Whole House Fans

[smoker]

Need some help choosing a whole house fan. Big price difference from the airplane propellers Home Depot sells ($250) vs. the sealed units you can find online ($1500) 2900 sq. ft. single story. Would like to run it at night without keeping use awake. Energy efficient also if possible. Any suggestions?

[Mandelon]

Most are noisy as heck. Noise is measure in "sones". Lower is better.
I used a big mushroom vent (not a whirlybird) with a powered vent fan in it. It was run through a wall switch and then through a thermostat switch.
So whenever the attic reached 100 degrees, or whatever limit you set, it would come on and run until it got cooler. With the wall switch I could turn the whole contraption off if it bugged me.
I'd suggest you mount the fan on a gable vent, as opposed to in the ceiling. That way it won't suck your hair up...LOL, or at least be so loud.

[smoker]

Hadn't thought about mounting it on the gable instead of the ceiling in a hallway. Makes sense. A whole lot quieter.
Hear the one about the parakeet and the whole house fan? You get the picture. :D and thanks.

[YODA]

I put one in my last house (home depot type) in the upstairs hall. I would turn the sprinklers on, open the windows and turn the plane engine er the fan on...it would cool the whole house pretty quick. Earplugs are necessary if youre going to try to sleep with it on though

[meaniam]

Need some help choosing a whole house fan. Big price difference from the airplane propellers Home Depot sells ($250) vs. the sealed units you can find online ($1500) 2900 sq. ft. single story. Would like to run it at night without keeping use awake. Energy efficient also if possible. Any suggestions?
most whole house fans dont need to run more then 15 mins. it is used just to exchange the air. and will save you a tune of money and time cooling down the house. i need to find someone to install mine.
the one mounted in the ceiling are the most efficent at cooling house and attic. pulls the cool air in from doors and windows then blows it out the attic. the gable one take longer. i think running some kind of fan like the mushroom or the gable would be great for the garage. which is the closet thing to the heat of hell in my house.

[buzzaro]

Dont know how true it is but ive heard youll be dusting the house a whole lot more, so if youre wife does that no big deal.............:D

[HeavyD]

Just had a whole house fan insalled today as I write. A friend has them they are the smaller units and for a house of around 2500-3500sq ft they suggest 4 of them. They are very quiet and in my friends house seem to work real well, he has one in each bedroom and one in the hallway, the bedroom ones work real well with the door closed and when you want to cool the whole house down just open up all the doors and 2-3 windows about 3 inches each.
It took about an hour to get my 4 installed and $2100.00 so I hope these buggers work. The # for the company that did it if you need info is 951-599-5000, good luck I hope they work for me and you because that is a lot of gas for the boat I just wasted( they are called quiet cool).

[lewiville]

Just had a whole house fan insalled today as I write. A friend has them they are the smaller units and for a house of around 2500-3500sq ft they suggest 4 of them. They are very quiet and in my friends house seem to work real well, he has one in each bedroom and one in the hallway, the bedroom ones work real well with the door closed and when you want to cool the whole house down just open up all the doors and 2-3 windows about 3 inches each.
It took about an hour to get my 4 installed and $2100.00 so I hope these buggers work. The # for the company that did it if you need info is 951-599-5000, good luck I hope they work for me and you because that is a lot of gas for the boat I just wasted( they are called quiet cool).
Let me send you off a huge warning. Dana Stevens is the owner of that company and at any moment will be going out of business. The guy owes me $25,000 in advertising costs. He is also being sued buy the building he was leasing from last year. He is way behind on his financial commitments. don't expect him to come through with his warranty claim's. He also stiffed customers the $25 "sign in the front yard" money to about 250 homeowners. He is a slime ball. I am a single dad, own a home, have a car, etc and the guy is advertising in other print media's and still cant pay me. He has problems. WARNING TO EVERYONE, STAY AWAY FROM HIM. I have other referals of good quilty contractors

[GunninGopher]

I had a ceiling one (loud) in my old house, which was 1500 sq feet. That thing worked great and I only had to run it about 10 -15 minutes in the evening and the house would be perfect. Aside from the 15 minutes of noise, my only complaint was that if I didn't have enough windows open, it would blow the attic dust through every nook and cranny it could find. It was also nice if I had to do some work in the attic in the summer, since I could blow cold air up there.
I decided that in the future I would mount one that drew from the living area, through the attic, with the fan mounted remotely in the attic, ducted to the outside.
I wish I had one right now.

[smoker]

This was just to fricken weird.
As I was talking to a buddy of mine about Stevens, I was reading your post. Gotta love the boards. I appreciate the hell out of all your advice guys. Tks.

[RaceFace]

Its funny...every year around this time, I research the hell out of "whole house fans" and never pull the trigger. My research every year is belt drives are quieter than direct drives...they are loud-ish and you only need them on for about 15-20 minutes in the evening....and strategically open specific windows depending on what you want to cool down....or what needs cooling down. You will get a complete air exchange in a matter of minutes. No need to sleep with it on. The big thing is make sure you have adequate attic ventilation or it wont work to its capacity.

[lewiville]

This was just to fricken weird.
As I was talking to a buddy of mine about Stevens, I was reading your post. Gotta love the boards. I appreciate the hell out of all your advice guys. Tks.
this is a total legit claim on my part. the guy has literally "ROBBED" me and me family. So, since he has made the choice to "ROB" me, I cant do anything but make sure other people don't help him "ROB" other people. I have full blown documentation on this issue as well.

