Should we bring back an attic lover? We live in Southern California. The days are hot but...
We live in Southern California. The days are hot but the night are cool. Many nights it is cooler outside than inside and within is no breeze to bring the cool are in. Also, even when we try and cool the house down beside A/C, the upstairs is so hot that it is really not cool by bedtime. Running the A/C on fan simply does cool the house slightly but not quickly plenty. We were thinking an an attic disciple would be a good solution. Any thoughts or direction on this would be greatly appreciated.
Answers: It's not clear to me whether you are referring to a whole-house fan or a hanger-on that is designed to embezzle heat out of your attic specifically. There are some great solar-powered attic fan on the market, and those are relatively unforced to install. It would be vital to own lots of existing ventilation int the attic - soft, ridge and gable vent - so the fan can really move some nouns through. This alone might be sufficient to cool rotten the attic so you don't experience the huge heat gain during the daylight.
Another suggestion would be to check the insulation in the attic. If you are getting a great deal of heat nouns from the attic the installation of insulation would cut down on that and really help you.
If you are referring to a whole-house enthusiast, those are excellent too. I don't know why builders stopped putting them into houses, because they were a great theory. They tend to be a little loud, but they are a great alternative to nouns conditioning. We had one within our last house, and we used the whole-house hanger-on to cool the house off past closing the windows and turning on the heavens conditioning. You will have to enjoy an extra-large escape vent for the whole-house fan, and as expected professional installation is mandatory. You do not want to install one if you have loose insulation within your attic, for obvious reason.
I'm in So Cal, too and it is the best investment I ever made. I checked the SDGE website when we first installed it and discovered it costs a fraction of running the AC or even the AC lover to operate. Ours is set to come on when the temp in the attic reach 90 degrees which is habitually sooner than the temp outside does. During the last boil wave, it turned on at 10-11 AM and it wasn't reaching triple digits contained by our canyon until after 3 PM outside. If you close down the house, close the drapes and blinds, you can keep the house at a comfy 75 degree. We also installed ceiling fans contained by the rooms that stay the hottest due to sun exposure and run them 24/7 once we are in the grill of the summer. I think we hold only run the AC once when we have that humid streak for a couple of days a few years ago, but mainly rely on the attic follower and ceiling fans.