Cool Down Your Home With Less Effort – Ventilate Your Attic and Install an Attic Fan

These sweltering days of summer mean your air conditioning system is working extra hard to cool down your home. And if you hear your unit running continually, you can bet that means you’ll see an increase in your monthly utility bill. You can try and keep to more moderate temperatures in your home, but there’s an easier (and more comfortable) way to enjoy cool air in your house. We’re talking about the unsung hero that lives in your attic—an attic fan.

A well-ventilated attic is the key to a comfortable home throughout the year. Right now, start by insulating the access to your attic to keep the hot air upstairs from being pulled into the house. Beyond that, you’ll want to install an attic fan that will move that hot air out of your house.

Why All Attics Need Ventilation
No matter the age or size of your home, a properly ventilated attic is essential for three important reasons.

1. Cuts Energy Costs. When it’s in the 90s outside in the summer, hot air that’s settled up in the attic can exceed 150 degrees. Your attic fan will pull this air out of your home, so your HVAC system doesn’t have to run continuously to cool down your indoor temperature to a comfortable level. This leads to a more reasonable energy bill.
2. Prevents Water Damage. In the winter, the main purpose of an attic fan is to maintain reasonable temperatures to avoid ice dams. This is snow that melts off a roof from an attic that is too warm and then re-freezes at the gutters, preventing melting snow from draining safely.
3. Controls Moisture. Typical home activities like cooking, showering, and doing laundry produce moisture, which may move up into the attic. If your attic is not well-ventilated, moisture could accumulate in that space and cause problems such as damage to the roof system and poor indoor air quality.

What Does an Attic Fan Do In the Summer?
You may not use or visit your attic often, so you might not realize it is an integral part of your home. And the hotter the attic is, the harder it will be to cool down your house in the summer. So here you are, pushing your air conditioner further to keep everyone comfortable. That’s because without an attic fan, heavy, hot air lays like a blanket over the top of your house. The fan creates an air exchange: it takes the hot and humid air in your attic, circulates it, and pushes it out. An attic fan will remove that stale hot air from your attic and bring the temperature of that space closer to the outside temperature. Now your air conditioner can focus on cooling your living space efficiently rather than fighting against the hot air coming from the attic.

An attic fan works with any roof or HVAC system. It is a separate piece of equipment that is installed separately and it’s well worth the effort, as the fans take a significant amount of pressure off your central air conditioning system.

Why You’ll Also Count On an Attic Fan in the Winter
We’re calling attic fans a hero for a reason—they also come to the rescue in the winter. During colder months, the warm air from your home rises to meet the cold air from the outside that sits under your roof. If it flows into an improperly ventilated attic, it will condense, and over time, this moisture can build and cause the roof decking to buckle, reducing its load capacity. Condensation also encourages mold and mildew growth, which has a negative impact on indoor air quality.

Also, heat trapped in the attic causes snow on a roof to melt and slide downward toward the eaves and gutters, where it will likely re-freeze. This continual buildup of ice is called an ice dam and it is dangerous because the frozen water can infiltrate the roof system. A properly ventilated attic space, however, will push out the heat, remain consistently cool, and prevent ice dams from forming.

Don’t Have An Attic Fan In Your Home? Let’s Fix That.
If you currently have a whole-house fan, consider switching to or adding a roof-mounted attic fan. Although they are effective, the whole-house fans won’t solve the entire problem of heat loss and penetration from the attic. Most of today’s homes have a central air unit, and in this case, you’ll want to update your cooling plan to install a roof-mounted attic fan.

If you don’t have a functional attic fan currently, the licensed electricians at Bloomfield Cooling, Heating & Electric will install a high-quality, roof-mounted attic fan. Your HVAC system will thank you!

Have questions? Ready to get started? Call our office to arrange an appointment at 973-237-0505.