Savvy New Orleans homeowners employ many ways to curb cooling costs. Programmable thermostats help with automatic efficiency and control temperature changes. Outdoor cooking is an enjoyable activity to keep heat outside the home. One cooling strategy that keeps household air fresh and cooling bills low is whole-house ventilation. Read on to see if a whole-house fan could meet your cooling needs and energy-saving efforts.
How Whole-House Fans Work
Whole-house fans cool a home by pulling in fresh outdoor air through open windows. When outside temperatures are cooler than indoor temperatures, or you simply want fresh air, open windows on the ground floor and turn on the fan. The fresh air is pulled through each room of the home where the windows are open. Airflow is pulled into the powerful fan and exhausted from the home through attic and roof vents.
Whole-house fans are usually installed in the home’s envelope in the ceiling and attic. Another option is to install the fan entirely in the attic and connect flexible return ducts. Stuffy household air will be pulled through return grilles and blown directly outside the home rather than flowing through attic and roof vents. Ducted fans are also quieter than ceiling-mounted models.
Efficient and Easy Care
Whole-house fans use about 10 percent the electricity that A/Cs and heat pumps use. Maintenance costs are considerably less for whole-house fans, too. The basic components are the fan, fan motor, a belt and the housing. There’s no compressor, heat exchangers, sophisticated electrical system or refrigerant to deal with.
One point to consider is that the fresh airflow pulled into the home isn’t filtered. If there are household members with respiratory ailments that are exacerbated by outdoor air, you may consider a filtered ventilation system instead, such as an energy-recovery ventilator.
To find out if a whole-house fan is right for your New Orleans home, check out Bryan’s United Air Conditioning HVAC solutions, or call 504-208-2071 for an appointment.
Image via pixabay by geralt
