This article explains how to place an electric fan, to cool a home. Welcome to Shebang, your free information site.
Cool Your Home
Fan Placement Instructions
You can cool your home by taking advantage of the cool outside night air. Open windows work if there is a breeze, but during very hot weather the air is usually quite still. An electric fan can either blow the cool in to a home, or suck air in from the outside, to cool the home.
If the fan is set on a window sill inside the house, it will try to suck in the outside air, with only about 75% efficiency, because it picks up about 25% of the air inside the house and recalculates it. The closer the fan is located to the window screen, the more efficient it will be.
If the fan is located outside the house the efficiency will be close to 100%, because all the air blown into the house will be cool air. A fan left on all night can lower the inside temperature of the home to what the outside temperature is.
If you want to place the fan outside the house, build yourself a small sturdy platform to set the fan on, it doesn't have to be anything fancy. This will only be used for a short time during the hot weather, and can be removed at the end of the hot weather season. Make sure it is stable, safe and out of any rain. Use a power extension cord in good condition, and plug it into an outside ground fault power breaker.
Tips
Security Stick In Window
To provide security with an open window, slide the window only open enough for the fan to blow in cool air, cut a stick to length, and place it so the window will not open any further.
If you leave windows open overnight, you have to close them before the sun shines on them, or before the outside temperature rises higher than the inside room temperature. Open upper and basement windows overnight and try to fill the upper and lower house with cool night air, during the night. Place sheets or cardboard over the inside of windows facing the sun during the day. Run the summer fan on the furnace during the day to bring up the cool basement air into the upper portion of the house. Running the furnace fan is still about 3 times cheaper than running an air conditioner.
A cool attic will help to keep a house cool. A roof should have roof vents every 7 feet. The more insulation in the attic, the cooler the home will be. More insulation keeps the home warmer in winter, but cooler in summer. Lighter colored shingles reflect away more of the sunshine and heat. Trees on the property will lower the temperature 2 to 3 degrees around the house. Watering lawns and flowers also produce cool air around the property.
Furnace Summer Fan
Most furnaces have a summer fan switch, which turns on the fan in the furnace, to move the cooler basement air into the rest of the house. If your furnace does not have a summer fan switch, you can have one installed for around $150. Do not confuse the power switch with the summer fan switch.
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