[6 Dollar Boat]

Let me send you off a huge warning. Dana Stevens is the owner of that company and at any moment will be going out of business. The guy owes me $25,000 in advertising costs. He is also being sued buy the building he was leasing from last year. He is way behind on his financial commitments. don't expect him to come through with his warranty claim's. He also stiffed customers the $25 "sign in the front yard" money to about 250 homeowners. He is a slime ball. I am a single dad, own a home, have a car, etc and the guy is advertising in other print media's and still cant pay me. He has problems. WARNING TO EVERYONE, STAY AWAY FROM HIM. I have other referals of good quilty contractors
Great, I have them coming out on Fri to install 3 of the Quiet Cool fans.....I already gave them a deposit, so I don't want to cancel now....I just hope these things work as good as I have been told.:(

[mjc]

southern california Edison also gives a decent rebate if you put one in your house. I've heard the belt drives are a little quieter can anybody confirm if they really are quieter

[mobldj]

Just had a whole house fan insalled today as I write. A friend has them they are the smaller units and for a house of around 2500-3500sq ft they suggest 4 of them. They are very quiet and in my friends house seem to work real well, he has one in each bedroom and one in the hallway, the bedroom ones work real well with the door closed and when you want to cool the whole house down just open up all the doors and 2-3 windows about 3 inches each.
It took about an hour to get my 4 installed and $2100.00 so I hope these buggers work. The # for the company that did it if you need info is 951-599-5000, good luck I hope they work for me and you because that is a lot of gas for the boat I just wasted( they are called quiet cool).
got them put in last year,work great,turn off ac when it cools down,crack a couple of windows and wake up cold grabbin covers,shut house up when i get up,dont turn on ac till 1 or 2 in the afternoon

[lewiville]

southern california Edison also gives a decent rebate if you put one in your house. I've heard the belt drives are a little quieter can anybody confirm if they really are quieter
Edison does offer a rebate however the "Quiet Cool " one was taken off there list because he burned Edison to.

[lewiville]

Great, I have them coming out on Fri to install 3 of the Quiet Cool fans.....I already gave them a deposit, so I don't want to cancel now....I just hope these things work as good as I have been told.:(
gotta say love the avatar.
You can ask for the deposit back. I blazing the trial's just letting everyone know. In fact he has changed his name from "Quiet Cool" to another name for some "un known " reason.

[BrianB]

I installed the largest possible between the trusses.Air takes the path of least resistance.I fire it up,open the selected room window and it's cool in minutes.Same deal in the morning, then close up the house to beat the heat.
We have the Certanteed brand,about $150 at Lowes or Grainger.
Make sure the wife opens a window to run the fan:eek:
I came home one day to find the house in a vacuum
When I twisted the door knob it pulled out of my hand and hit the wall:mad:

[HPBoats83]

I have the extra large airplane prop (150ish at Home Deopt) in my house and it's awesome. I sleep way better when it's colder so I let it run all night long. It is a little loud; however, I can't even hear it anymore. It was weird once I put it in I just keep loosing my hearing faster and faster and now....or maybe I just tuned out my girlfriend too. :D

[Oldschool427]

Cover your south and west facing windows with Mylar, even if you have duel pane glass windows. More heat come though the unshaded windows then any other part of house. Other then upgrading insulation in attic, this the most effective way to keep house cooler in summer. Try holding your hand next to a window facing south or west about 2pm when its 90 or 100 out. Closing shades helps, even better if shaded from outside. Attic fans with thermostat, mounted on gable vents also effective. Whirlybirds on roof top vent attic also, but should to be covered in winter.
Insulation Sub Contractor for 37 years.

[RaceFace]

It was weird once I put it in I just keep loosing my hearing faster and faster and now....or maybe I just tuned out my girlfriend too. :D
LOL!!! I suffer from the same thing.....selective listening!! :D :D :D
The rest just translates to WAH WAH WAH

[HPBoats83]

LMAO. Maybe I like ours so much because I just can't hear her talking when the house fan is on. So when she says "Well let me tell you about.....!" Then i just go turn on the housefan and start nodding my head.

[HeavyD]

Update on the quiet cool fans, seemed to work fine a low hum was all the noise we heard, cooled the house down fine and with the timer I didnt need to worry about getting up and turning off the fans, instalation was good and the guys showed up on time and cleaned up after themselves, we checked edison website and they are on the rebate site list, we were told we have 10 yr parts and 1 yr labor warranty, I dont expect to be in this house 10 yrs, no sign in the front yard, and our friends have had theyre quiet cool for about a year now and no problems. I am not pimpin these guys just telling you what my experience was like without any sugar coating. Good Luck, listen to all, make a descision and dont regret it.

[HavaSkank]

Holy shiat, I need glasses. I read this title and thought it said "***** House Fans"
Needless to say I was somewhat disappointed in the content.

[Cigalert]

Holy shiat, I need glasses. I read this title and thought it said "***** House Fans"
Needless to say I was somewhat disappointed in the content.
I'm with you on the elevated level of confusion. I was thinking how much I hate roomates also.

[andy01]

I posted this in another fan thread.........
I live 5 miles or so from the beach. I don't have A/C, I have a well insulated atic, a atic fan and a whole house fan. I use the house fan at night and in the morning. If pulls the cooler air in and pushes the hot air in the atic where the atic fan pushes it out of the atic. I like it, A/C would be nice on those realy hot days/nights but I leave my house totally closed up after 8am or so and it will stay cool till around 4-5 depending on how hot it is outside. Then re-open the house around 7pm and turn the whole house fan on, 30 minutes or so and it is cooled off like outside. It also works great if you cook something that smells bad or fart a lot and stink the house up, it can work like a whole house fart fan.
Andy
also I have the belt drive home depot style. I have had mine for 5 years now. Love it, it sucks the cool air in quick!