Part 2 On average you should run the fan for 4-5 hours to ensure the attic is cooled. The attic is what keeps the home hot. We always recommend the use of a timer. Keep in mind that our systems will provide you with a whole house ventilation fan that can be used to exhaust cooking odor, stale indoor air, etc.
Important Operating Tips
We recommend running the whole house fan all night. The goal is to cool your entire house down, not just the air. It takes time to pull the heat out of the sheetrock, structure and contents of a house.
Cooling the core of your home
Homes cooled with whole house fans do not reheat as rapidly. Thermal mass cooling is the key principle to why whole house fans work so well in southern Colorado climates, because the outside temperatures are cool enough to run whole house fans often 10 to 12 hours a night.
Monitor Temperature: Keep an eye on the indoor and outdoor temperatures. If the outside air becomes warmer than the inside air, it's time to turn off the fan. Use in Conjunction with AC: In some climates, a whole house fan can be used to complement air conditioning.
Drawbacks of Whole House Fans
Air Filtration: They do not filter outdoor air, which can be problematic for residents sensitive to outdoor pollutants like pollen, smog, or smoke. Noise: Whole house fans can be noisy, especially if not installed properly.
Modern whole house fans are quieter and better insulated, but they're still not as common. Today, it's hard for whole house fans to compete with heat pumps and ductless heat pumps, which operate more efficiently and deliver better cooling than either whole house fans or traditional AC systems.
ECONOMICS O F OPERATION
A large 18,000 Btu/h window unit air conditioner with an energy efficiency ratio (EER) of 8.8 costs more than 17¢ to operate for one hour. By contrast, a whole house fan has a motor in the 1/4 to 1/2 hp range, uses 120 to 600 watts, and costs around 1¢ to 5¢ per hour of use.
Some homeowners naturally worry about the risks of a breakdown if they run the fan all the time, but this will not be a concern for you if your HVAC system was properly installed and maintained. The only possible exception here is a very old fan system, which should generally be replaced in the near future anyways.
When running a whole house fan if you don't open windows it makes a loud suction noise to make it very obvious that there aren't windows opened. Make sure to follow these important tips safety tips when using a whole house fan: Make sure you have the 2-4 windows open 4-8 inches.
Extra Hot days (over 100 degrees)
On some extremely hot summer nights, it will not cool off enough to run the whole house fan while you are awake at all. Use your whole house fan system for cooling the attic on these nights, to maximize a/c performance during the evening.
A ceiling fan is made up of different parts and pieces, and they will wear out over time. Sure, your ceiling fan can run throughout the day and night without issue, but running it for several days or months on end may not be the smartest choice and will reduce the overall lifetime of your fan.
Remove the stale indoor air that can contain airborne pathogens and viruses from inside your home. Comfort Cool whole house fans are designed to bring in cool, fresh, clean air from outside while removing the air from inside, significantly improving the quality of air your family breathes.
Whole-house fans cost significantly less to run than a window AC unit. You'll pay an average of $0.01 and $0.05 per hour to run a whole-house fan compared to $0.06 to $0.88 per hour for the cost to run a window AC, depending on its size and the size of your home.
For cooling purposes during the warmer months of the year, Whole house fans are designed to run whenever it is cooler outside than inside your home. This is oftentimes during the early morning and nighttime hours. Because of this, most customers run their Whole house fan all night long on a timer.
The fan is a cost-effective way to keep you cool during the hot and humid summer nights. But sleeping with the fan on may trigger congestion, dryness, sore muscles, or allergic reactions in some people. If you have allergies but sleep hot, try using air filters and humidifiers to reduce symptoms of allergies.
Do not run your whole house fan during the day unless the temperature outside is cooler than the house is inside, though you may want to run the fan during the day to push air out of the attic. To do so, direct airflow from either the basement or the shady side of the home.
How Long Will It Take To Cool My Home And How Long Should I Keep The Fan On? Part 2 On average you should run the fan for 4-5 hours to ensure the attic is cooled. The attic is what keeps the home hot. We always recommend the use of a timer.
Definitions of whole house fan vs. attic fan vary by region, causing some confusion. In a nutshell, whole house fans are designed to run after sundown, using cool night air to ventilate and cool your entire living space. Attic fans are designed to run on hot sunny days to clear super-heated air from your attic.
–Running fans for long periods could cause them to overheat.
Fans start to get hot when the air is pushed out of the blades, but this only lasts a short time. It will cool down quickly. – Fans don't need to be left on at all times, so if you have a fan in your room that you don't plan on using all day, leave it off.
If you wonder, “How long should my HVAC fan run per hour?” then the answer is between ten to 20 minutes for two or three cycles. This works best when your home has a mild outdoor temperature. When temperatures shift strongly towards 0 or 90 degrees (heating or cooling), you will need to run the fan longer.
So yes, running HVAC continuously throughout the day and night is perfectly safe!
Cons of Whole House Fan Installation
Since whole house fans work by bringing in the outside air, they can bring outdoor air pollutants into your home—potentially increasing allergy or asthma symptoms.
Whole house fans can be extremely effective for improving air quality and comfort in a home. Designed to create better ventilation, cooling and air circulation, these units can be both energy-efficient and extremely effective.