*Love this unit! Using upstairs in my sons bedroom **Fastly.Cool** and he’s finally able to be comfortable upstairs without me freezing downstairs. Works for more sqft than expected!*
Ingenuity at it best! I saw this video years ago and now that we're going through a heatwave I'm finally going to do it. It's funny how you see a video like this and remember it for years and then finally do it🤗
You my friend have to be one of the most underrated UA-camrs on this platform. You should at least have a million subscribers. People just don't know good quality content when they see it.
Edward Reyes Bravo JG! Regardless what anyone could ever say. Look at it this way, there are many people who rent houses and if they ask the landlord if they my install a whole house fan.... and if the answer is no.... then this is the best solution hands down. Thanks again - regards
We grew up with "whole house fans" built into our "old" houses: they worked VERY well, especially at night if the AC unit went out, my dad would turn it on- it was loud- but we would crack a few windows opposite ends of house and it would create a suction through home, up into the fan and out the ceiling. The fan was huge, way bigger than our box fans today.. we need to remake this idea and have built into all our NEW houses!! (our access to the fan with in the middle of the home, in the hallway- it sucked air from generally all the house that way because it was centrally located- it was so strong, you could stand under it and feel like you are under beach winds!). You had to have the windows only cracked partially, or would lose the "suction" that made the draft. Here is a guy with the right idea!!!!!!!! THanks!
Thanks so much. It's true that just switching on the ac is not the only way to cool a home. I say it makes great sense if you can grab some of the cool night air and suck it into the house to help with the next day's cooling.
Yeah, the old "whole house fans" (or as we called them "attic fans") that we had back then were quite a bit larger than a box fan. They were usually larger than what a modern pull-down attic stairway takes up. The attic access panel was in the hallway and the fans were as wide as the hallway -- probably 36-42" or so in diameter, I guess. They had a louver system on them so that when you turned them on, the louvers would open up. The electric motor turned a fan belt when was hooked to a pulley on the actual fan blade shaft. I suspect that the electric motor was somewhere around 1 hp. To get in the attic, you had to climb a ladder, push up on the fan and move it off to the side. If I was doing it these days, I would just install it separate from the attic access opening so it would not be necessary to move it when going into the attic. Where I live now, whole house fans would not be that great. It's often still in the 90Fs outside at 9pm. Plus, even when it does get down into the mid-70Fs, the humidity is so bad that it would be uncomfortable to sleep in that condition. I'll just stick with my air-conditioner. If I ever got so poor that I could afford to cool my entire house, I would just put a window unit in the bedroom and live out of there. Actually, when we have power outages from hurricanes and I have to run my house off a generator, that is exactly what I do. I can keep the master bedroom and master bath at around 70F with just a window unit while also providing electricity for the rest of the house (except for the central air-conditioning unit).
Grumpy OldMan THanks - thats what I remember- those louvers would open up- IF we ever get to build again, I will save your description and have one put it- and yea, it must have been as wide as hallway- that makes sense. We had a separate attic access from the garage and my dad would walk over to where the fan was- no access there..it was a one story ranch. .We were in Houston, and the humidity was horrible- the fan was used ONLY in emergencies- I can't imagine having to use all the time-like the original owners must have done years before my family. ... plus the safety factor of having open windows- yea, we want our AC - but a big good one, built right would pull the temp down enough to sleep at night for us, even in the humidity. It would be good during hurricane if could be hooked up to a generator.
I've used a setup like this for about 20 years now. Fortunately, the attic access is in the hallway, near the middle of my house. I mounted the fan on the *_underside_* of the insert panel, so it hangs a bit below the ceiling and the fan control switch is accessible by getting up on a step-stool or by reaching up with a bamboo back scratcher. The fan is plugged into an outlet with a programmable lamp timer in the attic to switch it on at 7 p.m. and turn it off around 8 a.m., so there is no power cord hanging down. I usually run it on the lowest speed all summer long, but since the control switch is accessible, it's easy to select a higher speed when needed. Even though the house has central air heating and cooling, I've rarely used the cooling, and the fan only costs $2-$4 in electricity per month. When the weather gets cold in the late fall and I want to use the furnace, the fan gets shoved into the attic for the winter (remembering to turn it off or unplug it first!) and the solid panel gets dropped into the opening to prevent warm air from escaping through the attic. The first fan lasted about 15 years until the bearings seized, so I'm on the second breeze-box fan now. Better fans have holes for adding oil to the motor bushings, which can extend their useful life.
Panamint Joe Smith Thanks a lot for the comment, it's great to hear from someone who has used the method for a while. That timer is a superb idea. I think I'll implement that into my setup. I think the cost of $20 for the fan (that lasted 15 years) and $3 per month in electricity is about the most economical cooling possible!
What is the square footage of your house though? And what temperature is the house the majority of the time? I personally can't handle anything about 75 degrees F inside a house.
+Amanda How - My house is about 1200 square feet. On summer days the inside temperature can creep up to 80°F by sundown. By 10 p.m. the outside temperature usually drops into the 47°F to 53°F range.and it possible to get the inside temperature down to the high 50s or low 60s by the time the fan timer shuts off next morning. During heat waves the air doesn't cool off so much at night and every day the minimum inside temperature tends to ratchet up a degree or two from the day before, but since heat waves only last 4-6 days, I put up with it.
The would work fine for living room and hallways....but....how about bedrooms?.... peaple wants privacy, so they keep doors closed, and I can't see any air flow going there !
+Ramon Alvarado - Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes. I live alone, so I have all the privacy I want, whether the bedroom door is open or closed. ;)
My father invented this years ago at our home in LaCanadaFlintridge, CA near Pasadena. It worked great, because the nights are always cool. I moved and have a swamp cooler which was yucky so i disabled it. I will take your advise. and get a large fan and make a plywood base...PERFECT VIDEO...THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I live in a 2 story 2500 sq/ft house. I haven't ran my a/c in 9 years . I've got fans 2 downstairs and 2 upstairs .The 2 downstairs blow in and the 2 upstairs blow out all day.I figured out if I keep the air moving during the day its easier to keep it cool. I also heat with woodstoves . The gas company came to "TEST" my meter .lol I just told the guy to take it with him lol. I can't wait til I can tell the Electric Company the same thing lol. Very nice video . Wish you the best.
You mentioned you have the fans running all day, do you also have them on the whole night as well? My ac is not blowing cool air so now I'm trying out box fans. I live in a 2 story too.
I did this for about 15 years with the same box fan. I finally installed a real fan (280 watts at low speed). It was a tremendous increase in air flow. This approach works as long as the outside humidity is not too high. Pulling in cool humid air is not very comfortable but does lower the temperature. I have central air but use the whole house fan when ever the night time temperatures are expected to fall to the low 60s.
Out of all the crazy video's on here most which don't work or aren't very effective. This does work!!!! I made some window fans for the bedroom I have been using them for the last 2 years. I am able to sleep much better now. Many thanks.
I been doing the same thing as the video for 8 years. I opted for a high velocity 21 inch Lakewood fan. Got it on sale for $60. On high she put out about 7,000 CFM (Cubic Feet Per Minute). The fan in the video puts out about 1,200 to 1,500 CFM. I saw on line that a whole house fan at Lowe's only put out 3,500 CFM and was $350. Now that fan will probably last longer though. My 21 inch Lakewood was just wide enough to sit on the rafters without any need for extra support. She lasted 8 years of using her for about 10 hours a day on high during the late spring through summer. Super loud on high but worth it. I had her on a timer to shut off at about 8 AM. I also usually had a few 20 in box fans in a few windows to blow cool air from outside to inside so the big Lakewood wouldn't have to work so hard. If I can get my house down to 65 degrees even on a 100 degree day my inside temp only gets up to 80 to 82 degrees at about 5:30 PM. On those nights I know it isn't going to get cool enough I have my air conditioner set to come on at 5 AM and run for 45 minutes to cool the house down to 65. Before I go to bed I shut off the fans and close all the windows and shut the attic access.
