is there an easy way to setup a timer control for an attic mounted fan?
the only way I can think of is to install an Instamatic type (home depot sells them) metal cased timer and wire the electric to the Instamatic which similarly like a pool pump timer would then turn the fan on/off
the problem with this is that every time there is a power outage I would have to go on roof to remove the attic fan covers to reset the time which is a major job
could a timer be wired to the breaker panel or another way?
How about putting the timer in a more accessible place? Does the fan have its own dedicated line to the breaker box. If so...ba da bing. Problem solved. The Intermatic timers are grey, like breaker boxes. They'll be so happy together!
I believe that some of the newer timers have battery back up. (Digital programmable and fits in a standard single switch box.) I am not sure however that these timers will fair well in the extreme temperatures in the attic. I would just put a box near the attic access high on the wall or even mounted up into the ceiling and rewire he fan to that. A timer could be put near the breaker box if your fan has a dedicated feed. The timer could also be put near the last box before the fan if by luck that is in a convenient location. In the garage wall outlet or door opener box maybe.
In my case there are times in spring and fall where it is warm enough for the attic fan to come on for a period of time during the day, but cold enough to require the furnace to come on at night. In these times I don't want the attic fan to come on at all and resetting the thermostat is a big pain. So I installed a switch in the attic near the access door where I can easily just turn the whole thing off. I am thinking of even moving the switch to the ceiling where I can turn the fan on/off without opening the access door. I do not see a need to install a timer as the OP wanted. Kevin
Absolutely. The instructions that came with my roof fan suggested this. I ran some 14-3 Romex from the thermostat, I think it was, down one of the trusses, though the top of the hall wall. It's easy to see walls below when you're in an attic. The top plates are visible. They are the wood parts that go where your walls go, as opposed to the sheetrock you see up there, which are the ceilings downstairs.
I ran it to the a nice place in the hall, near my bedroom door, and used a single gang old-work box mounted sideways, to hold a double toggle switch. One turns it off when the thermostat would turn it on, and the other turns it on when it would be off. The instructions suggested the second one to turn it on when there is a lot of humidity in the attic. I don't take steamy showers to I never have this (afaik), but I put it there anyhow for the next guy. It was only anotehr 2 dollars and 10 minutes time.
The normal setting for the two switches is one off and one on, but I could never keep track which should be on, so I put them in the normal position and used an indelible marker to make a black line on each, so the two lines are in line, when the switches are in the normal state.
And I turn the fan off the same times you do, late fall and early spring, so I can use the sun to heat the attic and the attic to heat the house. It's about another 2 weeks to a month at both ends that I don't have to run the furnace. (although if I add more insulation to the attic floor, I may lose this heat. Not sure these days.)
I was thinking the same thing as Joe. Does the attic fan the OP refers to mean a whole house fan, in the floor of the attic, or a roof fan as I call them to avoid ambiguity?
Install an electrical box in a convenient spot, preferably not an outside wall where there is insulation. Inside a closet will work. It should be easy to wire into the attic.
"Zoe" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:
They are controlled bey thermostat as have said.
One solution, also said, was to put a switch on it. Even drop the switch in the closet by the access if that's where the access is.
The thermostat has an adjustment on it. The MasterFlow
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goes from 60 to 120. The recommended year round setting is 105. An option is to go up and adjust the easily accessable screw setting twice a year. 10 second job once you're up there. One week job to restore ceiling after stepping off truss chord:-)
the fans are literally cut out of the roof and have a sensor for both humidity and temperature. they are embedded into a barrel tile roof.
the reason I wanted a timer was to allow them only to run on the hottest part of the day (perhaps 3-4 hr max) as they literally make my heat pump system work harder due to increasing humidity inside the house.
another option I like is the on/off switch which I can easily attach next to the breaker but of course that requires me to manually remember to do this every day. someone else suggested ripping them out and replacing them with a lower CFM rated motors which have only a temperature control (no humidity sensor) and this would make them run strictly based on some high temp number (ie. 110F) and at a lower speed.
