for every home not to have one of these installed, they need to be more common. Good point about the heat mass above the attic. We're considering upgrading our attic insulation to help with that. We don't currently have AC and most days the Whole House Fan gets the job done. But we'll likely install a central Heat Pump AC unit soon when we update the HVAC system. And it's really just because of that wildfire concern you mention. I know we'll have some days where the outdoor air quality is no good and we want to keep the house cool. And the number of warm days is only likely to increase over time. It's good to future-proof where possible, but the QuietCool has been a fantastic addition to our home!
Years ago, I was doing some work in the attic during December. I came out of the attic literally angry about how much I was sweating as I knew full well our family was paying for all of that HVAC heat that was in the attic.
I shortly thereafter brought the attic floor insulation up to 2020 standards. It made the house more comfortable year around and quieter. It was a huge and not that expensive of an improvement. I highly recommend it. We still do not have crawl space or much wall insulation ... but given heat rising .... this is a major "bang for your buck".
We did the HVAC upgrade. I had wanted to go full heat pump but ended up doing a dual fuel setup that uses Gas for colder periods and the Heat Pump for keeping things stable. Given the older house, it was strongly recommended as Heat Pumps take a while to get the hot air into the home. My "zero carbon" self still wrestles with this decision, but in hindsight it was probably a good one.
OK, you're nudging me to take action on the attic insulation estimate I've been sitting on for a while... I think because it's more affordable than some of these other big projects, I've deprioritized it a bit. I need to get it scheduled!
That's interesting, I'm not too familiar with the dual fuel setup, but it makes sense. We've signed off on doing a Harvest Thermal install before the end of the year to take advantage of the tax credits. It's certainly pricey, but hopefully will be worth the expense and is probably the best option to reduce emissions while allowing us to go 100% electric.
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.
Hey Neighbor! (I'm in Petaluma) Thanks so much for the reply!
Yeah, it's wild how few people know about this solution in Northern California. There is really no reason for every home not to have one of these installed, they need to be more common. Good point about the heat mass above the attic. We're considering upgrading our attic insulation to help with that. We don't currently have AC and most days the Whole House Fan gets the job done. But we'll likely install a central Heat Pump AC unit soon when we update the HVAC system. And it's really just because of that wildfire concern you mention. I know we'll have some days where the outdoor air quality is no good and we want to keep the house cool. And the number of warm days is only likely to increase over time. It's good to future-proof where possible, but the QuietCool has been a fantastic addition to our home!
Hello from the Bennett Valley Area of Santa Rosa.
Years ago, I was doing some work in the attic during December. I came out of the attic literally angry about how much I was sweating as I knew full well our family was paying for all of that HVAC heat that was in the attic.
I shortly thereafter brought the attic floor insulation up to 2020 standards. It made the house more comfortable year around and quieter. It was a huge and not that expensive of an improvement. I highly recommend it. We still do not have crawl space or much wall insulation ... but given heat rising .... this is a major "bang for your buck".
We did the HVAC upgrade. I had wanted to go full heat pump but ended up doing a dual fuel setup that uses Gas for colder periods and the Heat Pump for keeping things stable. Given the older house, it was strongly recommended as Heat Pumps take a while to get the hot air into the home. My "zero carbon" self still wrestles with this decision, but in hindsight it was probably a good one.
OK, you're nudging me to take action on the attic insulation estimate I've been sitting on for a while... I think because it's more affordable than some of these other big projects, I've deprioritized it a bit. I need to get it scheduled!
That's interesting, I'm not too familiar with the dual fuel setup, but it makes sense. We've signed off on doing a Harvest Thermal install before the end of the year to take advantage of the tax credits. It's certainly pricey, but hopefully will be worth the expense and is probably the best option to reduce emissions while allowing us to go 100% electric.