Greening Your Home - Solar Attic Fans and Daylighting
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smsbiz
04-06-08, 01:32 PM
:confused: We live in one story stucco home with tiled roof in AZ. Home is seven years old. Insulation is R-30 fiberglass in attic with 2 gabled vents (East & West side of home) and one gabled vent on back side of home ( South ). We are thinking of installing 2 Solar Attic Fans (Solar Star) on the E & W gables.
Has anyone in similar construction installed same and did it make a difference in your cooling costs during the summer? Oh, the sf is 2300 and A/C units are split.
The other question we have is about Solatube (tm) daylighting.We also were thinking of installing several solar tubes to bring more natural light into the central areas of our home, which at the present, is pretty dark during the day to eliminate the use of electrical lights in those areas. Has anyone had these units installed and if so, how effective were they and did they cause any leaks in your roofing system?
Thanks for any and all input. Seems you can't go by mfg or sales persons claims these days.
Has anyone in similar construction installed same and did it make a difference in your cooling costs during the summer? Oh, the sf is 2300 and A/C units are split.
The other question we have is about Solatube (tm) daylighting.We also were thinking of installing several solar tubes to bring more natural light into the central areas of our home, which at the present, is pretty dark during the day to eliminate the use of electrical lights in those areas. Has anyone had these units installed and if so, how effective were they and did they cause any leaks in your roofing system?
Thanks for any and all input. Seems you can't go by mfg or sales persons claims these days.
rpatzer
04-08-08, 12:41 PM
I did some experimenting with an attic exhaust fan and found that in a 1300 sqft attic, with the normal exhaust fan, the heat production was more than the fan could take care of. So I installed a Patton18" dia fan (450, 750, 1000 cfms) and found that even on low speed, I could exhause more hot air by blowing INTO the attic, forcing it out through extra openings I made rather than exhausting that air out. In exhaust mode, it pulled the air from the nearest and closest intake leaving the fartherest area still hot. It seems by blowing INTO the attic, not only are you stirring up all the air, but you are forcing it out from the outlets fartherest from the fan. Of course higher speeds means lower temps in the attic. My point what ever fan you get, make sure it is strong enough to stay ahead of the heat. The normal exhaust fan is about 1500 cfms.
clockmaker
04-08-08, 06:08 PM
There may be a possiblity that blowing into your attic you are pressurizing that area to a certain extent. If you have recessed lighting you would be pushing hot attic air into your living space....my .02 worth