Leave Attic Fan Open Over Winter

Opening your automatic garage door will let cool air and a draft in.

Leave attic fan open over winter.

A whole house fan is usually installed on the attic floor near the center of your house. As you know cold air settles and hot air rises. An attic fan in winter can help prevent ice dams reduce moisture in your attic during winter months and prevent mold and mildew buildup due to moisture problems in the attic. Instead it will merely cause a build up of moisture and heat that can cause other more troubling conditions in your home come spring.

One last thought attic ventilation is not there to get rid of heat it is there to get rid of excess moisture accumulating from the home. Do not cover your attic vents for the winter. But that is seldom the case resulting in conditioned air being sucked from the living space to make up the difference. In the late evening or early morning the fan is turned on to exhaust hot air from the house.

Make sure the space between the top of insulation and the roof deck s underside is clear at the eaves. Opening your attic access panel will draw that air into the attic and help to push the hot air up there and out through the roof vents assuming you have proper attic ventilation. Keep them open bottom line. Best ventilation is open soffit venting to a open vented ridge vent.

Cooler outdoor air enters through open windows lowering the indoor temperature. It can do both. Ice dams attic fans even with good attic insulation heated air from living spaces can build up in your attic. My home has a whole house fan installed in the upstairs hallway ceiling when its cool at night that thing can suck the heat out of the house in record time.

Small attic vents located below the roof peaks provide sufficient ventilation to let the moisture created by heat rising into the. Open your windows before you turn on the fan. This allows air to move through the rafter space for good ventilation. Shutting the vents in your attic during the winter isn t going to help you hang on to too much heat where you actually want it in the living areas of your home.

Insulation at least r 38 or more is there for heating and cooling. One static vent style is the turbine vent which uses wind to power its enclosed fan all it takes is a light breeze to rotate the blades and suck heat out of the attic view example on the home. Ridge vent must me installed per the manufactures instructions. It even rained and the sill got wet but not the floor.

During cold winter months the attic vent fan is not necessary.