Quote:
Originally Posted by RH77
To expand the topic a bit, my biggest problem is the summer heat...
Aside from the built-in air vent / soffit setup, would it be beneficial to install an exhaust fan and inlet? I recall seeing one years ago that was hooked to a thermostat.
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Yes, these can be bennifical at cooling the attic, but generally, where the heat is coming in (summer)is where the heat is leaving (Winter), so a good sealing job (See above posts) is always in order. Also pay attention to the attic hatch. Think of it like a door. It my house, it was just a piece of plywood. I reinforced it with 2*4, heavily insulated it (I love foam board.) and put EPDM foam strip on both surfaces, the hatch and the ledge it sits on when in place. It seals nice.
If you have ducts running through the attic area, they need to be well insulated and sealed at the beginning and end. PILE cellulose insulation on top of the ducts. Make walls out of cardboard to hold the loose fill in place. If the ducts are metal, then I know that there are leaks along the path. Where they join are obvious problems. You can find the leaks by turning on the furnace blower, and with a stick of incense and a flashlight shining on the smoke. If the smoke moves at all while you slowly move the incense stick along the surface of the duct, then you found a leak. Seal up the duct leaks with aluminum tape, NOT duct tape. AL tape rocks!
Aside,
I would seal up all the duct work in a house you have access to. You can use Mastic, (furnace caulk) or AL tape. Use the incense method to find the leaks. you will be surprised at how many leaks you find. doing this ensures that the heated/cooled air goes to its intended location. In general, 30-50% of air in a HVAC system is lost due to leaks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RH77
Also, do any new homes have attic fans anymore?
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Some do, but they are not std.
Unless directed otherwise, new house ae built to code, which is the bare minimum, and no where near good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RH77
Last item: when it's hot on the second floor, I usually run the bathroom fans to pull the hot air out and let the cooler air from the A/C sink (the top floor ducts run through the attic and exit through the ceiling). The fans have a decent CFM rating (forget the number at the moment). The exhaust essentially looks like a dryer hose sticking out of the attic space. Is there a benefit vs. cost to this practice?
The house design is a traditional rectangle-on-rectangle 2 story (no level splits).
RH77
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What I did when I lived in a bi-level, is to use a house or window fan at night on exhaust on the upper level with the lower windows open. If you use a window fan, make sure that the openings around the fan are covered up so the air doesn't just circulate. Cool of the house as much as posable while the outside is colder than the inside, then close up the windows in the morning. When A/C was needed, cover up the send and receive ducts on the lower floor. leave 1 return open in the basement, but no supply's open in the basement. That way, the returns are open upstairs, the air that needs the most cooling. The supply upstairs get all the flow, and the cold air flows down the stairs via gravity.
When I say cover up the supply and return ducts, the built in louvers are a joke. Use a ex-shopping bag, stuffed full with other ex-shopping bags, and shove this in the supply duct under the grate. If this is not an option, use the flexible magnet material, available at your local hardware store to cover up the ducts.
Larryrose11