I am looking for advice on replacing an attic fan. The gable vent fan I put in about 4 years ago seems to have died. Been pretty warm upstairs last few nights even with the ac going. Old fan came from HD, $35 IIRC. Have another just like it I was going to use for a project but might put up in the attic cuz its here.
Question. I have looked at solar attic fans in the past but don’t want to spend $500 on a fan that is going to save me $20 a year on electricity. Don’t figure it will last long enough to be a “good investment”. Are there cheaper decent solar fans out there?
Q2. As long as I am putting in a new one I was also thinking of going roof-mount instead of gable-mount. Attic has 3 gable openings, one of which has fan mounted in it. Roof has approx 60′ of ridge vent, 600 ‘2 of attic “floor” space. 12/12 pitch gables and 4/12 shed roof in back. Rough calc I figure not quite 1k cubic feet of attic space. Cape style house so no soffit vents to speak of.
How many cfm fan?
Any and all thoughts are appreciated. Thanks
Andy
“It seemed like a good idea at the time”
Replies
The benifit of the Solar gable fan (I have 2, BTW) is that you do not need to run a new electrical line to power it. If you have to pay someone to do the wiring, solar pays for itself.
Don't go through the roof. Ugleee.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Four years is about the normal life for such a fan. Usually the bearings go bad.
Whatever you do, plan it so that the fan can be easily replaced, since you'll be dong that in another four years.
Normally even if the shell design is different you can swap in the motor from a new unit, so you don't have to replace the entire unit. The motors are probably available separately from somewhere, but I've never looked for them.
Keep in mind that with ridge vents, fan, and no soffit vents, you're not ventillating the bulk of the roof. You really need those soffit vents.
Edited 6/11/2005 8:43 am ET by DanH