The solution is a dymo label on each direction the switch moves. My roof fan was in when I bought it so I just added a third line (2nd hot) that by passed the thermostat and put a double switch box in the ceiling of the garage(course I use a stick to move the switches). One switch is labeled "Power" and "off" on one side and "on" on the other, the second reads "fan" and "on" on one side and "auto" on the other. That gives you full control.
Even in Winter, ventilating an uninsulated roof is good. Moisture can condense into frost on the wood at night, and melts when the roof warms. This might lead to some mold in a poorly ventilated attic.
So a photo switch might help in Winter and Summer. You lose some "good" air in the Winter, but with proper floor insulation and vapor barrier, not a problem.
And for long Summer days, it would run longer than for short Winter days. The switch needs a good relay, since a starting fan needs more current than a light.
I would vote X-10 also. I just did an install at my church using this e-bay store and they were original "X-10" equipment and fast shipping. (I am in no way related to these guys) I did several days of price checking and for what I was looking for they had the most reasonable.
The X-10 advantage is you can get a controller for many other items in your house too. I did our set up with an RF remote so I can control the lights from anywhere as I tend to wander some....
How does the roof fan increase the humidity in your house. Does the air in your attic even come in contact with the air in your house?
I didn't see this last suggestion, but it sounds terrible. If you want to get rid of the humidity sensor**, just disconnect one wire. The humidity sensor is iiuc set pretty high so that the fan runs only when there is very high humidity in the attic, such as from hot steamy baths or doing the laundry and for some bad reason venting the dryer to the attic. Humidity in Baltimore is sometimes 60% and I don't think sensors are set to turn on just because of that. After all, the humidity is everywhere when it's caused by the weather, and it's just as bad outside the house as it is in the attic. Too high humidity does some sort of damage to the attic.
Sensible people wire the timer and/or switch in place such that it is inside the house. The fan being in the attic does not mean the controls for it need to be, or should be, in the attic. It's just electricity, and wires move that to the place that is convenient.
The setup on ours is a low/off/high switch for the fan, plus a countdown timer (up to 12 hours), so the thing is run only when the occupants feel a need for it. If not going that route, it would probably be a good idea to include some sort of thermostat to run your fan only when the attic is hotter than the outside air, rather than wasting power ventilating it when it's cooled off. In that case, a timer would not be needed.
This whole thread makes little sense to me. Zoe claims to have an attic fan that she wants to run on a timer. That's because otherwise it creates too much humiditiy in the house with the heat pump system running?
How is that possible? An attic fan would be moving air within the attic and should have virtually no effect on humidity inside the house. And if it is a whole house fan, as Joeseph suggested, then it wouldn't be running when the heat punmp/AC is running.
If it is a std attic ventilation fan we are talking about, a timer makes no sense. They come with a thermostat that can be adjusted to come on at an adjustable temp. That is exactly the control you want, as it is what you are seeking to control. With a timer, it would be coming on during days when it's cool, cloudy or raining and not needed. Thermostat controlled operation covers 95% of applications.
If for some reason you have an issue with humidity, there are humidistat controls available that will turn on the fan when the humidity rises above a set point. However, if the house is properly built with a vapor barrier, etc, few homes or environments should need this. After all, homes have survived fine for 100's of years with no powered ventilation at all.
You would not think so, but, I found that a short overlap (5 - 10 minutes) with a wholehouse fan and standard HVAC central system did cause my house to cool faster than either the HVAC or the wholehouse fan alone. I suspect quicker cool down occurred because the wholehouse fan since it is in the ceiling pulls the hotter air (rises to the top) from the house before it has time to mix with the cool air introduced by the HVAC system. The air from the HVAC source tends to sink below the wholehouse fans physical intake flow because it is cooler than the air nearer the fan in the ceiling. There is some initial mixing and it is increases the longer both run because of the properties of all gases.
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