I did this same thing, except I built a frame for my upstairs windows that I mounted my box fan onto (because I do not have an attic). So at night I crack the windows on my lower floor and turn this fan on with the stairway door open from the main floor to the upper floor. Before the Sun comes up in the morning the house is about 64 degrees F. I then close the door to the upper level (floor) of the house and leave the fan on with the window on the other side of that upper level open to create a cross breeze on that upper level to try and keep it as cool as possible because it gets very hot up there since the roof is just a few inches on the other side of it (it's a slanted style room). Doing this even when it's 90 degrees F here in Michigan the house only gets up to about 73 degrees F by the time I get home at 5pm. So that is really not bad at all!! Thought I would share my success story here! :)
I've used this concept for my room in the UK. Instead of attic, I have a 20 inch high velocity fan (120 watt) facing outwards on the right side window. My blinds then has a slight 'push' force towards the room, telling me that outside air is getting in. Then on the left side window I use a normal desk fan to distribute the air throughout the room. My door remains closed, however if I do open my door, I do get that ribbon effect you shown here. For this to work however, I noticed that just 1 degree difference from inside and outside does not really make a difference, however it does start to work well when there is atleast 3 degrees difference (in Celsius). The only catch is that it is loud, however you also don't need to run the fan all night. If you have a 2 storey house, I suspect you'll need a very powerful fan, or multiple box fans to create a 'vacuum' effect. You also need to restrict where 'air' enters and exits
Great Idea! I've seen similar designs in North Carolina that work very well. One fan was the size of a full grown man and cools the house off from 95 degrees to about 65 degrees in less than half an hour.
Had the same system in a camp I was living in but adapting it in my present home never came to mind ,thanks for sharing and hope to see more of you in the future .
Hey man, I did this and it worked flabbergastingly well, as soon as I plugged in the fan I felt the draw of air, and I mean immediately. This is only a temporary fix, but exhausting the house air will surely be part of the final solution. Kudos. Thanks for the brain nudge.
I just did this same exact thing...then ran across your video. Hilarious! But also, very effective. I'm also using an old box fan but have not even built a surround for it...Just suspended it in the attic opening and put old shirts around it to prevent front to back coupling. The only negative is the CFM from these old box fans...so I bought a new 3250 CFM air king...it's going to shred! Great video and thanks for sharing
That was awesome. I live in southern california, and ac is so expensive! I can't wait to do this and see if it works. Thanks so much for this. You Rock!
Good luck circulating hot souther California air > 100°. Go get into your car, turn the heat in around 82°, and hit the circulate button. Try to sleep in that shit.
I made one of these for my friend. He said it cooled his whole apartment. Not just his unit but the other three as well. They share an attic. $14 fan on low kept his apartment much cooler. cooled off faster at night.
coool idea. alo tof people dont like using a/c .. especially the house all closed up. i prefer fresh air flowing through the house. i use the old lake wood fans in the windows and old box fans and the house is like a wind tunnel but great to sleep that way .. i do use a/c if the air is really sticky .. but if no humidity i use window fans
+Richard Drop I avoid using the AC as much as I can. Your idea about blasting the air through the house is a good one. Cool it down in the night so it's not so hot during the day.
Awesome Idea! you might also put the fan on a timer, so that it turns on when it cools down outside, and off when it warms up again. or a thermostat or even a photo eye outside somewhere to detect when it gets dark.
I saw somewhere that in India, they use 2L pop bottles, cut the bottom out, mount them on a wooden board, cut open the cap, and install over opened window, as the hot air from the outside is forced through the smaller hole, the air is naturally cooled. So, combining that with your design, you could have a cooler house even when it is boiling hot outside.
Dew point (humidity) is a consideration too. It's more comfortable to have a warmer temp and lower dew point than vice versa so sometimes it's unavoidable running either or both the A/C and a dehumidifier. But this is a great idea when the dew point is low.
I started to use this box fan idea for about 3 months now it does work but if you do not have air turbins installed on your roof getting the hot air out your attic with this idea wont work very well. If you do have air turbins on your roof just to get a idea how a fan would work in your crawl space just remove your crawl space at night open your windows and dont even put a fan there and you will feel the air coming in from the outside and the hot air escaping through the crawl space into the attic and the air turbins releasing the hot air out of the attic
+Rich gutierrez Hey Rich. So, most attics/roofs are equipped with vents on the gable walls near the top. This probably won't be the case if one has a hip roof but in all other cases, vents on both gable wall ends should be sufficient providing they are not clogged up with bugs or wasp/hornets nests, etc. Other than that, you're right an air turbine should work great for that end goal.
Great to see a DIY version of the 'Whole House Fan' at last, after all the advice I had saying you needed a purpose built one (an attic fan is something entirely different!)
You can also put fans in open windows to suck cool air into the house. Then leave the attic hatch open for the hot air to go into the attic. Same idea, just you're pushing air in instead of sucking it out and there's no build involved. I taped a bit of plastic from a grocery bag to the attic opening and it works.
Nice! Thinkin about doing this in my garage. I have attic access there separate from the house attic space. I can add a box fan to vent hot humid air when using my swamp cooler. It’s 110° in the garage during the day.
I lived n the Sierra Foothills of California where it gets really really hot in the summer. It does cool down nicely at night though. I put solar shades on all the western facing windows, and installed an attic fan. I would run the fan at night, leaving my bedroom window open, and it was like having the A/C turned on because it made a nice cool breeze as it pulled the air in. In the morning, I might have the house down to 65 degrees or lower. Then I'd close all the windows, pull all the drapes, and leave them closed all day. I also had double-pane windows, which helped. The house would stay cool (under 78 degrees) until maybe 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Then I'd use a regular floor fan to get through the next three or four hours until the sun went down. As soon as the sun went down, I opened a window and turned on the attic fan. I got through the hellish summers without once turning on the A/C. I really recommend an attic fan if you live somewhere where the temps drop down after the sun goes down. It makes all the difference.
yes sir, I have done this 10 years ago but going to try it again and was searching for some inspiration. I am rarely home these days and plan to get some good window coverings and run this at night while opening all windows.
I place one fan blowing out of the house and open some of the other rooms and it brings in cool air. Thanks for your video! I MUST do this it gets extremely hot up here! THANKS!
I went to Walmart last year and got me a 18 inches Optimus high velocity fan and made a special frame for safety.. . works really good! 127 deg F. and if i turn the fan on to medium setting for 15 min Attic temp drop down to 109 deg F. ( using Arlo video cam) house is 2200 sq. i also made a shutter that way small particle don't go inside my house... re wire all the way down like a hall way switch.
Growing up in the late 50s that is all we had, one huge fan in the window blowing outward while the air rushed inward from any other open window. Worked pretty well, especially at night. Decades later I lived in an apt with an attic access in my closet and had the same idea about putting a fan up there instead of in a window. It worked ok but before I knew it my apartment was overrun with those huge outdoor roaches that had made their way into the attic. It took months after closing off the attic to get rid of all of them as they had layed eggs everywhere. What a mess.
I have the same setup in my hallway but rather than run the fan on high to create active airflow I run it on low as a means of venting stale, hot air. This keeps the living space comfortable enough, even in Texas, to get by with a few ceiling fans. My highest electric bill in summer of 2015 was $65, no lie.
yup, got one. cools down entire 2 story house. also good if there's excessive smoke/smell throughout the house due to cooking or what not. great for hot summer nights.
@@ntnboy85 Nice! They're not really a thing here in Hong Kong probably because it's humid here most of the year, but they would be awesome during the drier months when it isn't too cold. So instead I put a fan in my bedroom window and run the kitchen hood but still nowhere near as effective as an American whole house fan :/
we laughed when watching this.... esp when you stepped on a cat @ 0:10! An hour later our box fan was blowing hot air up and out of our attic. Our goal was to get our AC up to the 2nd floor, it worked perfectly. Our 2nd story is always 10+ degrees warmer with the AC on. The fan pulled the cooler air up (and out of the upstairs vents) and both floors were the same temperature.
This method does work to a degree. However, the most effective system is to have an additional fan sucking cool air inward, thus creating a cross breeze ventilation. The advantage of ac is that it removes moisture from air, which this system does not.
Attic fans work very well, but they are usually much larger.. Was a simple system that worked back in the day colls the house and and brings cool air into the attic and cools off the attic too
Yeah, we also did this with an attic access in a closet. For a few seasons, we used a room fan taken off its stand, mounted on plywood with the right size hole. Worked very well, and quiet. Also used a box fan on its side for a few years. OK, but noisier and a bit less effective. It seems that being side-mounted kills these fans after a few seasons, but they're not expensive. Now using a bona-fide attic vent fan, again mounted on plywood - much more powerful, but noisier. In all cases, very good for the closet's adjacent room, cool sleeping at night, but less effective for overall cooling. In winter, got to throw a big plastic garbage bag over the fan to keep the cold air from coming down.
Genius! Good idea. Hmm I don't have an attic since I am renting :( But I understand the concept completely. So I need to get rid of the hot temperature from inside the house? At least that's a start. I am also in the same boat of not powering the A/C...yeah the power bill here is ridiculous? I've been thinking what would be my best options: - Buy a portable A/C - Do more overtime and pay the damn expensive bill. - Install solar panels What's more annoying is, I am a nite owl so I normally have the light on late at nite and it can be very hot.
