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Originally Posted by dewilson58
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Good article but let's take this independent information and apply it to the Villages.
1) Attic Fans Can Pull Air From Inside the Home: True but most of the homes in the Villages have blown in attic insulation which does a very good job of preventing airflow from tiny cracks and holes that allow your cool air to be released into the attic. All the recent homes in the Villages get tested for air flow and you can see the test results on the A/C Air Handler. Also note that the reverse is true. If your home has all these tiny crack and holes even without an attic fan hot air will infultrate your home from the outside as well. At a slower rate but there will still be air flow.
2) Solar Attic Fans Are Just Another Leak Waiting to Happen: True, any roof penetration has a potential to leak. I know the Solar Guys do a very good job using silicon and other flashing methods to reduce this risk basically to near zero. Also here in the Villages we have to change our roofs on an average of 15 years so if the fan is installed properly it should last at least that long. Have you ever looked at your roof and noticed how many round passive vents are on your roof? I guess they can't leak.
3) Older Homes Have Blocked Soffits: This is one of the most important things to be aware of. Fortunately homes built here in the Villages should not have blocked soffits. If they were blocked your attic would super heat and you would know it.
4) So What Are the True Savings of Solar Attic Fans?: As mentioned, you don't buy a Solar Attic fan to save money. Solar is better than electric becasue you don't have to pay to run electric to the fan on install and there is no extra electric cost to run the fan. You buy an attic fan to reduce the temperature in the attic so it doesn't super heat. If you disregard the slightly extended roof life and savings in A/C costs, lowering the temperature in the attic will enable you to store more items over the garage and since your garage ceiling is not typically insulated your garage will be a little cooler as well. Remember you garage is incredibly hot because of the heat gain from the sun beating on the door and from the super heated attic. Since i installed my attic fans my attic never goes more than 10 degrees over the outside air and my garage is also a few degrees cooler, enough that i can tell the difference.
So the point of my response is yes these independent reviews are good but you have to take the data and apply it to your specific home in your specific area where you live and decide if installing a solar attic fan works for you.
Hope this helps.