I have no attic fan to draw out warm air in the summer, and I was wondering how difficult this is to install?
Or, who can I call to have this put in? I don't know if I trust going to home deport and getting a list of contractors from them. I mean, the people at my HD are like clueless zombies, so how good could the contractors be?
Tony
Do not let HD handle this. The electric part is easy. Its the installation on the roof thats important. You might be better off calling a roofer to put it in because although its straighfoward, it requires a certain way of putting it in without leaks on your roof. I put in a range hood vent myself and it was easy. Here is an excellent video I saw that gave me confidence to do it myself. Although this is for a bathroom vent, the principle is the same.
Wiring aside, a handyman type of person can do the install. He may or may not be capable of doing electric or be allowed under the regulations. Take a look in your attic. Even an unoccupied space may have a light fixture up there that has adequate power for the fan.
Installation may be simple for a fan in the gable vent or much more complex for one going through the roof. You also want to be sure you have proper soffit venting and add a ridge vent if you don't have one.
If it means cutting the roof to install, I wouldn't trust a HD contractor near such a job. Have a qualified roofer with many years in the business install it physically, then call an electrician to wire it.
There is nothing wrong with warm air in the attic. If you have the normal vents and the floor insulated from below.
If you have a dark colored roof, the temps in the attic can get way above ambient in the summer, reducing the effectiveness of the insulation in the upper floor ceiling (remember, heat transmission is a function of the difference in temperature.) Simply pulling outside air through the attic *can* make a difference, esp. if the area is not well vented to begin with. I am definitely adding one of these to my house whenever it cools off enough to get up in the attic to work.
nate
OP probably better off with ridge vent, that doesnt run up electric bill and is silent.......
Good observation, Grasshoppa. Attic fans come in various types. One just draws the air out of the attic space, and can be mounted on an end. Pretty simple to cut out a square, and if it is in an area covered by any overhanging roofing, another plus. Other "attic" fans are mounted between the trusses like a pull down stair. They do the same thing, but pull the air out of the house.
It all depends on the layout of your framing, what you want the fan to do, size, etc, as to what size fan and how many you want. I did a house, and ran power to the ends of the roof. I then put in thermostatically controlled units, and it was one of the best things I ever did.
Ymmv depending on where you live.
You're right about the HD crowd. I'd find another, and a good handyman could do the job. It ain't rocket surgery installing one of these. You may have to run power to it, and if you do, PLEASE put it in conduit with boxes and do it RIGHT.
Steve
Steve
Unless its code, why would you need conduit ? If anything that might cause more vibration and noise while the fan is running.
Do not let HD handle this.
snip
If the jerks at the big-box stores knew anything about the trades they wouldn't be there working for minimum wage.
Warm air, maybe. Hot air, no.
Steve
Hey dick head, there are a lot of retired, licensed trades people working at the big box stores!! Their biggest problem is jerks like you who know everything about everything...and want to prove it at every turn.
I agree, I think greenfield would be more appropriate. Up to the thermoswitch, plain ol' Romex shouldn't be a problem, unless there's something I'm missing?
nate
Not around here there's not. That may be true in some areas but around here I've got 3 HD's all populated by worthless jagoffs.
nate
You only prove his point when you post in such a moronic manner.
Well I am curious then, why they would work there instead of working parttime in the trade they worked in and are licensed in. Couldn't they make the same money in much less time?
Skilled trades, among other things, are usually hard physical work. The semi-retired elder gents the big-boxes hire seldom have to do heavy lifting or get sweaty. It's also warmer in winter and cooler in summer than out on the jobsite. Some do it just because the wife chased them out of the house six months after they retired, some do it because their bodies can't take the jobsite any more, some do it because the local work dried up and they can't afford to move, or can't move due to family considerations. And at the big box, you aren't at the mercy of the feast-or-famine nature of construction work. And some, sadly, do it because they are alone and want the human contact, and/or a chance to feel they still have expertise to offer. Haven't seen many silver-hairs at the local Menards, but the Lowes has several. One in particular in the plumbing area has been very helpful to me several times. (A plumber I am not.)
-- aem sends...
That's just the way I would do it. People write in all the time about squirrels eating wire, short circuits, loose wires, all kinds of things. I just like to do things once and do them right.
There's a hundred ways to cook a poodle, and it all tastes like chicken. Translation: lots of ways to do the same job.
Steve
First question you have to ask is do you want an attic vent or a whole house fan. If the former, it just involves cutting a hole in your roof and some wiring unless you go with a solar model. For a whole house fan you need to have adequate roof venting so the air can be expelled from the attic. If you have that, installing the fan is a matter of cutting a hole in your ceiling, mounting the fan and running electric to it. The electric could be the trick part depending on where your breaker box is and the like.
On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:07:03 -0500, Chris Hill wrote: It's well over 100 in the summer up there. We had some cheap old fall coats up there and they actually melted to the coat rack. Not too good. My brother in law said I need to get one mounted in the roof to draw out the air, as it will save on cooling. All these guys at my local HD are real bad. Most can barely speak English. I just want something where if it goes above xx degrees, it will kick on. I have a pretty good size home too.
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