I did this to cool my condo.. it worked great = seriously saving money is plenty fun and figuring out tricks to do it on the cheap are even better ... now in my house it still works and yesterday box fan fell over and broke a blade... so room a/c and small circle fan is running to keep the air upstairs in the babies room moving and that is keeping a 81* temp day outside here about 71 ... booya! ... still going to get another two box fans since they are only $15 a piece and are probably way more energy efficient...
You should get one of those remote controlled switches and just use that instead of unplugging and plugging it in. You could also use a timer but if the power goes out you're screwed. I have both analog and digital ones and both need resetting after a power failure.
Common sense clever! Good for you! I use one of those large Costco super fans in one window pushing air out, while opening all the bedroom windows to draw in cool night air. Your idea pushes that up a notch.
C0Y0TE5 thanks! I actually got a similar fan to the one you're talking about and replaced the box fan with it. Works great and much better than just using the AC
dude, you cannot ventilate a whole house with a freaking 20" box fan with a 1/25HP 80 watt motor!. try a 36" fan with a 1/2HP 600-700 watt motor instead.
I have a simple enough system. I draw air from an always shaded window/s and exhaust it on the other end of the house. I use a big metal Air King reversible window fan on the exhaust end with high cfm rating. It draws enough air I have to blow dust out of the intake window screen often to keep it all flowing easy. I can run several fans lots cheaper than any single air con I ever owned. My way can be harder when there are others living here closing doors and such but living alone I can set it up any way I see fit.
This may have been mentioned before, but I live in Texas and when it is 110-120 degrees outside it doesn't make sense for us to crack the windows enough to draw and circulate air from outside. If I did that I'd just be dragging very hot air into my house. I think this would work great in moderate climates if it was 80-85. Additionally, I couldn't put the fan in close because there wouldn't be enough air flow.
If you live in your own house, build a tube trench that is at a slight downward angle, about 15 to 20 ft out, 5 to 6 ft deep, and have the highest part up near the house. Put a small vent in the floor, hook the cooling tube to it, and there will then be already cooler air coming in since the Ir at 5 to 6 ft is MUCH cooler!
All I do, following this same principle, is that I open two opposite windows of my house (as far apart as possible) and I stick a fan on one of them blowing out. Of course, all other windows are closed. By the evening, our bedroom is nice and cool. Too bad I don't have an addict so that I could blow the hot air into the house during the winter!
GuitarRocks360 you can get almost the same results with a two box fan's stacked in a window. depending on the size you can either get a double window fan or a single box fan works great. make sure the box fan is at the bottom.its ok to leave the top empty, this vents the hot air. use the fan to draw in the cool air from the outside. best to use this overnight or in the early morning. before the sun comes up. depending on time of year and sun exposure. you want to shut your fans down when the sun is in the window. before you leave for the day , be sure to close ALL the windows, draw ALL the curtains and shades. this will help prevent heat loss.
GuitarRocks360 I rigged a window fan for a friend who has a house with a vaulted ceiling and no usable attic. The $20 breeze-box fan was mounted on a piece of OSB that I painted to match the exterior of the house, and it gets inserted in the track of an upstairs sliding window in the late spring, then removed in the fall when it gets cool and the rainy season starts. Since the hot air naturally rises into the second story, the fan helps to get rid of it faster during the night, and a couple of screened windows downstairs are left open to allow cool air in. It works just fine.
Nice idea. I've been doing the same thing for the past 5 years with one exception. My 20" box fan is in my walk-in closet in my master bedroom on the second floor where my attic access is and I only run it during cool weather such as early to mid Spring and early to mid Fall. I run it with my windows open on the first floor during the day and windows open in my bedroom at night when its even cooler. Great sleeping with the temperature hovering around 45°- 50°. During the Summer I turn on the air condition.
I'm going to do the same thing in my garage. Attic stairwell to draw air in through my garage and cool my attic in the summer. Texas heat is brutal! Have ridgevents in my roof and it will help push that heat out.
One other thing I forgot to mention. You need to have a window cracked when you run the fan otherwise it will pull air from the path of least resistance. Usually this is a chimney or the flue where a gas hot water heater is vented. Most gas hot water heaters have a pilot which is a steady small flame that stays lit to enable the burner to light. When the air is drawn down the flue it will blow out the pilot and now you have gas being pulled through your house. You figure out the rest.
Thank you. I think it's innovative and smart, however, I really don't think it would work here in Texas where it's 90° at night. The unit would heat up and burn. I think it's a great way to cool a home inexpensively. Thanks for sharing. Blessings to all.
Holehouse fan are great i leave in a tropical hot country and i place one holehouse fan i love it that was my husband idea i didnt like it a t first but is great i love it
They sell attic fans and they go for $1000. This is a good idea or I am sure you can buy an inexpensive industrial fan that would move more air. It just has to be insulated in the winter in cold climates.
Have you considered mounting solar on your roof and running the fan off a small solar panel? You could set a timer for the fan to cycle on and off. Also there are attic fans that can be run using solar. If you are mainly interested in saving money. I'll spend money in the summer to cool the house with my AC and save it in the winter. I can always add more clothes or blankets then. Interesting video good luck with your experiments.
Seems the spiders would find that venting as being inviting when the fan isn't running. It has been awhile did you find that to be a problem. I'm thinking running it out a window at night and closing that window during the day. That is what I do with pretty much the same weather here. We get up to just over 120. Though my windows are single pain (I rent) I have blinds, and the cellking has really good insulation.
I tried this idea about seven years ago but it didn't really seem to have much of an affect. I went and bought a swamp cooler, hard wood and carpeted floors were never damaged and we stayed cool all summer.
I live in an old 3 store building and we have ventilation shafts, and wind is automatically created without a ventilator. But it is a great idea to increase the effectiveness.
Nice. But so many comments and no one mentioned also opening a basement hole on the other end of the house? You could store some water down there for hard times, and in the mean-time it could be acting as a heat stabilizer. (P.S. try it w/o the fan some time; such a set-up was designed in our old old courthouse with no electricity. I'm thinking that "all-night-long is plenty of time to cool.)
might i sugest using a bathroom extractor fan 4/10 watts as high as possible to ceiling as heat rises extracting outside if use one with venition type vents which close when fan is not running will stop mossis getting in.Now buy a solar panel l4/10 watts + small invertor to convert to a/c then when sun is out & hot will run and extract heat when not will stop.cost to run after purchase of parts zero & fully automatic-- just a thought maybee ?
Like the idea! To bad I'm stuck using the AC. Wife has HORRIBLE allergies and opening windows is a no for me... even when the house needs a little cooling off and it's 50something outside :-(
How's this working for ya? How's you attic ventilation? It'll work so much better if you have a good vent system in your attic. If the attic gets too hot it's like a heater on the ceiling.
great job sound thinking have you considered adding more heat storage systems to increase storage capacity ie big bottles filled with water that also absorb heat during the day and release it at night. The water bottles (25 litres) could have their own heat exchanger matrix around them to help them absorb and release heat as needed
Perhaps you could install an automated switch hooked up to a couple thermostats, once the temperature outside becomes a few degrees cooler than the inside it will turn on.
+Riley Davis or simply put an outlet timer on the power line like people do with outdoor X-mas lights... set it to turn on when it cooler and off in the day. then the only thing you have to remember to do is shut the windows and such
In the early 1990's when Chicago IL, had the Real Bad Heat wave, I used to hose the sunny part of the house off, sometimes squirting water on the house 3 or 4 times a day
Can you give an update on your homemade fan? You have inspired me to build one. I have a box fan sitting around doing nothing. I live in the mountains in Southern California, and soon as the sun goes behind the mountains, the temps drop about 10 degrees in about an hour, which means it is usually 5 degree cooler outside than in the house. I am currently using 2 window fans, intake and exhaust, that takes to much time to feel a difference. I have easy access to my attic, like you. The entrance to the attic is in the extra bedroom. Please let me know... thanks.
I tried this setup for a while and it helped some, but I ended up buying a larger fan (the circular metal cage kind) and it was really a noticeable difference. I think you should try a pair of those for you in/out setup.
Jennies Garage How many square feet is your home? I have a 1 story, 1100sqft. Small home, just me.living in it. I ha e a 20 inch box fan. Would a 20 inch box fan work for my house.you think? Funny you answered, I was just measuring everything. Wednesday going to go buy the plywood and couple other things and do it.
Like right now, inside home is 79, outside is 68. I want that cool air in here. I have windows fans, they run all night and when I wake in morning, house is about 72 or so. But I want something that takes 60 minutes or under to cool thr house off to outside temp.
