Instead of the conventional air conditioner, a whole-house Quiet Cool fan works by pulling cool air from outside your home into the home through vents in the attic. The process applies the principle of thermal mass cooling, which keeps a home cool while consuming less energy. You can use it when you need to cool your home instantly or when you no longer need to be manufactured or recycled air in your home.
How Does the Whole-House Cool Fan Work?
The fan works efficiently when the air outside the home is cooler than inside the home. Usually, this is in the evening and early morning in summer. All you need to do is open the windows and turn the fan on. The fan will pull the cold air from outside the home into the attic and then fan it in your home through the attic vents.
Circulating the cool air from outside can cool your home by 30 degrees Fahrenheit or more. When you use a whole-house cooling fan, it is best to start cooling from the rooms you use most. For instance, if you are in the kitchen all early evenings, you need to cool it first before moving to the other rooms. When you leave the kitchen, close the windows to the kitchen and open those to the bedroom or any other room that you will use.
Keeping the window open provides rooms with a cool breeze. You only need to open the window at least three inches, and do not open too many windows.
Instant Cooling
When you open a window, the whole-house Quiet Cool fan provides instant cooling. When running at full power, the unit can make the house at least 10 degrees cooler and sometimes even more. The breeze from outdoors rushes into the attic and goes through the attic vents to cool your home instantly.
The cool air exhausts the hot stale air in the attic, allowing your home to stay cool all day. The attic retains the cool air for when you turn off the whole-house fan.
The Principle of Thermal Mass Cooling
Quiet Cool whole-house cooling uses a simple principle to give you the same effect that you get when you open windows on a hot day. When you open windows, you create a cool breeze that lowers the temperature in your home through thermal mass cooling.
A correctly sized system can exchange all the air in a home up to 20 times in one hour. The mass cooling strategy comes to effect when the system exchanges the hot stale air from the home with fresh cool air from outside the home. The exchange occurs fast with at least one exchange every three or four minutes. This is why it is more efficient than opening windows.
Instead of circulating the stale air in a home, the system depends on the fresh air outside the home. The system uses less power compared to an air conditioner. The net effect of mass cooling is that the home remains cool for a whole day. If you cool your home in the evening and in the morning, you might come home the following day to a cool home.
Benefits of a Whole-House Quiet Cool Fan
The whole-house Quiet Cool fan offers great energy savings in a home. You can save up to 90% in energy bills as long as you size the unit right and open enough windows. Besides, it exchanges the stale air in a home with fresh air from outside the home. This makes the air fresher as any dust particles and pathogens that may be in the air go out with the stale air. The system can exchange all the air in a home within four minutes to make the air you breathe cleaner.
During winter, when most homes lock their doors and windows, airborne pathogens might build up. A whole-house Quiet Cool fan can help remove the pathogens from all parts of a home in only four minutes. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air has between two and five more pollutants than outdoor air. The statistics are accurate even for people living in smoggy cities.
The system can also help remove smoke and VOC gases from your home and replace that with fresh air. If your bathroom has a whole-house fan installed, it removes the steam. You only need to have the window to your bathroom open and the system will prevent the buildup of mold and mildew.
Sizing the Whole-House Quiet Cool Fan System
The whole-house Quiet Cool system works best when sized properly. Each 2-, 2.5-, or 3-cubic-feet-per-minute fan serves a square foot of your living space. If you need the highest efficiency, you need to go for a 3-CFM unit. When sizing the system, the location of your home matters.
If your home is in a coastal region when the climate is cool, a 2-CFM system will work efficiently. For those living in desert areas where the temperature is very hot during the day and cool at night, you can use the 3.5-CFM fan.
You can also consider the height of the ceiling in your home. If the ceiling is higher than eight feet, you need to size the system a little larger, thanks to the increased air volume. There are different systems based on the size of the home, location, and ceiling height.
Central and Zoned Whole-House Fan Systems
There is a central system that uses a single fan and a zoned system that uses multi-fans. The former uses one fan installed somewhere at the center of your home. If you have a single-story room, the fan will be in the midpoint of the home. In a two-story home, you need to install the fan somewhere on the stairs where it can serve the two stories. While the single-fan system can cool the room, it doesn’t offer the control that a zoned system offers.
A multi-fan system allows you more control of the ventilation system of your home. With a zoned system, you can switch the fans on or off in different rooms at the same time or at different times. Zoned systems are ideal when you need more energy savings.
Are Whole-House Fans the Same As Attic Fans?
Attic fans and whole-house fans can be confusing sometimes. While whole-house fans are installed in the attic, they cool the attic and the home. Attic fans only cool the attic. Whole-house fans run in the evenings and mornings when the air outdoors is cool and the air inside is warm. Attic fans, on the other hand, run during the day to keep stale air out of the attic. Both the fans can protect your home from the damages that may result from heat and humidity.
You need to size the whole-house Quiet Cool Fan for maximum efficiency. At Huft Home Services, we can help you size, install or maintain your whole-house fan. We also offer a full range of heating and cooling services in Elk Grove, CA. Call us if you have any queries, and we will help you today.
