Expert: Brad Zacharia - 7/3/2009

Question
hi!  i have a small cape on long island and it's crazy hot upstairs.  i would like to lower my air conditioning requirements and put in an attic fan.  do i go with a gable fan sucking air all the way across the house, or go with a roof mounted unit sucking air in from both gable openings?

should i also get a whole house fan at the same time?  i'm also interested in a whole house fan at the top of my second floor landing.  that would only be helpful on a dry day.  otherwise i'm just sucking humid air into the attic.

any suggestion on what attic fan either gable or roof model and what manufacturer?  same goes for the whole house fan.  the house is 1500 square feet.  i've heard stories about people installing whole house fans, only to not use them because they were so noisy.  do you have any reccommendations on specific products for me?  any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You!!

-Jake

Answer
Both can work well but neither will work well if you don't have input vents (soffit vents). You can't suck air out of something if it can't come in somewhere else. The idea is that cool air comes in the bottom, rises as it heats up and then goes out the top.

Whole house fans suck air out of the house into the attic or outside so you're not pulling humid air IN from outside unless it's through the windows. House fans are noisy since  the fan is basically right inside the house and need to be powerful if you're going to suck air from the whole house.

I do not know anything about models or manufacturers.

Brad