Whole house fan drops your electric bill a significant amount. In the morning , when it is cool, you open a few windows and turn on the fan. It draws cool are into the house and blows it into the attic. This cools the house, but also puts cooler air into the attic. During the day, the air in the attic has to heat up before the house begins to heat up. The air up there will get up to 130-140 degrees F. If your central air kicks on at noon, instead of 9:00 in the morning, how much lower do you think your electric bill would be? My parents have a professionally installed whole house/attic fan. I was watching their house when they were out of town. I would go over in the morning, run the fan and get the house down to about 60* and close up the house. The A/C was set to 85*, and it did not come on the entire two weeks they were out of town. It was over 100* every single day. This is something that works, extremely well.
Even using 2x6 construction and R60 attic insulation in interior *Alaska*, a box fan is insufficient to air out an entire house in a reasonable period of time. I've been having a box fan sucking the air out for about an hour. The temperature has only dropped a couple of degrees. That being said, a single room with a window open dropped to the outside ambient temperature within about 15 minutes. In other words, a $20 box fan is underpowered as a whole house fan. The home despot does have a 30" insustrial fan that costs $129 that could be ducted to an attic opening and be very effective.
great idea, I wish I would have thought about this 20 years ago. I always wanted a whole house fan. I tried window fans but had to put one in every room, by that time the electric for all of them was as bad as running the A/C. One thing I would change is build a sliding door under the fan so you can close off the hot air from bleeding in to your house or closet in your case
vince king its a good idea but there are other less DIY options similar to this like solar roof vents, IE: that spinning ball which have as good ventilation properties. The problem with a lot of homes is that when they were built in the 70s-90s energy was relatively cheap so things like wall insulation, roof venting, upper wall vents in order to channel that hot air out of the house were not put in. I think something like a solar roof vent + upper wall vent channels cut near the roof would offer you what you are looking at, sliding vents are relatively cheap and having them as adjustable vents would let you manage the room temperature in each individual area
but the point here would be to turn this make shift atic fan on at night with the window open and draw in the cool air like a window fan but you only need to run one fan thus cooling the whole house with out having to run a/c. I agree attic vents and turbines help get the heat out of the house but this is to get the air flow of the cool outside air in
this gives me an idea. I live in a cape cod and we have a storage space above the hallway downstairs and an electrical outlet on a switch that we don't really use so I could cut the hole for it and run the cord thru the attic and down to the socket with some extension cords and have my downstairs cool with a switch.
***** Hi I really like your video and I'm thinking about doing it for my house. I'm a new home owner and not a handy man by any means, so I want to be very careful before I do any modifications to my house. I live in California and my house was built in 2002. My questions are, when the fan runs, it would blow all the insulation (fiberglass) in the attic, would that cause any problems? And when the fan stops, would stuff falling through from attic back to my room? Any recommendations on which type of fan I should get? Again, thanks for the video.
I live in Montana. 16% humidity. My day temps are 90s and my night temps are 50s. Physics works. I do this every day in my house. I get the house as cool as I can then close everything up. My only addition to this vid is I use windows to vent the house. an attic fan would be better
Even easier idea - Get up early, like 4 or 5 in the morning. Open all the windows in the house and leave them open for about 1/2 hour Close the windows, draw the curtains and go about your day. DO NOT OPEN ANYTHING DURING THE DAY. When the afternoon hits, the inside of the house will be much cooler than the outside. I used to do it in my old apartment everyday. 90 outside, 60 inside. As soon as you open a window or door the house will heat up. Check it out!
As I am shopping online right this minute looking for whole house fans, I am liking this idea. A good whole house fan seems to be over $200 for anything over 24 inches. My contractor is recommending 36"s. I'd try your solution to a regular whole house fan except I am also concerned about a possible fire due to the house fan (box fans) are not made to replace whole house fans.
A/C Man Heating and Air My thought also Mike, but the question then would be do you need to move that much air? The one I have in my house is a regular whole house fan. When it is on, you can't hear anything else but it surely moves all of the air in the house in just about one minute on high. I didn't need AC when I working because by the time I got home after 5pm most days. All I needed to do was turn on the whole house fan for a few minutes. I am adding one in my daughter's house within a weeks time but I rather not spend over $200.
Hosea Johnson It definitely moves less air than a whole house fan, but I've been using this method for a few years now, and it does move a substantial amount of air. It really depends on the size of the house too. For 1000 square feet or less, it would be more than enough, but for 3000 square feet, it wouldn't do much. Thanks!
A/C Man Heating and Air I do not know the specs on "my" whole house fan but on high in my 1,700sqf living area, the stagnant air is completely removed (depending on how windows and doors are opened and where) in an amazingly short amount of time. As you know, in the desert it is hot when the sun is up and as soon as late afternoon comes around, the outside ambient air begins to cool. By the time I would get home from work and open the front door, a rush of very warm to hot air would hit me like opening a very hot oven. I'd go into the hallway (where most whole house fans usually are installed), turn it to high and very quickly the inside ambient air is the same as out side or even cooler. In the 11 years I lived there I didn't use a conventional AC unit. On the days I wasn't at work I used an evaporative cooler/swamp cooler. The dry desert air is much easier to handle than the more humid climates.
One piece of advice, to make this better, it will require some cost, not much but look for a pressure optimized fan. Basically see those big gaps between the blades and the edge of the fan? well that allows air leaks and also limits air flow. I'm working on the same sort of thing for my place, the only difference I am doing is a whole house in window evap cooler that runs 4000cfm and the fan itself runs 4200 cfm, so that means I will get a nice air flow across my house in the hot desert days, so far with just the fan the temps drop to 82 when its 106 outside, cant wait for that evap to be in place.
Thanks for the advice, I'll read up on pressure optimized fans. I actually just picked up a big fan at lowes that says it can do 6800 cfm. I kind of doubt it moves that much, but it's a step up from the box fan. That sounds like a pretty good cooler. 4000cfm should really get the air moving.
*Love this unit! Using upstairs in my sons bedroom **Fastly.Cool** and he’s finally able to be comfortable upstairs without me freezing downstairs. Works for more sqft than expected!*
Ingenuity at it best! I saw this video years ago and now that we're going through a heatwave I'm finally going to do it. It's funny how you see a video like this and remember it for years and then finally do it🤗
You my friend have to be one of the most underrated UA-camrs on this platform. You should at least have a million subscribers. People just don't know good quality content when they see it.
this guy is just the right amount of crazy
haha thanks
Edward Reyes Bravo JG! Regardless what anyone could ever say. Look at it this way, there are many people who rent houses and if they ask the landlord if they my install a whole house fan.... and if the answer is no.... then this is the best solution hands down. Thanks again - regards
Jennies Garage, Thank you on behalf of those who are serious and appreciate your concern for others comfort. Good job. It works.
He's more like "Coo Coo for CoCo Puffs!"
@@MYSPOTZ007 Iknow a few landlords who might not be too keen on seeing a massive hole cut in their ceiling
We grew up with "whole house fans" built into our "old" houses: they worked VERY well, especially at night if the AC unit went out, my dad would turn it on- it was loud- but we would crack a few windows opposite ends of house and it would create a suction through home, up into the fan and out the ceiling. The fan was huge, way bigger than our box fans today.. we need to remake this idea and have built into all our NEW houses!! (our access to the fan with in the middle of the home, in the hallway- it sucked air from generally all the house that way because it was centrally located- it was so strong, you could stand under it and feel like you are under beach winds!). You had to have the windows only cracked partially, or would lose the "suction" that made the draft.
Here is a guy with the right idea!!!!!!!! THanks!
Thanks so much. It's true that just switching on the ac is not the only way to cool a home. I say it makes great sense if you can grab some of the cool night air and suck it into the house to help with the next day's cooling.
Yeah, the old "whole house fans" (or as we called them "attic fans") that we had back then were quite a bit larger than a box fan. They were usually larger than what a modern pull-down attic stairway takes up. The attic access panel was in the hallway and the fans were as wide as the hallway -- probably 36-42" or so in diameter, I guess. They had a louver system on them so that when you turned them on, the louvers would open up. The electric motor turned a fan belt when was hooked to a pulley on the actual fan blade shaft. I suspect that the electric motor was somewhere around 1 hp. To get in the attic, you had to climb a ladder, push up on the fan and move it off to the side. If I was doing it these days, I would just install it separate from the attic access opening so it would not be necessary to move it when going into the attic. Where I live now, whole house fans would not be that great. It's often still in the 90Fs outside at 9pm. Plus, even when it does get down into the mid-70Fs, the humidity is so bad that it would be uncomfortable to sleep in that condition. I'll just stick with my air-conditioner. If I ever got so poor that I could afford to cool my entire house, I would just put a window unit in the bedroom and live out of there. Actually, when we have power outages from hurricanes and I have to run my house off a generator, that is exactly what I do. I can keep the master bedroom and master bath at around 70F with just a window unit while also providing electricity for the rest of the house (except for the central air-conditioning unit).
