Solar Powered Attic Fans Do They Work

The solar attic fans all moved less than 1 000 cubic feet of air per minute cfm and they did nothing to lower the temperature inside my own attic.

Solar powered attic fans do they work.

Here is some information so you can decide whether an attic fan is right for your home. Energy professionals will tell you that they do more harm than good. The beneficial effects of solar powered attic fans if any are limited to a subset of houses those with airtight ceilings. Even if you install it yourself and take the tax credit it could still take you 15 years or.

According to the home ventilating institute hvi powered attic ventilators need to move a minimum of 700 cubic feet per minute cfm for 1 000 sq. Most ceilings are leaky. You will probably need two solar attic fans to get the results you want. I saw an advertisement for a solar powered attic fan and that seems like a great.

Fans don t move lots of air. That means you will need to double up your investment in this area. But they re much easier to install since no wiring is needed. Many are solar powered and require no other wiring so they don t cause any additional charges on your electricity bill at all.

To determine the number of cubic feet per minute needed for a power vent fan multiply the number of square feet in your attic by 0 7. Ad the infrared rays from the sun are powerful. Because solar attic fans operate with a lower power output they are unable to move as much air as some of the other options that are available. So while solar powered units may not be plugged into your home s electrical system they are still pulling up cooled air once again forcing the a c unit to work harder.

But there s really a more fundamental reason that power attic ventilators won t help a lot and for some reason i didn t mention that in the original article. Manufacturers of attic fans as well as hvac companies will tell you otherwise. Whether or not an attic fan really works is a controversial subject. Depending on what your utility charges that s about 40 per year.

In general it s widely believed that an unpowered attic ventilation system will result in a cooler home. 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. Powered attic ventilators cause more problems than they solve so if solar powered models have gone up in power that makes them less desirable than ever not more desirable. My attic space gets as hot as blue blazes.

And it s part of the reason that my state georgia has banned power attic ventilators unless they re solar powered which was a concession needed to get the grid powered fans banned. Solar powered attic vent fans usually don t move as many cubic feet of air per minute cfm as hardwired fans. Ft of attic space for example 20 x 50 to be effective. There may never be an roi.