Hello all. I would like to install a whole house fan in order to save on air conditioning costs. I live in Denver, where there aren't that many really hot days during the average year. However, my house gets really hot during the day; especially the upstairs. It's usually reasonably cool at night when I am home but it takes the air conditioner a long time to catch up. After seeing how well my friend's whole-house fan works, it seems a no-brainer to me to put one in. However, I wanted to possibly do something a little different.
Last September my high efficiency furnace died. The fan still worked fine though. I ended up keeping the fan, thinking I could use it for a whole-house fan. I like the idea of using this type of fan since they move a lot of air but are much quieter than standard blade fans.
I've already measured and the fan will fit through my attic access opening. The main difficulty I see is that since this type of fan takes air in on two sides and blows it out the top, I will need to construct a box around it to seal the intake. This doesn't seem too difficult. I was thinking of just using plywood and 2/4's rather than sheet metal.
The second problem is shutters or louvers. I went to Home Depot and found only complete fan kits including the louvers. The whole kit was only $209. I would like to find reasonably priced louvers, and if possible, I would like to get power louvers.
Does anyone know a good place to order a reasonably priced louver that does not require cutting joists?
Lastly, I still need to measure my existing attic vents to see if I have enough. If not, I will need to add more but I don't know what kind I need. That is, could I just increase the side of the side vents of would I need more rooftop vents? I feel comfortable doing the side work but I don't feel comfortable cutting holes in my roof.
Does this whole thing seem like a good idea? Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
Bill