Grumpy OldMan THanks - thats what I remember- those louvers would open up- IF we ever get to build again, I will save your description and have one put it- and yea, it must have been as wide as hallway- that makes sense. We had a separate attic access from the garage and my dad would walk over to where the fan was- no access there..it was a one story ranch. .We were in Houston, and the humidity was horrible- the fan was used ONLY in emergencies- I can't imagine having to use all the time-like the original owners must have done years before my family. ... plus the safety factor of having open windows- yea, we want our AC - but a big good one, built right would pull the temp down enough to sleep at night for us, even in the humidity. It would be good during hurricane if could be hooked up to a generator.
InLaws Attic I live in the Houston area and I suspect that if it wasn't for air-conditioning, there would be a lot less people living here.
Agree!
I've used a setup like this for about 20 years now. Fortunately, the attic access is in the hallway, near the middle of my house. I mounted the fan on the *_underside_* of the insert panel, so it hangs a bit below the ceiling and the fan control switch is accessible by getting up on a step-stool or by reaching up with a bamboo back scratcher. The fan is plugged into an outlet with a programmable lamp timer in the attic to switch it on at 7 p.m. and turn it off around 8 a.m., so there is no power cord hanging down. I usually run it on the lowest speed all summer long, but since the control switch is accessible, it's easy to select a higher speed when needed. Even though the house has central air heating and cooling, I've rarely used the cooling, and the fan only costs $2-$4 in electricity per month. When the weather gets cold in the late fall and I want to use the furnace, the fan gets shoved into the attic for the winter (remembering to turn it off or unplug it first!) and the solid panel gets dropped into the opening to prevent warm air from escaping through the attic.
The first fan lasted about 15 years until the bearings seized, so I'm on the second breeze-box fan now. Better fans have holes for adding oil to the motor bushings, which can extend their useful life.
Panamint Joe Smith Thanks a lot for the comment, it's great to hear from someone who has used the method for a while. That timer is a superb idea. I think I'll implement that into my setup. I think the cost of $20 for the fan (that lasted 15 years) and $3 per month in electricity is about the most economical cooling possible!
What is the square footage of your house though? And what temperature is the house the majority of the time? I personally can't handle anything about 75 degrees F inside a house.
+Amanda How - My house is about 1200 square feet. On summer days the inside temperature can creep up to 80°F by sundown. By 10 p.m. the outside temperature usually drops into the 47°F to 53°F range.and it possible to get the inside temperature down to the high 50s or low 60s by the time the fan timer shuts off next morning. During heat waves the air doesn't cool off so much at night and every day the minimum inside temperature tends to ratchet up a degree or two from the day before, but since heat waves only last 4-6 days, I put up with it.
The would work fine for living room and hallways....but....how about bedrooms?.... peaple wants privacy, so they keep doors closed, and I can't see any air flow going there !
+Ramon Alvarado - Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes. I live alone, so I have all the privacy I want, whether the bedroom door is open or closed. ;)
My father invented this years ago at our home in LaCanadaFlintridge, CA near Pasadena. It worked great, because the nights are always cool. I moved and have a swamp cooler which was yucky so i disabled it. I will take your advise. and get a large fan and make a plywood base...PERFECT VIDEO...THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I live in a 2 story 2500 sq/ft house. I haven't ran my a/c in 9 years . I've got fans 2 downstairs and 2 upstairs .The 2 downstairs blow in and the 2 upstairs blow out all day.I figured out if I keep the air moving during the day its easier to keep it cool. I also heat with woodstoves . The gas company came to "TEST" my meter .lol I just told the guy to take it with him lol. I can't wait til I can tell the Electric Company the same thing lol. Very nice video . Wish you the best.
+N.C Kayak King Mine just decided to drive away with the tank when I was at work lol Im not missing it.
N.C Kayak King must be an epic feeling to be able to tell them that lol
You mentioned you have the fans running all day, do you also have them on the whole night as well? My ac is not blowing cool air so now I'm trying out box fans. I live in a 2 story too.
+ N.C Kayak King Also, how much cool does it get with that method of having two blowing in downstairs and two blowing out up stairs?
I wanna do this but my ball and chain keeps making fun of me😔
I did this for about 15 years with the same box fan. I finally installed a real fan (280 watts at low speed). It was a tremendous increase in air flow. This approach works as long as the outside humidity is not too high. Pulling in cool humid air is not very comfortable but does lower the temperature. I have central air but use the whole house fan when ever the night time temperatures are expected to fall to the low 60s.
So 9 years later, how's it working? (Great video and thanks for posting it so long ago!)
@jenniesgarage we need an update! Overall just wondering how well it worked, even if not in use now. Update the video description with it 🙂
Out of all the crazy video's on here most which don't work or aren't very effective. This does work!!!! I made some window fans for the bedroom I have been using them for the last 2 years. I am able to sleep much better now. Many thanks.
Great job bud!!!!, I'm going to do it also because my house has cathedral ceilings and it gets pretty nasty upstairs!
I been doing the same thing as the video for 8 years. I opted for a high velocity 21 inch Lakewood fan. Got it on sale for $60. On high she put out about 7,000 CFM (Cubic Feet Per Minute). The fan in the video puts out about 1,200 to 1,500 CFM.
I saw on line that a whole house fan at Lowe's only put out 3,500 CFM and was $350. Now that fan will probably last longer though.
My 21 inch Lakewood was just wide enough to sit on the rafters without any need for extra support. She lasted 8 years of using her for about 10 hours a day on high during the late spring through summer. Super loud on high but worth it. I had her on a timer to shut off at about 8 AM.
I also usually had a few 20 in box fans in a few windows to blow cool air from outside to inside so the big Lakewood wouldn't have to work so hard.
If I can get my house down to 65 degrees even on a 100 degree day my inside temp only gets up to 80 to 82 degrees at about 5:30 PM.
On those nights I know it isn't going to get cool enough I have my air conditioner set to come on at 5 AM and run for 45 minutes to cool the house down to 65. Before I go to bed I shut off the fans and close all the windows and shut the attic access.
I did this same thing, except I built a frame for my upstairs windows that I mounted my box fan onto (because I do not have an attic). So at night I crack the windows on my lower floor and turn this fan on with the stairway door open from the main floor to the upper floor. Before the Sun comes up in the morning the house is about 64 degrees F. I then close the door to the upper level (floor) of the house and leave the fan on with the window on the other side of that upper level open to create a cross breeze on that upper level to try and keep it as cool as possible because it gets very hot up there since the roof is just a few inches on the other side of it (it's a slanted style room). Doing this even when it's 90 degrees F here in Michigan the house only gets up to about 73 degrees F by the time I get home at 5pm. So that is really not bad at all!!
Thought I would share my success story here! :)
thanks for the comment. Although it isn't as comfortable or easy as AC, the cost savings make it worthwhile in my opinion
I've used this concept for my room in the UK. Instead of attic, I have a 20 inch high velocity fan (120 watt) facing outwards on the right side window. My blinds then has a slight 'push' force towards the room, telling me that outside air is getting in. Then on the left side window I use a normal desk fan to distribute the air throughout the room. My door remains closed, however if I do open my door, I do get that ribbon effect you shown here.
For this to work however, I noticed that just 1 degree difference from inside and outside does not really make a difference, however it does start to work well when there is atleast 3 degrees difference (in Celsius). The only catch is that it is loud, however you also don't need to run the fan all night.
If you have a 2 storey house, I suspect you'll need a very powerful fan, or multiple box fans to create a 'vacuum' effect. You also need to restrict where 'air' enters and exits
Great Idea! I've seen similar designs in North Carolina that work very well. One fan was the size of a full grown man and cools the house off from 95 degrees to about 65 degrees in less than half an hour.
Wow that sounds like a serious fan!!
Sorry No freaking way. It Would have to be very cool outside to get to 65 degrees let alone do it in a half hour.
Had the same system in a camp I was living in but adapting it in my present home never came to mind ,thanks for sharing and hope to see more of you in the future .
Thanks for checking in, glad you liked the video!
Hey man, I did this and it worked flabbergastingly well, as soon as I plugged in the fan I felt the draw of air, and I mean immediately. This is only a temporary fix, but exhausting the house air will surely be part of the final solution. Kudos. Thanks for the brain nudge.
I just did this same exact thing...then ran across your video. Hilarious! But also, very effective. I'm also using an old box fan but have not even built a surround for it...Just suspended it in the attic opening and put old shirts around it to prevent front to back coupling. The only negative is the CFM from these old box fans...so I bought a new 3250 CFM air king...it's going to shred!
Great video and thanks for sharing
That was awesome. I live in southern california, and ac is so expensive! I can't wait to do this and see if it works. Thanks so much for this. You Rock!
larkatmic Glad you liked the video, If you get it all set up now you can hit the ground running when the temps go up!
