Should You Use a Solar Attic Fan
Proper circulation of the air in any house is crucial in keeping the air free of moisture, mold, mildew and mites that could affect the health of the people that live in the house and the structure of the house itself. Most houses will have an arrangement of air vents throughout the rooms that allow air to come and go and keep the environment fresh. A solar attic fan is now seen as a useful and cheap component of any system that maintains the air quality within both commercial and residential properties. So what exactly is a solar attic fan and why does every home need one ?
In most houses the heat rises and often becomes trapped in the attic or loft. With this heat comes moisture. If the moisture is allowed to sit then it may encourage mold and mildew to grow or mites to breed. If the mold and mites can spread or be recirculated throughout the house it could have adverse effects on the occupants health. Therefore there is a need for some kind of device that can cause the hot air to be recirculated or expelled from the house.
Moisture that is not removed from a house may cause the structure or frame of the house to become damp and weaken over time. This is especially true of wooden framed houses. This is obviously an undesirable outcome.
Removing excess heat and moisture was traditionally done using a standard fan that connected to the mains electricity supply.
Any fan will send the pressure of heat and vapor through its vents to the outside world. The vents and all pieces of machinery that come into contact with moisture are best made in stainless steel to avoid rusting. But by far, the biggest problem facing someone trying to fit anything in their loft is wiring.
And a fan connected to the mains would obviously cost money to run. It may also be prone to breaking down over time.
The solar attic fan has none of these problems. The joy of a solar fan is that it needs no wiring. It is a solid state piece of equipment, put in place by someone with basic building skills. Long gone are the worries about sending wires up to the top of your house.
Most people, when they ask a builder to install a piece of machinery such as a loft fan, will be faced by the sad truth that they might have to have their entire house re-wired in order to come up to safety standards. A solar loft fan, by its very nature, takes its power directly from a solar cell, positioned on the roof and coming into direct contact with the sun.
The solar fan will run runs non-stop 24 hours a day at no cost
If you read the information, which comes with most good quality solar fans, they will explain that you cannot get away with using just any sort of fan. The whole point is to provide an equal pressure of air, constantly throughout the attic or loft. Heat and moisture will build up at the top of a house. So it is important to make sure you have evacuated the whole of the area, and not just a few pockets. A solar attic fan is your best bet.
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