The Key To Keeping Your Home Comfortable All Year Long? An Attic Fan

Inexpensive attic fans help homeowners throughout northwestern Ohio save a significant amount on utility bills all year round. Attic fans do this by keeping attic temperature controlled in summer as well as winter. In the summertime, when heat naturally rises and would accumulate the attic space, your fan keeps the air moving to cool it. This protects roof shingles from curling and prevents the buildup of excess moisture.

Without a fan providing needed air movement and ventilation, your air conditioner expends more energy to keep up with the additional heat trapped up there. This may compromise your home comfort and cost you more in utilities. It will also shorten the life of your A/C system.

Venting is very important for the proper functioning of the attic fan. Vents enable the fan to draw in cooler outdoor air through the soffits and gable openings and flush hot air out. In winter, vents allow natural air flow that helps to keep the attic cold, which makes ice damming much less likely. Ice dams may damage the roof when snow, melting off the roof due to a too-warm attic refreezes in the gutter. Proper airflow will also help prevent frost in the attic which can lead to roof rot. Make sure vents aren’t blocked with insulation, unless they have rafter vents underneath.

Choosing Your Fan

There are two basic types of attic fans:

• Roof fans must be placed on a base of flashing (sheet metal or plastic). Make a hole near the roof peak, installing the fan over it.
• A gable fan may be simpler to install because no shingles need to be removed. The fan may fit in place of or behind an existing gable vent. Choose a fan rated for the size of your attic space with a pre-wired control box and add an automatic shutter to protect against the weather until the fan blows it open.

If you have questions about attic ventilation, contact the experts at Quality Mechanical Services.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about attic fans and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Quality Mechanical services Lima, Kenton, Bellefontaine and Upper Sandusky in Ohio. Visit our website to see our special offersand get started today!      

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