I'm also in socal. Did you try it? How'd it go?
Good luck circulating hot souther California air > 100°. Go get into your car, turn the heat in around 82°, and hit the circulate button. Try to sleep in that shit.
Curious to know how this turned out. Did it save you money? Was it comfortable using just the attic fan? Thanks
I made one of these for my friend. He said it cooled his whole apartment. Not just his unit but the other three as well. They share an attic.
$14 fan on low kept his apartment much cooler. cooled off faster at night.
I'm glad it worked for him, and now he has some happy neighbors!
Did this in my old house when the attic was converted to bedrooms. Worked nice.
The whole idea is to push the cool air up from the basement. A lot of bloody good a fan in the ceiling is going to do!!
coool idea. alo tof people dont like using a/c .. especially the house all closed up. i prefer fresh air flowing through the house. i use the old lake wood fans in the windows and old box fans and the house is like a wind tunnel but great to sleep that way .. i do use a/c if the air is really sticky .. but if no humidity i use window fans
+Richard Drop I avoid using the AC as much as I can. Your idea about blasting the air through the house is a good one. Cool it down in the night so it's not so hot during the day.
i love the fresh air .. .plus ive always loved fans since i was little i always look for the old school ones and get them when i can
Awesome Idea! you might also put the fan on a timer, so that it turns on when it cools down outside, and off when it warms up again. or a thermostat or even a photo eye outside somewhere to detect when it gets dark.
I saw somewhere that in India, they use 2L pop bottles, cut the bottom out, mount them on a wooden board, cut open the cap, and install over opened window, as the hot air from the outside is forced through the smaller hole, the air is naturally cooled. So, combining that with your design, you could have a cooler house even when it is boiling hot outside.
Dew point (humidity) is a consideration too. It's more comfortable to have a warmer temp and lower dew point than vice versa so sometimes it's unavoidable running either or both the A/C and a dehumidifier. But this is a great idea when the dew point is low.
I started to use this box fan idea for about 3 months now it does work but if you do not have air turbins installed on your roof getting the hot air out your attic with this idea wont work very well. If you do have air turbins on your roof just to get a idea how a fan would work in your crawl space just remove your crawl space at night open your windows and dont even put a fan there and you will feel the air coming in from the outside and the hot air escaping through the crawl space into the attic and the air turbins releasing the hot air out of the attic
+Rich gutierrez
Hey Rich. So, most attics/roofs are equipped with vents on the gable walls near the top. This probably won't be the case if one has a hip roof but in all other cases, vents on both gable wall ends should be sufficient providing they are not clogged up with bugs or wasp/hornets nests, etc. Other than that, you're right an air turbine should work great for that end goal.
Thanks for making this. I would enjoy watching a video of how much you saved using this method!
Great to see a DIY version of the 'Whole House Fan' at last, after all the advice I had saying you needed a purpose built one (an attic fan is something entirely different!)
You can also put fans in open windows to suck cool air into the house. Then leave the attic hatch open for the hot air to go into the attic. Same idea, just you're pushing air in instead of sucking it out and there's no build involved. I taped a bit of plastic from a grocery bag to the attic opening and it works.
Nice! Thinkin about doing this in my garage. I have attic access there separate from the house attic space. I can add a box fan to vent hot humid air when using my swamp cooler. It’s 110° in the garage during the day.
I lived n the Sierra Foothills of California where it gets really really hot in the summer. It does cool down nicely at night though. I put solar shades on all the western facing windows, and installed an attic fan. I would run the fan at night, leaving my bedroom window open, and it was like having the A/C turned on because it made a nice cool breeze as it pulled the air in. In the morning, I might have the house down to 65 degrees or lower. Then I'd close all the windows, pull all the drapes, and leave them closed all day. I also had double-pane windows, which helped. The house would stay cool (under 78 degrees) until maybe 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Then I'd use a regular floor fan to get through the next three or four hours until the sun went down. As soon as the sun went down, I opened a window and turned on the attic fan. I got through the hellish summers without once turning on the A/C. I really recommend an attic fan if you live somewhere where the temps drop down after the sun goes down. It makes all the difference.
yes sir, I have done this 10 years ago but going to try it again and was searching for some inspiration. I am rarely home these days and plan to get some good window coverings and run this at night while opening all windows.
I place one fan blowing out of the house and open some of the other rooms and it brings in cool air. Thanks for your video! I MUST do this it gets extremely hot up here! THANKS!
I went to Walmart last year and got me a 18 inches Optimus high velocity fan and made a special frame for safety.. . works really good! 127 deg F. and if i turn the fan on to medium setting for 15 min Attic temp drop down to 109 deg F. ( using Arlo video cam) house is 2200 sq. i also made a shutter that way small particle don't go inside my house... re wire all the way down like a hall way switch.
Growing up in the late 50s that is all we had, one huge fan in the window blowing outward while the air rushed inward from any other open window. Worked pretty well, especially at night.
Decades later I lived in an apt with an attic access in my closet and had the same idea about putting a fan up there instead of in a window. It worked ok but before I knew it my apartment was overrun with those huge outdoor roaches that had made their way into the attic. It took months after closing off the attic to get rid of all of them as they had layed eggs everywhere. What a mess.
Love your profile pic bro
the ventilation caused the roach infestation?
St8kout well your family in the 50s must of been broke my grandfather had AC units in the house they were the size of small cars tho
You are a Genius!!Great idea..I used a industrial fan and the method works like a charm!!.Fresh and cool air!!Thanks buddy!
I have a 42" attic fan or roof fan. It cools the house good enough to live during summer.
Very smart! Just a quick question, which one is better: this hot air blown-out fan on attic or a cold air blown-in fan in front of window?
I have the same setup in my hallway but rather than run the fan on high to create active airflow I run it on low as a means of venting stale, hot air. This keeps the living space comfortable enough, even in Texas, to get by with a few ceiling fans. My highest electric bill in summer of 2015 was $65, no lie.
Things you can do within your house when you're single.
As soon as you introduce this to your wife she is leaving.....
Who Do you Think is Holding the Camera?
she will stay when he gives her the money he saved on his heating & cooling bill
SethiKinsGaming - She's collecting evidence for the divorce.
This comment is gold lol 😂
I've seen whole house fans and they are pretty powerful, if you ask me!
yup, got one. cools down entire 2 story house. also good if there's excessive smoke/smell throughout the house due to cooking or what not. great for hot summer nights.
@@ntnboy85 Nice! They're not really a thing here in Hong Kong probably because it's humid here most of the year, but they would be awesome during the drier months when it isn't too cold. So instead I put a fan in my bedroom window and run the kitchen hood but still nowhere near as effective as an American whole house fan :/
I live in texas. The heat is killer. Good vid. Creative
That box fan is awesome, you can do a lot of things with It.
So basically ur making ur house cool at night when it's already cool but during the day whey it's hot? Genius!
Tthis does work , plus in winter reverse to flow and use the attic heat to warm the house!
we laughed when watching this.... esp when you stepped on a cat @ 0:10! An hour later our box fan was blowing hot air up and out of our attic. Our goal was to get our AC up to the 2nd floor, it worked perfectly. Our 2nd story is always 10+ degrees warmer with the AC on. The fan pulled the cooler air up (and out of the upstairs vents) and both floors were the same temperature.
This method does work to a degree. However, the most effective system is to have an additional fan sucking cool air inward, thus creating a cross breeze ventilation. The advantage of ac is that it removes moisture from air, which this system does not.
Attic fans work very well, but they are usually much larger.. Was a simple system that worked back in the day colls the house and and brings cool air into the attic and cools off the attic too
As soon as he plugged the fan in, it got cooler at my house. It really works!
No, it doesn't. a real whole house fan is MUCH more powerful than a POS modern box fan. Please get that straight. a box fan is NOT a whole house fan.
@@r1ckastl3y86 He was telling a joke.
@@VickiTakacs. oh, ok.
smart idea !!! wish more people would post thing s like that
Thanks! I'm glad you liked the video :)
Yeah, we also did this with an attic access in a closet. For a few seasons, we used a room fan taken off its stand, mounted on plywood with the right size hole. Worked very well, and quiet. Also used a box fan on its side for a few years. OK, but noisier and a bit less effective. It seems that being side-mounted kills these fans after a few seasons, but they're not expensive. Now using a bona-fide attic vent fan, again mounted on plywood - much more powerful, but noisier. In all cases, very good for the closet's adjacent room, cool sleeping at night, but less effective for overall cooling.
In winter, got to throw a big plastic garbage bag over the fan to keep the cold air from coming down.
Thanks for the comment. Instead of a bag, you could buy some of the thick foam they sell at craft stores and cut a piece to fit in the space.
Genius! Good idea. Hmm I don't have an attic since I am renting :(
But I understand the concept completely. So I need to get rid of the hot temperature from inside the house? At least that's a start. I am also in the same boat of not powering the A/C...yeah the power bill here is ridiculous?
I've been thinking what would be my best options:
- Buy a portable A/C
- Do more overtime and pay the damn expensive bill.
- Install solar panels
What's more annoying is, I am a nite owl so I normally have the light on late at nite and it can be very hot.
I did this to cool my condo.. it worked great = seriously saving money is plenty fun and figuring out tricks to do it on the cheap are even better ... now in my house it still works and yesterday box fan fell over and broke a blade... so room a/c and small circle fan is running to keep the air upstairs in the babies room moving and that is keeping a 81* temp day outside here about 71 ... booya! ... still going to get another two box fans since they are only $15 a piece and are probably way more energy efficient...
You should get one of those remote controlled switches and just use that instead of unplugging and plugging it in. You could also use a timer but if the power goes out you're screwed. I have both analog and digital ones and both need resetting after a power failure.
Common sense clever! Good for you! I use one of those large Costco super fans in one window pushing air out, while opening all the bedroom windows to draw in cool night air. Your idea pushes that up a notch.
C0Y0TE5 thanks! I actually got a similar fan to the one you're talking about and replaced the box fan with it. Works great and much better than just using the AC
that's a perfect spot to smoke out...
I used a box fan before for an attic fan. It wasnt as efficient as a real attic fan, but it got me thru in a pinch
dude, you cannot ventilate a whole house with a freaking 20" box fan with a 1/25HP 80 watt motor!. try a 36" fan with a 1/2HP 600-700 watt motor instead.
Lol, no dude. Let Photonicinduction to power that fan at at least 3-4 kW
james that sounds like turn your hvac fan to fan mode. that is 1/2 hp fan.
@@tzarius78
Yes but that would only recirc
But he did...
at this point get a 2000cfm stove fan
When he says “tidy police” you know he is thinking of their names in his head 😂
I have a simple enough system. I draw air from an always shaded window/s and exhaust it on the other end of the house. I use a big metal Air King reversible window fan on the exhaust end with high cfm rating. It draws enough air I have to blow dust out of the intake window screen often to keep it all flowing easy. I can run several fans lots cheaper than any single air con I ever owned. My way can be harder when there are others living here closing doors and such but living alone I can set it up any way I see fit.
This may have been mentioned before, but I live in Texas and when it is 110-120 degrees outside it doesn't make sense for us to crack the windows enough to draw and circulate air from outside. If I did that I'd just be dragging very hot air into my house. I think this would work great in moderate climates if it was 80-85. Additionally, I couldn't put the fan in close because there wouldn't be enough air flow.
If you live in your own house, build a tube trench that is at a slight downward angle, about 15 to 20 ft out, 5 to 6 ft deep, and have the highest part up near the house. Put a small vent in the floor, hook the cooling tube to it, and there will then be already cooler air coming in since the Ir at 5 to 6 ft is MUCH cooler!
All I do, following this same principle, is that I open two opposite windows of my house (as far apart as possible) and I stick a fan on one of them blowing out. Of course, all other windows are closed. By the evening, our bedroom is nice and cool. Too bad I don't have an addict so that I could blow the hot air into the house during the winter!
You're a genius. Unfortunately I live in an apartment. But great inovation.
GuitarRocks360 you can get almost the same results with a two box fan's stacked in a window. depending on the size you can either get a double window fan or a single box fan works great. make sure the box fan is at the bottom.its ok to leave the top empty, this vents the hot air. use the fan to draw in the cool air from the outside. best to use this overnight or in the early morning. before the sun comes up. depending on time of year and sun exposure. you want to shut your fans down when the sun is in the window. before you leave for the day , be sure to close ALL the windows, draw ALL the curtains and shades. this will help prevent heat loss.
GuitarRocks360 I rigged a window fan for a friend who has a house with a vaulted ceiling and no usable attic. The $20 breeze-box fan was mounted on a piece of OSB that I painted to match the exterior of the house, and it gets inserted in the track of an upstairs sliding window in the late spring, then removed in the fall when it gets cool and the rainy season starts. Since the hot air naturally rises into the second story, the fan helps to get rid of it faster during the night, and a couple of screened windows downstairs are left open to allow cool air in. It works just fine.
Nice idea. I've been doing the same thing for the past 5 years with one exception. My 20" box fan is in my walk-in closet in my master bedroom on the second floor where my attic access is and I only run it during cool weather such as early to mid Spring and early to mid Fall. I run it with my windows open on the first floor during the day and windows open in my bedroom at night when its even cooler. Great sleeping with the temperature hovering around 45°- 50°. During the Summer I turn on the air condition.
I'm going to do the same thing in my garage. Attic stairwell to draw air in through my garage and cool my attic in the summer.
Texas heat is brutal!
Have ridgevents in my roof and it will help push that heat out.
One other thing I forgot to mention. You need to have a window cracked when you run the fan otherwise it will pull air from the path of least resistance. Usually this is a chimney or the flue where a gas hot water heater is vented. Most gas hot water heaters have a pilot which is a steady small flame that stays lit to enable the burner to light. When the air is drawn down the flue it will blow out the pilot and now you have gas being pulled through your house. You figure out the rest.
Good idea. Planning this ourselves. Less interest in your big toe injury. Fast forwarded to what I wanted to see.
"That fan means business, ladies and gentlemen" Lol.
Hey! That was gonna be my line!
🤣🤣🤣 Quote of the century!
Thank you. I think it's innovative and smart, however, I really don't think it would work here in Texas where it's 90° at night. The unit would heat up and burn. I think it's a great way to cool a home inexpensively. Thanks for sharing. Blessings to all.
+navygirlchula That sounds pretty hot! My thoughts are with you this summer.
Great idea. I wish it could work on our 2 story. But what I really want to know is were you able to keep from using the a/c?
Holehouse fan are great i leave in a tropical hot country and i place one holehouse fan i love it that was my husband idea i didnt like it a t first but is great i love it
They sell attic fans and they go for $1000. This is a good idea or I am sure you can buy an inexpensive industrial fan that would move more air. It just has to be insulated in the winter in cold climates.
bg147 It'd be better to use box fans in multiple parts of the house than have just one expensive fan.
Have you considered mounting solar on your roof and running the fan off a small solar panel? You could set a timer for the fan to cycle on and off. Also there are attic fans that can be run using solar. If you are mainly interested in saving money. I'll spend money in the summer to cool the house with my AC and save it in the winter. I can always add more clothes or blankets then. Interesting video good luck with your experiments.
Seems the spiders would find that venting as being inviting when the fan isn't running. It has been awhile did you find that to be a problem. I'm thinking running it out a window at night and closing that window during the day. That is what I do with pretty much the same weather here. We get up to just over 120. Though my windows are single pain (I rent) I have blinds, and the cellking has really good insulation.
I tried this idea about seven years ago but it didn't really seem to have much of an affect. I went and bought a swamp cooler, hard wood and carpeted floors were never damaged and we stayed cool all summer.
I live in an old 3 store building and we have ventilation shafts, and wind is automatically created without a ventilator. But it is a great idea to increase the effectiveness.
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Nice. But so many comments and no one mentioned also opening a basement hole on the other end of the house? You could store some water down there for hard times, and in the mean-time it could be acting as a heat stabilizer. (P.S. try it w/o the fan some time; such a set-up was designed in our old old courthouse with no electricity. I'm thinking that "all-night-long is plenty of time to cool.)
might i sugest using a bathroom extractor fan 4/10 watts as high as possible to ceiling as heat rises extracting outside if use one with venition type vents which close when fan is not running will stop mossis getting in.Now buy a solar panel l4/10 watts + small invertor to convert to a/c then when sun is out & hot will run and extract heat when not will stop.cost to run after purchase of parts zero & fully automatic-- just a thought maybee ?
Great idea I’m totally doing this!!!
Don't you use your ceiling fans in the summer? Besides, that thing's gotta be alot more powerful. Maybe you could install another ine somewhere...
Like the idea! To bad I'm stuck using the AC. Wife has HORRIBLE allergies and opening windows is a no for me... even when the house needs a little cooling off and it's 50something outside :-(
How's this working for ya? How's you attic ventilation? It'll work so much better if you have a good vent system in your attic. If the attic gets too hot it's like a heater on the ceiling.
I'm using my cars engine and the fan of the motor, but having s little trouble getting the engine block to stay in the attic hole, any ideas?
seat belts
Disconnect the engine from the car first. Don't be embarrassed. I made the same mistake.
Pi Snoopy lmao...lmao...lol...lol
Pi Snoopy might be low on blinker fluid should have your local train engineer have a look at it
Pi Snoopy Don't put your engine in the a hole.
great job sound thinking have you considered adding more heat storage systems to increase storage capacity ie big bottles filled with water that also absorb heat during the day and release it at night. The water bottles (25 litres) could have their own heat exchanger matrix around them to help them absorb and release heat as needed
Interesting idea, I hadn't thought of that
I used to keep a box fan in my bedroom window with air blowing inside in summer nights, and it was cooling the whole room. A tested and tried idea.
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Is it the best place installing the ceiling fan in the closet ceiling? Can you install regular ceiling fan anywhere in the house?
Perhaps you could install an automated switch hooked up to a couple thermostats, once the temperature outside becomes a few degrees cooler than the inside it will turn on.
+Riley Davis or simply put an outlet timer on the power line like people do with outdoor X-mas lights... set it to turn on when it cooler and off in the day. then the only thing you have to remember to do is shut the windows and such
Kyle Gilman You have created a better idea than I. Good job.
excellent idea
In the early 1990's when Chicago IL, had the Real Bad Heat wave, I used to hose the sunny part of the house off, sometimes squirting water on the house 3 or 4 times a day
Can you give an update on your homemade fan? You have inspired me to build one. I have a box fan sitting around doing nothing. I live in the mountains in Southern California, and soon as the sun goes behind the mountains, the temps drop about 10 degrees in about an hour, which means it is usually 5 degree cooler outside than in the house. I am currently using 2 window fans, intake and exhaust, that takes to much time to feel a difference. I have easy access to my attic, like you. The entrance to the attic is in the extra bedroom. Please let me know... thanks.
I tried this setup for a while and it helped some, but I ended up buying a larger fan (the circular metal cage kind) and it was really a noticeable difference. I think you should try a pair of those for you in/out setup.
Jennies Garage How many square feet is your home? I have a 1 story, 1100sqft. Small home, just me.living in it. I ha e a 20 inch box fan. Would a 20 inch box fan work for my house.you think? Funny you answered, I was just measuring everything. Wednesday going to go buy the plywood and couple other things and do it.
Like right now, inside home is 79, outside is 68. I want that cool air in here. I have windows fans, they run all night and when I wake in morning, house is about 72 or so. But I want something that takes 60 minutes or under to cool thr house off to outside temp.
Whole house fan drops your electric bill a significant amount. In the morning , when it is cool, you open a few windows and turn on the fan. It draws cool are into the house and blows it into the attic. This cools the house, but also puts cooler air into the attic. During the day, the air in the attic has to heat up before the house begins to heat up. The air up there will get up to 130-140 degrees F. If your central air kicks on at noon, instead of 9:00 in the morning, how much lower do you think your electric bill would be? My parents have a professionally installed whole house/attic fan. I was watching their house when they were out of town. I would go over in the morning, run the fan and get the house down to about 60* and close up the house. The A/C was set to 85*, and it did not come on the entire two weeks they were out of town. It was over 100* every single day. This is something that works, extremely well.
Even using 2x6 construction and R60 attic insulation in interior *Alaska*, a box fan is insufficient to air out an entire house in a reasonable period of time. I've been having a box fan sucking the air out for about an hour. The temperature has only dropped a couple of degrees. That being said, a single room with a window open dropped to the outside ambient temperature within about 15 minutes.
In other words, a $20 box fan is underpowered as a whole house fan. The home despot does have a 30" insustrial fan that costs $129 that could be ducted to an attic opening and be very effective.
great idea, I wish I would have thought about this 20 years ago. I always wanted a whole house fan. I tried window fans but had to put one in every room, by that time the electric for all of them was as bad as running the A/C. One thing I would change is build a sliding door under the fan so you can close off the hot air from bleeding in to your house or closet in your case
vince king That's a good idea. I was thinking when I use it this summer I could cut a piece of rigid styrofoam to put there.
vince king its a good idea but there are other less DIY options similar to this like solar roof vents, IE: that spinning ball which have as good ventilation properties. The problem with a lot of homes is that when they were built in the 70s-90s energy was relatively cheap so things like wall insulation, roof venting, upper wall vents in order to channel that hot air out of the house were not put in. I think something like a solar roof vent + upper wall vent channels cut near the roof would offer you what you are looking at, sliding vents are relatively cheap and having them as adjustable vents would let you manage the room temperature in each individual area
but the point here would be to turn this make shift atic fan on at night with the window open and draw in the cool air like a window fan but you only need to run one fan thus cooling the whole house with out having to run a/c. I agree attic vents and turbines help get the heat out of the house but this is to get the air flow of the cool outside air in
this gives me an idea. I live in a cape cod and we have a storage space above the hallway downstairs and an electrical outlet on a switch that we don't really use so I could cut the hole for it and run the cord thru the attic and down to the socket with some extension cords and have my downstairs cool with a switch.
Good idea! The one thing I don't like about my fan is I have to step up on something to turn it on or off.
***** sounds great there are remote outlet switches you can buy.
*****
Hi I really like your video and I'm thinking about doing it for my house. I'm a new home owner and not a handy man by any means, so I want to be very careful before I do any modifications to my house. I live in California and my house was built in 2002. My questions are, when the fan runs, it would blow all the insulation (fiberglass) in the attic, would that cause any problems? And when the fan stops, would stuff falling through from attic back to my room? Any recommendations on which type of fan I should get?
Again, thanks for the video.
my ceiling looks just like the one shown in the video. I don't know what kind it is. I have good ventilation in my attic.
lifetime student you can use a circular saw to cut it. just trace the fan and cut on the tracemarks you made. just be careful =).
Little bit similar to the HVAC blower already in our house. Sounds like it's really just circulating the existing air I guess. But it's something
I live in Montana. 16% humidity. My day temps are 90s and my night temps are 50s. Physics works. I do this every day in my house. I get the house as cool as I can then close everything up.
My only addition to this vid is I use windows to vent the house. an attic fan would be better
Even easier idea - Get up early, like 4 or 5 in the morning. Open all the windows in the house and leave them open for about 1/2 hour Close the windows, draw the curtains and go about your day. DO NOT OPEN ANYTHING DURING THE DAY. When the afternoon hits, the inside of the house will be much cooler than the outside. I used to do it in my old apartment everyday. 90 outside, 60 inside. As soon as you open a window or door the house will heat up. Check it out!
As I am shopping online right this minute looking for whole house fans, I am liking this idea. A good whole house fan seems to be over $200 for anything over 24 inches. My contractor is recommending 36"s. I'd try your solution to a regular whole house fan except I am also concerned about a possible fire due to the house fan (box fans) are not made to replace whole house fans.
A/C Man Heating and Air My thought also Mike, but the question then would be do you need to move that much air? The one I have in my house is a regular whole house fan. When it is on, you can't hear anything else but it surely moves all of the air in the house in just about one minute on high.
I didn't need AC when I working because by the time I got home after 5pm most days. All I needed to do was turn on the whole house fan for a few minutes.
I am adding one in my daughter's house within a weeks time but I rather not spend over $200.
Hosea Johnson It definitely moves less air than a whole house fan, but I've been using this method for a few years now, and it does move a substantial amount of air. It really depends on the size of the house too. For 1000 square feet or less, it would be more than enough, but for 3000 square feet, it wouldn't do much. Thanks!
What's a whole house fan?
A/C Man Heating and Air I do not know the specs on "my" whole house fan but on high in my 1,700sqf living area, the stagnant air is completely removed (depending on how windows and doors are opened and where) in an amazingly short amount of time.
As you know, in the desert it is hot when the sun is up and as soon as late afternoon comes around, the outside ambient air begins to cool.
By the time I would get home from work and open the front door, a rush of very warm to hot air would hit me like opening a very hot oven.
I'd go into the hallway (where most whole house fans usually are installed), turn it to high and very quickly the inside ambient air is the same as out side or even cooler.
In the 11 years I lived there I didn't use a conventional AC unit. On the days I wasn't at work I used an evaporative cooler/swamp cooler.
The dry desert air is much easier to handle than the more humid climates.
How'd you learn all this stuff Mike?
One piece of advice, to make this better, it will require some cost, not much but look for a pressure optimized fan. Basically see those big gaps between the blades and the edge of the fan? well that allows air leaks and also limits air flow. I'm working on the same sort of thing for my place, the only difference I am doing is a whole house in window evap cooler that runs 4000cfm and the fan itself runs 4200 cfm, so that means I will get a nice air flow across my house in the hot desert days, so far with just the fan the temps drop to 82 when its 106 outside, cant wait for that evap to be in place.
Thanks for the advice, I'll read up on pressure optimized fans. I actually just picked up a big fan at lowes that says it can do 6800 cfm. I kind of doubt it moves that much, but it's a step up from the box fan. That sounds like a pretty good cooler. 4000cfm should really get the air moving.