Soffit Ridge Vent Attic Fan

Attic ventilation fans whether hard wired or powered by their own solar panels seem like a low cost and effective way to help keep your house cool.

Soffit ridge vent attic fan.

Ridge vents are a passive system simply allowing hot air to rise up through them rather than pushing it out as a fan does. Intake air is critical to maintaining a proper flow of air throughout the attic space. They re most effective when used in conjunction with a continuous ridge vent. However if your attic has blocked soffit vents and is not well sealed from the rest of the house attic fans will suck cool conditioned air up out of the house and into the attic.

Roof vents are extremely important when it comes to attic ventilation. The attic fan would go on the gable end and push outside air into the attic space to keep it the same as the outside temp. I really like the idea of just using a ridge vent and soffit vents but my concern is that the shallow pitch and long distance from the soffit to the ridge will not allow for efficient upward movement of air. Like attic fans ridge vents are designed to exhaust air that is already inside the attic.

Hvi recommends a ratio of 60 to 40 for soffit ventilation to gable or ridge ventilation. In a properly designed passive system air enters through the soffit. However the utility of attic ventilation fans is actually quite a controversial topic. These vents allow outside air to enter the attic at the lowest point of the roof along the underside of the eave.

In the summer roof vents will reduce the air temperature which reduces air conditioning and in the winter they reduce the humidity level of the cold air which in turn reduces costs for heating. An attic s intake vents are most commonly installed directly in the soffit either as individual vents spaced every few feet or as one continuous perforated soffit running the entire length of the. Attic fan ventilation attic fans are intended to cool hot attics by drawing in cooler outside air from attic vents soffit and gable and pushing hot air to the outside. Since your solar vent fan only moves 500 cfm a third to half that of a typical hardwired attic vent fan it probably won t move enough air to reverse the action of the ridge vent.

Roof vents are available in many styles and materials. Soffit vents come in several sizes and styles including small round discs and rectangular grilles. The downside of attic ventilation fans. This is different from soffit vents which allow air to travel into the attic.

Good insulation reduces fan effectiveness.