Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ranch
Hip Roof with eave and ridge vents
3 foot overhang
no trees
We keep thermostat at 80 during the day until near bedtime when it goes to 74. We use a window unit to cool the small living area we live in during the day. It keeps it very comfy.
I'm having the tech come back out to look at it again. I'm considering putting a fan in my existing gable roof vent as well. This along with my existing ridge vents and soffit vents.
How has the experience been with Yellow Dot? I'm signing up for the contract at $239/year, which gets me two tune ups per year on both units and 15% off any repair work.
You may want to consult a roofer. Depending on your roof style, open gables and ridge vents may not work. I recently had a new roof installed and all the roofers stated that my roof style was not effectively removing heat ESPECIALLY since I had a gable fan on one end. The ridge vent works by pulling cooler air up along the rafters and expelling the hot air out of the ridge. Open gables in conjunction with a ridge vent allows the air to come in along the gables and it does not allow the cooler air to work its way up the roof line. You may then produce hot spots..again, depends on your roof structure.
I had a ridge vent installed and sealed up my gables. I also changed out my soffit vents since they were mostly clogged. I also took the opportunity to open up the area below the soffit vent since the builder's cut outs were smaller than they should have been.
I have not collected too much data yet, but last month was my first month without gable vents and a fan. year to date over last year my energy cost/consumption was 20% lower. Only one data point, but still encouraging.
Don't assume the unit was sized correctly when it was installed. We bought our house two years ago and the upstairs unit always struggled to keep the upstairs comfortable. We paid the electric company a fortune and was still uncomfortable upstairs. We had two different AC companies come out and take measurements and both concluded the upstairs unit was one ton too small. The unit was 11 years old so we went ahead and put in a new larger unit and it has been wonderful. We can keep the upstairs as cool as we want and it costs us less than before when the smaller unit ran continually.
Noticed the same thing. My 2nd floor AC set at 73 only maintains 75. My previous house had a thermostatically controlled attic fan, which I know made a big diff in the attic temps, which reflected in the 2nd floor temps being maintained by the cooling system.
I had a Solatube fan installed on my roof at my former residence and did not notice any real difference with inside temps. This home did not have central air, only a window unit which I ran maybe three hours / yr. But being in Cali, and only 6 miles from the ocean, except for the hottest days of August, the ocean breezes were enough to keep the home comfortable. It was those in-between days that I was hoping the attic fan might make a difference between being just a tad too warm and being almost right that I did not need to open up the patio doors for the breezes (and the dust). The home had a whole house attic fan that did the job after the sun went down.
Slightly off topic but I don't want to knock on Solatube too hard because I had tow of their Solatubes installed in darker areas of the home and they made a HUGE difference. Especially cool in the middle of the night with a full moon out; I really did not need to turn on any lights to navigate around the home if I was up for some reason.
I've put in a thermostatically controlled powered vent in my last house and it made a huge difference in the temp in the attic, and therefore to a lesser extent, the heat transfer into the house needing the A/C to run.
(The other good reason to insure sufficient attic ventilation is the same as crawlspace ventilation - moisture control).
Quote:
Originally Posted by don6170
I don't know if more recent studies have been done, but ones such as this one in Florida questioned whether forced ventilation systems result in a net energy saving.
I had hoped that installing an attic fan might be the solution to more effectively controlling cooling costs but after reading around, I think I am in agreement with those who don't advocate attic fans. My main concern is pulling humid air into the attic, and pulling conditioned air up into the attic.
Even if I were to just run it on a timer in the middle of the night, although the temps may fall into the high 60s, it is still quite humid.
I had hoped that installing an attic fan might be the solution to more effectively controlling cooling costs but after reading around, I think I am in agreement with those who don't advocate attic fans. My main concern is pulling humid air into the attic, and pulling conditioned air up into the attic.
Even if I were to just run it on a timer in the middle of the night, although the temps may fall into the high 60s, it is still quite humid.
Typically *more* humid at night. All the data I've seen indicates that physics gives us a bit of a freebie here. Let the warm attic air rise through a ridge vent and draw cooler air in at the soffits. Have adequate soffit/ridge areas and you're good to go for most roof designs.
Radiant barriers are helpful too but the costs can drive a fairly long payback depending on the application.
FYi to the posters who wants solar attic fan. i saw an ad in the N&O last week for a local co who advertised the product is eligible for a significant (60%?)tax credit. I think the net cost was around $215...you pay now get the tax benny later of course. i had thought about installing a couple...now I'm not so sure....
FYi to the posters who wants solar attic fan. i saw an ad in the N&O last week for a local co who advertised the product is eligible for a significant (60%?)tax credit. I think the net cost was around $215...you pay now get the tax benny later of course. i had thought about installing a couple...now I'm not so sure....
If you have an older house with poor ventilation, it may help. It all depends on your current ventilation...check with a qualified roofer. I can't recall the name of the company, but there is a local 3rd party ventilation company that does ventilation analysis. Google may get you there.
Your air-conditioner is doing two jobs. 1) sensible cooling (lowering the dry-bulb temperature in your home), and 2) latent cooling (removing moisture from indoor air).
The first item is influenced mainly by the thermal envelop (insulation) of your home, and the interior sensible heat loads (lights, TV, refrigerator, electric stove, etc.).
The second item is influences mainly by infiltration (some needed for indoor air quality), cooking (boiling water adds moisture to the air), breathing (you exhale superheated water vapor), etc.
I set my thermostat at home at 80-F ... but .... the dew point temperature in my home is about 50-F ... which is relatively dry air ... and I'm very comfortable at that setting. Saves a lot of energy too. If the dew point temperature (the temperature at which water condenses in air) is higher than 55-F, you probably have an undercharged A/C system and/or excessive latent heat loads (moisture vapor being added to indoor air).
You can check for an insufficiently charged A/C by placing your hand on the small refrigerant line feeding the evaporator coil located on in the vicinity of the air-moving device (furnace, air-handler, etc.). If you can feel bubbles inside the small line, it's undercharged ... and needs refrigerant. Also, the larger line (suction line) should feel very cold leaving the evaporator coil. All of this assumes you have a clean air filter, clean indoor and outdoor coils, and the air-moving devices (condenser and air-hander) are adequately matched to pump heat.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The home had a whole house attic fan that did the job after the sun went down.
