We recently purchased a whole house fan, which worked great for the summer. However, on these cold winter night it appears it may be causing the heater to work harder to keep the house warm. Any suggestions??? Thank you
It's a real good idea to cover it during the winter. Can you feel a draft coming down from it? Some of them come with covers for that purpose. Go up in the attic and cover it over with old blankets, cardboard, whatever - nothing fancy needed, but you want to (a) prevent air from flowing down from the cold attic into the living space, and (b) insulate it to prevent warmth from the living space from radiating into the attic. On mine I put some cardboard to prevent airflow and then cover with old blankets and sleeping bags (which are stored in the attic anyway) for insulation. Note it is very important to remember to take all that stuff OFF before you turn the fan ON in spring. -- H
It's a real good idea to cover it during the winter. Can you feel a draft coming down from it?
*******************************************************There might be no cold draft, but instead, a lot of warm air flowing up through the fan.
Disconnect the power to the fan and put an old blanket over it.
I have a permanent solution. I built a sliding panel with 1" of foam insulation in it. It is mounted so that it will slide back and forth to cover the fan. There is a handle in the middle that I use to slide it. To move it I just take a stick such as a broom handle and push it back and forth. That makes it easy to use for a few hours at a time, instead of having to rush up to the attic to move stuff around up there.
Bill
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