![]() Since most homes are leaky, it shouldn’t be too surprising that some warm air is escaping the attic insulation. ![]() If your attic is well insulated, the actual temperature of the air inside your attic should be very close to the ambient (outside) temperature. The best way to determine if the attic has significant leaks from the inside of the home is to measure the air temperature at night, after the sun has gone down. It’s easy to think this when it’s ripping cold outside and the attic feels “warm.” However, it’s not likely your vents are to blame. Roof vents suck out warm air from my house in winter. This wind turbine (also called a whirly bird) moves when you have good intake at the soffits. If you have ever had an electric attic fan motor burn out it’s probably because of the high static pressure put on the fan by lack of (or dirty and clogged) soffit (intake) vents. The net result is that your home feels warmer faster, so your air conditioner has work harder than ever just to try to keep things comfortable (ie. This is because without an intake source, the air in your attic is depressurized and although it can be hard to predict where the “makeup” air will come from, it’s likely going to come from inside your home. This happens all the time with power ventilation & sometimes it will actually make the comfort/efficiency worse. If you don’t, the low pressure in the attic will suck air from the house. If you choose to go with the fans, just be sure you also add plenty of intake to FEED those fans air (via soffits). With a little breeze two wind turbines can easily pull out as much air as an electric fan can. You may not notice the breeze lower down on the ground between houses or fences but that doesn’t mean air isn’t moving. What most people don’t realize is that it’s usually pretty breezy at the top of the roof. We generally don’t promote the use of any sort of powered fans because they’re typically very costly, and the solar ones only work on sunny days. The best way to get air moving in an attic is by using powered vents.Ī simple passive system (uses no energy) will work just as well (for free) as a powered (active) system and in almost all instances has the benefit of being silent. While having plenty of intake (soffit) venting is good, having too much exhaust can actually hinder your goal of cooling the attic air temperature.ģ. This defeats the whole purpose of having low/high vents. This short-circuits the whole concept of air coming in the bottom and out the top.įor example: If you put an electric fan right next to a ridge vent or other passive vent, air can easily come in the ridge vent instead of the soffits. When you mix exhaust vents on a roofline, the strongest vent will dominate the air pull and those other exhaust vents will turn in to INTAKE vents. Air always travels the path of least resistance. WRONG! Choose one type of exhaust vent and go with it because mixing exhaust vents is a bad thing. The thought process goes something like this: “If I add an electric/solar attic fan to my roof, I can help pull out more hot air from the attic and it will be cooler.” However, if your soffit vents are dirty or clogged then you will have little to no airflow through the attic. ![]() These vents allow cool, dry air to enter the attic at its lowest point and as air travels up and out the higher points (ridge, turbine, gables) so that the airflow removes warm, moist air from inside the attic. Soffit venting is your main source of intake for an attic. Honestly, any type of “holes” in the top of the attic will work.Ī good goal with attic ventilation is to have a balanced amount of air coming in to the attic as you have of air leaving the attic it is also ok if you have a little more air coming in than you do going out (ie. However, this doesn’t mean that if you don’t use a ridge vent your ventilation is kaput. If only it were that simple! We believe that the most effective ventilation uses a ridge vent and soffit venting for the attic. If I have roof vents, I have good attic ventilation. active ventilation, and what you really need to do to have a well-vented attic space that stays cool and dry.ġ. Read on to find out what you need to know about attics, soffit vents, passive vs. Here are six of the most common misconceptions about attic ventilation. Radiant Heat Flooring – Over Conditioned Spaces.Radiant Heat Flooring – Over Non-Conditioned Spaces.Cathedral Ceilings – Hot/Mixed Climates.
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