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| Amy Gahran |
| My finished attic fan has completely replaced my central AC unit, so far. |
On June 16 I wrote that I was getting a new attic fan installed in my Boulder home. While I expect this measure will save energy and money, my main motivation was to make my home more comfortable during the heat of summer. I work at home, so that’s pretty important.
I’m pleased to report that since the installation was completed on June 18, I have not turned on my central air conditioning unit at all. Not once. Really. And it’s been pretty hot in Boulder lately, with temperatures nearing 100° F some days.
For instance, right now it’s about 92°F out on my deck. Inside, with just the attic fan running, it’s 82°F. Not exactly cool, but since the air is dry and moving (if you stand in my stairwell you can actually feel a cool breeze coming up from the basement) I’m very comfortable.
I never thought I’d say this, but I can’t wait to see my next bill from Xcel Energy.
As with any energy-saving measure, this one has its pros and cons…
MY ATTIC FAN’S ADVANTAGES:
- More effective. Keeps my house more comfortable on hot summer days than my central AC unit ever did.
- More reliable. Despite annual maintenance, the coils on my old AC unit kept icing up, causing the unit to shut down just when I needed it most.
MY ATTIC FAN’S DISADVANTAGES:
- Noisier. To be honest, this fan makes more noise than I would have preferred. Not too much, and I can ignore it easily. But it’s definitely more noise than my AC unit made. Of course, the AC unit is outside the house.
- Had to move my workspace. Normally I work in my home office, which is on the second floor of my house. To get maximum cooling from my attic fan, I need to leave a basement window open to draw in the coolest outside air available and keep all the other windows closed. This pulls a good draft up through my house, but it doesn’t cool my office well enough to suit my needs for workspace. So on the hottest days I have to work at my dining room table, where I feel a nice steady draft from the stairwell. Hooray for wifi-enabled laptops and their locational flexibility!
That’s the rundown for now. Do you live in Boulder, CO? If so, what kinds of energy-saving projects have you implemented lately, and how are they working out? Please comment below or volunteer to write a post for this site.
(There’s more! Read the follow-up post…)
Entries (RSS)
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:48 pm
[...] (How’s my attic fan working? Read the next update…) [...]
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:35 am
OK, I love the fan too. However, there is one downside. My office is in the basement, and the attic fan sucks all the nice, cool air OUT of the basement. Thus, when my office used to be the cozy place in the house, it is now the same temperature as the rest of the house: in the eighties.
But I will admit that the attic fan, over all, was a great choice. We really have not run the A/C at all since we got it, and I don’t think we will all summer.
It would help if I put a screen in the window here ….. Guess I need to do that ….
July 4th, 2007 at 3:39 am
Amy and Tom, you’re not supposed to run the fan all day long. Just run it at night, when it’s cool out. Be sure all the windows are open. Get the house nice and cold. Then in the morning, shut all the windows and pull down all the blinds. Your house should stay cool until the late afternoon. When the evening rolls around, open all the windows and start over again.
July 4th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
[...] I wrote about my home’s new attic fan, which (so far this summer) is doing a much better job of [...]
July 4th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Jay, thanks for pointing out recommended practice for attic fan use. You’re absolutely right. However, special consideration of our home and long-term home improvement plans are steering our current usage decisions. I explain that in this followup post. Tell me what you think!
- Amy Gahran
July 4th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Tom — Yeah, that’s a bummer that your basement office is now less cozy. But at least the cooling is distributed more fairly between us!
- Amy