Saving Money with Whole House Fans

Whole House Fan

A whole house fan can be a great way to reduce the energy cost associated with cooling your home. And depending on the time of year and where you live, a whole house fan can be used in lieu of an air conditioning unit. All this is pretty good when you are looking for energy efficiency in homes. Of course as with most other energy efficient products and methods, there are pitfalls that need to be avoided. But done correctly, a whole house fan can be a great choice for your new or even existing home. (As a quick note, a whole house fans is not the same as an attic fan in function or purpose.) 

Are Attic Fans a Good Idea?

Sealed Envelope and the Attic

Here is the theory on attic fans: "The intended purpose of an attic fan is to move hot air out of the attic replacing it with the cooler outside air which in turn reduces your cooling load saving you money. The fan does this by creating a negative pressure in the attic space as it "pulls" the hot air out. This pressure drop in the attic then "pulls" in the cooler outside air through the soffit vents cooling the entire attic and reducing cooling loads." Hmmm. Pretty simple I suppose and this would be great if this is the only air movement happening. Unfortunately, it's not. (NOTE: Attic Fans are NOT the same as a whole house fans. This articles deals only with attic fans)

3 Questions to Ask Before You Buy Your Next New Home

Buying a new home can be exciting as well as challenging as you try to get the most value out of every dollar you spend. Obviously, some things we can easily attach value to like solid surface counter tops, nice lighting fixtures or crown moulding. But what about the items of value you can't "see" that greatly affect your ongoing cost of home ownership like utilities bills and maintenance? For most of us, these "unseen" things are just as important as a granite counter top and crown moulding and maybe becoming more important as the price of materials and energy rises.

As a custom builder of Energy Star and Green Certified homes, I often meet people in the new home market that ask excellent and important questions which they should when selecting a builder. But of the questions that I'm often asked, there are three very important questions that I'm often NOT asked: