Solar Gable Vent Fan

Been considering putting a solar gable vent fan in our attic. Anyone have one?

I've had the electric version before. The electric version is only about $50 (vs. $220 for the solar), pushes about 400 more CFM, and usually doesn't draw a lot of electricity, so not sure the solar is worth the extra cost other than being a little more green. If one cuts my cooling by 30% I'd still be saving money with the electric. Thoughts?

http://www.lowes.com/pd_41125-228-S...oductId=3033209&N=0&catalogId=10051&langId=-1

I bought the electric version. After some math, it looks like it will cost about $60 - $80 per year to run. From what I've read, folks are saving 15% to 30% on their cooling bills. If that is the case then I'd be ahead each month for sure. I figured I'd experiment to see if that was the case. The extra 400 CFM also seemed like the way to go for the amount of attic I have.

Probably a good call.

We had a whole house fan in our past house. It was amazing what a difference it would make in the evenings when the cool delta breeze would come in. Turn that puppy on, open the windows, and it would shoot all the hot air out of the attic and bring in the cool air through the windows.

We don't even have air conditioning here. Just a swamp cooler. It works fine on those days when we need to take the edge off, and it's much less expensive to run than an AC.

No experience with either type, but like Brent, I'm guessing you made the right call. I'm also guessing the electric one will be less likely to break down, and if it does, it's more likely to be something you can fix (as opposed to a toasted photovoltaic cell). Plus, the extra CFM seems like a good idea.

The house we're in now is the first one I've lived in with refrigerated air. Growing up in NM, everything had a swamp cooler, and the first house I owned out here had one, too. (It was sufficient for our relatively dry climate for all but about a week every summer.) I suspect with the humidity you have in in KCMO, a swamp cooler would be about as effective as a fan and a steam iron. I like the refrigerated air, but I sure hate paying for it. Especially since my wife has a temperature tolerance band of about 10º. At 68º she's "freezing to death" and over 78º she's "burning up". Our house is warmer than most in the winter and cooler than most in the summer.

Darren, the new avatar is really neat.
I have kicked around buying and installing a gable vent fan. Does it work on a thermostat?

Jonathan Shively said:

Darren, the new avatar is really neat.
I have kicked around buying and installing a gable vent fan. Does it work on a thermostat?

Click to expand...

Thanks! The avatar fits my Darwin candidate personality.

Yes this one runs on a thermostat that comes with it, unlike the solar one that just ran when the sun was out.

This is the one I bought...http://sutherlands.com/products/product.php?item=4518940

I already have a triangle shaped vents in my gables, will just have to mount the fan to a piece of plywood matching the shape to cap off the areas not covered by the fan for the one over the garage.

For anyone else wanting to calculate what one would run at their electric rates, it was is 3.4 amp motor. I figured around 12 - 18 hours a day in the summer and after 600 Kw h our rate drops to about $.07 per Kw h. We usually average about 1000 Kw h per month, but that will change once my son isn't there leaving the lights, TV, xbox, etc. on all the time.