Whole house fans - Useful in the South or waste of time?

customcj7 · Sep 28, 2017

Figured I'd keep this one local. I'm going to start building a new home next year and one of the things I've debated is a whole house fan.

The house will be a two story, with a basement, and a high ceiling in the den.

My thoughts are that a house fan could pull cold air from the basement and into the house, but again, I'm not sure if that's just a waste and it would be the same as if I ran my AC.

I've never had one so I have no idea how much they help or do during Spring and Fall.

Who has one in the heat of the South? Useful? Waste? Does some work, but not worth it?

TBItoy · Sep 28, 2017

One of my wife's coworkers has one, they love it and claim that they don't use AC unless it's over mid 80s consistently.

I would incorporate one into new construction, it can't add too much cost.

Walkout basement I assume ?

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j-mox · Sep 28, 2017

I had one in my last house and would open windows in the morning and turn on fan to pull warm air out and cool in. Shut it off about 8-9am and close windows. Stayed cool most of the day and a/c might kick on late in the afternoon at most. Now that is Fall or Spring when you have cool mornings. Summer it stayed off. I don't think you will pull cool air from basement unless something is open downstairs to allow air flow.

CHASMAN9 · Sep 28, 2017

Ask the HVAC company to put in a multi speed air handler. It will run on low when not really needed and change speeds when you want to heat it up or cool it down, but it will keep the air circulating the rest of the time.

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truckbroke · Sep 28, 2017

Friend of mine has one and he loves his. Pulls a nice cool draft through the entire house and he says he doesn`t have to run the a/c as much. Not sure how it would work with it being a two story :dunno:

customcj7 · Sep 28, 2017

CHASMAN9 said:
Ask the HVAC company to put in a multi speed air handler. It will run on low when not really needed and change speeds when you want to heat it up or cool it down, but it will keep the air circulating the rest of the time.

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Is that just a multi-speed air fan in the HVAC system to recirculate the air? If so, that doesn't seem like it would very good at cooling.

Those that mentioned it, my plan would be to crack the garage door downstairs to pull in fresh air while the basement cools it off before going up. It's not a walk out basement so it will be below ground on 3 sides.

1tonyj · Sep 28, 2017

I wish I had one in my house. Growing up my grandparents had one in theirs and I used to love sleeping with that thing on. You'd have to chock all the doors open in the house cause that big bastard would suck um shut lol.

truckbroke · Sep 28, 2017

1tonyj said:
I wish I had one in my house. Growing up my grandparents had one in theirs and I used to love sleeping with that thing on. You'd have to chock all the doors open in the house cause that big bastard would suck um shut lol.

This!! My granddad still has one and it`ll make you think there`s ghost running through the house slamming doors. lol.. I`m really not sure why folks got away from them cause they always seemed to really work.

j-mox · Sep 28, 2017

1tonyj said:
I wish I had one in my house. Growing up my grandparents had one in theirs and I used to love sleeping with that thing on. You'd have to chock all the doors open in the house cause that big bastard would suck um shut lol.

Yeah mine would pull the dropped ceiling tiles up if there wasn't sufficient openings for draft. It only had one speed setting though. A multi speed with low settings would have been better

Big David · Sep 28, 2017

My aunt has one, the house was built in the early 60s. It will suck a baseball cap off your head.

CHASMAN9 · Sep 28, 2017

customcj7 said:
Is that just a multi-speed air fan in the HVAC system to recirculate the air? If so, that doesn't seem like it would very good at cooling.

Those that mentioned it, my plan would be to crack the garage door downstairs to pull in fresh air while the basement cools it off before going up. It's not a walk out basement so it will be below ground on 3 sides.

Yes, that is a variable speed fan and it keeps air constantly recirculating throughout the house and keeps the air temp more consistent so it does not have hot and cold spots throughout the conditioned areas. So during the day when you are not at home, it goes on low speed just to keep the air moving and then when you want to change the temp, it kicks into high speed and heats or cools it. You do not feel the air moving when it is in low speed, but it is working.

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Neal3000 · Sep 28, 2017

An attic fan is all we ever had growing up, i don't remember ever being hot in the house.....but maybe i just didn't know any better

customcj7 · Sep 29, 2017

CHASMAN9 said:
Yes, that is a variable speed fan and it keeps air constantly recirculating throughout the house and keeps the air temp more consistent so it does not have hot and cold spots throughout the conditioned areas. So during the day when you are not at home, it goes on low speed just to keep the air moving and then when you want to change the temp, it kicks into high speed and heats or cools it. You do not feel the air moving when it is in low speed, but it is working.
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Gotcha.

How does this differ or take the place of a whole house fan? I thought a whole house fan was to pull air from down low (cool) and pull it through the house. And with the pickup high in the ceiling it would expel the hot air out into the attic.

blacksheep10 · Sep 29, 2017

I have a badass one but never use it. My sheetrock was put in with nails, used it for one spring/part of a summer. Humidity is bad enough around here that it was pulling super ass wet air through. every room has nail head popped out of the drywall like crazy. The AC dehumidifies. Pretty much been on that plan since.

CHASMAN9 · Sep 29, 2017

customcj7 said:
Gotcha.

How does this differ or take the place of a whole house fan? I thought a whole house fan was to pull air from down low (cool) and pull it through the house. And with the pickup high in the ceiling it would expel the hot air out into the attic.

A whole house fan is in addition to HVAC system and is usually located separate of the air handler. It is a turn on and suck the cat off the floor fan that drafts hot air up into the attic and out the roof, whereas a multi speed fan just slowly keeps the air moving throughout the house constantly thus reducing hot/ cold spots. Kind of like a ceiling fan running all the time.

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