Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Jul 22, 2000 11:45am | #1

   *
   Good thing to try in a couple weeks at Pete's house. I'll bring some brats, you bring the marshmallows, we'll just have a little experiment.

1. 
   Guest_ | Jul 22, 2000 06:10pm | #2

   *The reason they used that convection air pump (powered by gas) was only because they didn't have electricity to run an attic fan.It could help a lot to exhaust the hottest (highest) air in the house. As long as your attic is hotter that the dew point of the indoor air, you shouldn't have a problem. You do not want condensation of that air in the attic. During the day, when the attic is warmer than the house, that won't be a problem. Potentially at night when the attic has cooled off (no insulation?) but the house is still warm and humid, you'd be safer with cross-flow ventilation through the windows. But most of the time, venting through the attic would be fine. Get a hygrometer (humidity gauge), hang it in the attic and check it in different conditions. If it approaches 100%, watch out for condensation.

1. 
   Guest_ | Jul 25, 2000 01:57am | #3

   *Sounds like you want a whole-house fan. There are fans available that can be exhausted through the ceiling and into the attic, or out a side wall. If you blow into the attic, make sure there is sufficient venting there to exhaust the air. Another option is a window fan exhausting air out a second story window. Good fans are hard to find, but a cheap box fan will work too. If you have the fan exhausting air out of the house you will find this cools your house much more efficiently than blowing the air in.I don't think you need to worry about condensation until you are exhausting warmer air into a cooler space. If you need it for cooling in the summer, the air in the attic will be warmer, and with that much air circulating, I don't think it's something you need to consider. Do take care however if you install a permanent fan to seal it up tight in the fall, or you will have a huge condensation problem in the winter. In short, I think your plan is fine, provided your fans move enough air to "cool" the house.Not quite genius, but I wish I worked with more people capable of this kind of reasoning

1. 
   Guest_ | Jul 25, 2000 02:03am | #5

   *Sounds like you want a whole-house fan. There are fans available that can be exhausted through the ceiling and into the attic, or out a side wall. If you blow into the attic, make sure there is sufficient venting there to exhaust the air. Another option is a window fan exhausting air out a second story window. Good fans are hard to find, but a cheap box fan will work too. If you have the fan exhausting air out of the house you will find this cools your house much more efficiently than blowing the air in.I don't think you need to worry about condensation until you are exhausting warmer air into a cooler space. If you need it for cooling in the summer, the air in the attic will be warmer, and with that much air circulating, I don't think it's something you need to consider. Do take care however if you install a permanent fan to seal it up tight in the fall, or you will have a huge condensation problem in the winter.

2. 
   R._D. | Jul 25, 2000 02:03am | #4

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   in the interest of economy, my roomate and i do not run the a/c in my
   two story home which is about ten miles from the beach. as
   expected, some nights we sleep downstairs.
   i tourned a historical home years ago in the south that used a central
   well and gas flames to create an updraft that exhausted hot air and
   provided circulation.
   what would be the ramifications of replacing my atic acess with a grill
   and setting the atic exhaust fans to a lower thermostat setting so they
   draw air out of the upstairs during the heat of the day?