[paulskec]

I recently installed airscape whole house fans in my home. I need about 4 more square feet of net free vent area in my attic to accommodate the air being forced into the attic by the fans. I have some soffit vents around the front and back of the house, and 8 mushroom vents near the peak of the roof. To add more net free vent area, should I install more of the same, or add a ridge vent, or something else? Again, it's to accommodate the air being forced into the attic by whole house fans. When the fans are not in use, the existing vents work fine.

 

[superspeck]

If you're venting hot air into your attic, you want to vent it out the peak, gable, or mushroom/turbine vents. Just make sure that you don't put mushroom vents on both sides of your roof peak or you'll be short circuiting the natural daytime soffit/ridge convection.

 

[paulskec]

Thanks for your ideas. I don't have a ridge vent. I'm trying to decide if I should put on a ridge vent or just more mushrooms. I already have 8.

 

[josephthomas199]

hey Paul i don't have an answer to your question but i have a question abt ur house fan. I was interested in installing a whole house fan as well and i was wondering how satisfied you are with its performance and also how is the noise level of this unit. And what type of contractor installed the unit for you, like electrician, HVAC contractor etc?

 

[paulskec]

We installed small whole house fans in each of the bedrooms because we all keep our bedroom doors closed at night, and we were wanting most of the cooling during the night. We installed airscape fans 1.0 and a 1.7 in the biggest bedroom. We LOVE the fans. The sound is very tolerable, especially on low, which is all we need for the bedrooms. Their larger units are actually quieter by design. One thing I like about their website is that they have a place where you can actually listen to the sound of their units and compare them to household sounds like a microwave. Also, in trying to decide whether to buy 4 small units or one large one, we called and spoke to an engineer there who answered all of our questions, was extremely helpful, and didn't try at all to sell us anything. He was genuinely honest and helpful. I've emailed them often with many questions beforehand and afterward. They always respond very quickly and have always been very helpful. My brother and I installed the units. He is an electrician. The hardest part was the heat in the attic! Their website has an installation video on it, which we watched first. Very helpful. Right now, we just need to install some extra venting to be able to use all the fans on high if we want to.

 

[Roofster]

Install the same type which you currently have. Mixing different types can cause problems if one vent is a lot stronger than another type.

 

[paulskec]

The problem is, I already have about 8 mushroom vents as it is. We'd have to install at least another 3 square net area feet of venting. That would be at least more mushroom vents. That's a LOT of mushrooms sticking out of a roof!