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> What types of whole house fans are
available?
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There are basically three different types of whole house fans on
the market today.
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TYPE I
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 The first, Type I,
is the most common. It is a 20” to 36” diameter fan,
either a direct drive or belt driven assembly that
mounts to the ceiling on the attic side. It requires a
large cutout in the ceiling and uses a moveable louver
grill to cover the hole in the ceiling. They move a
large volume of air (3,000 to 9,000 cfm) and do an
excellent job of cooling and ventilating a house Their
main advantage is that they are the least expensive to
purchase; but they have many disadvantages such as:
- They can be difficult and expensive to install.
- They are very noisy in operation.
- It can be difficult or impossible to find an ideal
location for them in many homes.
- They do not cool or ventilate an individual room
when the room door is closed.
- They offer little thermal insulation protection in
cold climates in winter.
- Belt drive models require periodic maintenance.
- They appear unattractive in the ceiling.
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TYPE II
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 The second , Type
II, is a small volume (1,000 to 1,600 cfm) fan assembly
with motor driven shutter doors that mounts directly to
the ceiling. They use less power to run, and their main
advantage is their exceptional insulation qualities
which are useful in extremely cold climates in
wintertime. It does have several disadvantages:
- They are the most expensive to purchase.
- Their noise level, less than most Type I whole
house fans, is still a bothersome whine and is
unacceptable to most people while viewing television
or sleeping.
- They provide very little cooling or ventilation in
a timely manner when installed as recommended by the
manufacturer.
- They are inexpensive per hour to operate, but
require many hours of run time to accomplish their
purpose.
- They do require carpentry framing
modification to install.
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Type III |
 The third, Type
III, is a QUIETCOOL
QC-1500. (U.S. Patent Pending) It is an innovative
whole house fan that has none
of the disadvantages of Type I and Type II.
It’s big advantage is that it is not mounted to the
ceiling but instead is suspended in the attic with
straps from the roof rafters. It’s connected to an
attractive ceiling diffuser with a flexible insulated
duct, thus eliminating all vibration, rattle and noise
in the house. It is so quiet in operation that it can be
installed in a bedroom or sleeping room without a
sleeping person being able to hear it.
This cleverly engineered system can be installed
almost anywhere in a ceiling or vertical wall in less
than 1/3 the time it takes to install a Type I or Type
II whole house fan. It has a damper with insulated doors
that prevents cold air intrusion in the wintertime. One QC-1500 performs
better than one Type II whole house fan in all respects,
but we recommend that one QC-1500 be installed for each 500
Sq. ft. of living space (ideally one per bedroom) to
obtain the cooling breeze of a type I whole house fan.
This also allows the cooling and ventilation to take
affect even with the bedroom door closed as long as a
window is open. |
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A whole house fan is by far the best method of providing
ventilation for the whole house.
Every time a whole house fan is operated, it draws the foul
air within the house up into the attic and then forces it out of
the attic through the attic vents .
