Posts Tagged ‘summer cooling’


All about attic fans

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

In our last post, we talked about the benefits that attic insulation offers in the summer.  Although insulation helps keep hot air from entering the house through the attic, there’s no getting around that it can trap in heat that enters through other areas of the home.  One solution that will still let you get the benefits of attic insulation while mitigating the drawbacks is an attic fan.

Sometimes called “whole-house fans,” attic fans are large fans installed in the ceiling that separates the top floor of your home from your attic.  They’re like giant versions of the exhaust fans in your bathroom and draw all the hot air out of your home into your attic where it can ventilate to the outside.  At the same time, the attic fan brings air in through open windows, and if you’ve ever been next to a window when an attic fan is running, you know it can create quite a nice breeze blowing through a home.

Some homeowners are able to avoid running their air conditionings in the summer thanks to attic fans.  They leave their homes closed up while at work during the heat of the day so the inside temperature doesn’t rise as much as it does outside.  Then when they get home, they’ll open the windows and turn on the attic fan.  The house cools down in no time and remains comfortable all night.

Attic fans don’t cost nearly as much to run as your AC so you cut down on your energy cost and make your home more energy efficient.  If you’d like to learn more about how an attic fan can benefit you and about how their installation, check out this article from the Weather Channel or contact us and we’ll get you set up.

Can insulation help in the summer?

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

It may seem crazy to talk about attic insulation in the middle of a hot summer, but we have good reason.  We all know that insulating your attic can increase your comfort while reducing your heating costs, but, as this article points out, it can also be beneficial in the summer.

Insulation works by slowing the passage of warm air through it.  We mostly focus on its usefulness in keeping warm air inside during the winter.  However, the same principle applies in the summer when insulation can keep warm air out of the house.

As a result, the insulation can help keep your home’s internal temperature down in the summer, which means your cooling system doesn’t have to work as hard.  So insulation can then keep your cooling costs down the same as it does for your heating costs in the winter.

Because of the low demand for insulation in the summer, now’s a great time to get it installed. Contact us and we can get feeling cooler and paying less before you know it.