Hello again,
Were getting down to the final details on our new house plans and I’m very concerned about proper cross-ventilation and, what I call, passive cooling. The area we live in does not justify the need for A/C, but there are a good handful of days where there would be a need to expel the warmed air out of the house and draw in the cooler evening air.
What I had in mind was to build a dormer about 12-14 feet wide which would be about centered over the house, just above the stairwell. For windows, I was thinking awning type that could be opened and closed with a pole. The passive cooling would work by having windows open throughout the house and allowing the warmer air to escape out the awnings.
Has anyone been successful in extracting heat out of a house this way? I realize that a whole-house fan would do the job for sure, but I’m not too keen on them and they’re not very popular around here (suburb of Los Angeles).
Thanks!
Replies
Old Deep South, somewhere I've seen it. Circular stairwell with a row of windows around the top and even candles to get the air going.
I think the taller the dormer the better it will work, but maybe a cupola would be a better looking solution and work better too.
Joe H
Judging by your name on this post I can appreciate your problem. I lived for a number of years in Venice. And from from what I have seen of whole house fans I can understand why they are not so popular. Crawl space ventilation is a must to keep the heat build up down on those summer days when it does get warm. I have always thought that a couple of well placed ducts to a squirrel cage fan vented out the roof would provide that cross ventilation giving you the advantages of the whole house fan with out its unsightly and noisy drawbacks.
In the final stage of your plans...
How high are your ceiling, vaulted, flat? How high are your walls?
With 9' foot walls you can add transoms above the doors oriented to to take advantage of the prevailing winds. Vaulted ceilings can be vented with operatable skylights. Andersen, Pella, and Vellux all make them, some even motorized with a remote controllers like your tv remote.
Adding a cellistory(sp) to the plan could work if it fits the design better than a dormer.
Just a few more ideas for you to choose from.
Dave
Jim:
You must be confused. This is America! When the house gets warm, the AC kicks on. When cool, fire up the heat. We even leave our SUV's running in the supermarket parking lot with the AC going so it won't be too warm inside when we come out. Be careful: Before you know it, you'll be thinking about riding a bicycle to work.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
alot of house around here have whole house fans, you can get them at grainger, they will cold a house down quick, great on house cleaning day too. those tower on the old house are called widow walks. to keep house cold, alot of insulation and light color roofs. I like metal myself. I,m in the deep deep south and my power bill last month was $31 on an all electric house
Edited 8/9/2003 5:17:30 PM ET by BROWNBAGG
An artificial chimney at highest point of the living space and / or attic will draw out tons of air. Those ugly wind turbines spin fast because of hot air rushing out, if the turbine is remove, even more air will come out. There use to be old panrtries in Venice (Ca.) that had mesh shelves and floor that opened up to the crawl space drawing cold air for the pantry which also cooled the attic.
My term for this is a "thermo-siphon" Hot air rises drawing in cold air. Old fanless MacIntoshes were cooled by them.