Heat and moisture are your enemies when it comes to your home. Especially if you have an upstairs bonus room or bedroom, they will get uncomfortably hot in summer. Adding a solar powered fan to your attic is a very wise choice.
Benefits of Solar Attic Fans
If you’ve ever been in your attic, you know just hot the space can get, especially in summer months. The sun beats down on the roof surface and heats up the stagnant air inside the attic. Building codes require homes to have a passive vent system. But, passive ventilation does not provide the pressure needed to force the air through the attic and outside. That’s where a motorized fan comes in. An attic fan placed at the roofs ridge will pull air in from outside, force it to move through the entire attic space and escape through the attic vent. In summer months, a solar attic fan can reduce the temperature in an attic by up to 40°F!
Solar Attic Fan is a simple and environmentally sensible solution that can protect your home, neutralize moisture and drive out heat, keeping your home cool in summer and protecting it from harm during the winter, and even save you money.
Solar attic fans will run completely on the solar panel, powered by sunlight, and pull superheated air out of your attic to be replaced by cooler outside air. They cost nothing to operate and are virtually maintenance-free. They also require no electrical wiring, making them easy to install and maintain. Solar Attic Fans are very efficient, compact and they run very powerfully. With Solar Attic Fans, your attic will stay cool and dry. As a result, you feel cooler, greater comfort and prolonged roof life.
Solar Is Safer?
The effectiveness and safety of attic fans is a debated subject, but studies show that standard line-powered fans actually cost more to operate than they generate in savings. And they can create zones of negative pressure, which risks pulling conditioned air from the house into the attic and the dangerous possibility of pulling gases from combustion appliances back into the house — namely, carbon monoxide. Since solar-powered fans don’t draw nearly as much air as line-powered fans, neither of those concerns comes into play. Plus, a PV fan doesn’t cost anything to operate once it’s in place.
How A Solar Attic Fan Works?
Does Solar Attic Fans Run On Batteries? Will It Operate At Night?
Your Solar Attic Fan will run completely on the solar panel. When the sun goes down, normally, your fan would stop, even if your attic is still hot. And it also does not run on batteries. It only operates when the sun is out.
The answer is: No!
But here is the solution:
Your solar attic fan will be able to run at night if you buy a hybrid power source (or hybrid power adapter). But we call it is Solar Controller for Attic Fan.
When there is no sunlight available to power the fan and the Solar Controller has the optional house power connection enabled, the Solar Controller will cycle house electricity in order to power the fan. This will allow your attic temperature to continue to drop after sunset and help remove the hot, stagnant air that can build up on those warm summer evenings.
For Example: When the sun goes down, your fan turns off, regardless of attic temperature. In hotter climates, even at night, the attic doesn’t cool below 80 degrees. With the “hybrid power adapter”, you can plug your Solar fan into your house power and it will activate the fan if the temperatures are still over 80 degrees…yet the sun is down. Your attic fan will run off of your solar panel first. It will only draw from house power if: “the sun is not powering your attic fan and if your attic is still above 80 degrees“.
Our Favorite Solar Controllers for Attic Fan:
How Many Solar Attic Fans Do I Need?
Before running out to buy an attic fan, take some time to check the existing attic ventilation on your house. While the type and number of vents will vary depending on the specific roof design, house location and amount of direct sun, a minimum venting system should have 1 sq. ft. of roof vent area for every 300 sq. ft. of attic area (1/300). When it comes to Attic Fans, More is Better.
Attic vent fans are rated by CFM (cubic feet per minute). To determine what size power vent fan you need for your attic, see the chart below:
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Best Solar Attic Fans For The Money
1. Durabuild Solar Powered Attic Fan Review
The Durabuild solar attic fan is designed to keep your attic cool and dry by driving out built-up heat and moisture. It’s the perfect solution for small attic spaces and moderate to mild climates.
This attic fan promises thermostatically controlled temperature regulation for spaces up to 1850 square feet with its 24v motor and 20w solar panel that is thermostatically controlled. If the conditioned space reaches 85 degrees, the motor turns on and once it cools to 65 degrees, it will automatically shut off. The durable Grade 5 ASB shroud is impact and UV resistant. Shroud and panel are adjustable to maximize sun exposure. Oversized galvanized & powder coated flashing resists rust and protects against leaks.
Other Features:
- Engineered to be the most efficient solar attic fan line on the market.
- Runs very quiet.
- May qualify for federal and/or local tax rebate
- Limited 5-year warranty on the fan and 20-year warranty on the solar panel.
- Easy to install and looks good.
2. Natural Light Solar Attic Fan (36W) Review
The Natural Light brand solar attic fans are top rated by builders and are the highest quality built in the USA! Powered completely by free solar energy, this sleek and efficient vent is both compact and quiet. Fully operational right from the box, it installs easily, with no electrical wiring, no expensive electrician and city permits. And let’s not forget powerful!
A single 36-watt unit can fully vent up to 2,625 square feet, operating at up to 1,628 cfms. Natural Light has developed a unique adjustable mounting bracket that allows the solar panel to be positioned in the angle where it will collect the most sunlight to provide optimum fan performance. The mounting bracket also allows air to continually circulate around the solar panel keeping it cool for a consistent output. This Solar Attic Fan mounts on 3/12 to 12/12 pitch roofs. (this unit not for flat roofs or side wall mounting). Natural Light also provides a solar panel in 12, 24 and 60 watts to accommodate the correct amount of ventilation needed.
The Natural Light Solar Attic Fan utilizes a German engineered direct current motor. The motor is precision balanced to achieve low motor vibration and low motor noise. Additionally, the motor sits in an isolation bracket to further ensure a smooth, quiet operation. Each motor undergoes individual motor winding testing to ensure consistent motor performance.
Other Features:
- May qualify for federal and/or local tax rebate.
- 25-year limited warranty on entire unit.
- Easily installed with No wiring required.
3. BROAN 345SOBK Solar Attic Ventilator Fan 28W Review
The BROAN 345SO Attic Ventilator features a 28-watt solar panel that captures sunlight from dawn to dusk and efficiently converts it into electric power to keep attics cool and dry all day long. It provides 537-maximum-CFM (or a 3,222 cubic foot attic) and year round protection for the structure of a home.
The housing features a molded design of UV-stabilized, color-dyed, rugged ABS plastic that withstands hail and resists fading to remain attractive for years. It may also be painted to match roof color. Corrosion-resistant aluminum screen keeps pests out without impeding airflow. Stainless steel fasteners and galvanized steel brackets for durability, corrosion resistance, and longer life.
Check Amazon Price4. ECO-WORTHY 25W Solar Attic Fan + 1pc 30W Solar Panel
Eco-Worthy is one of the best solar panel manufacturers on the market. Eco-Worthy Solar Attic Fan provides proper venting cools your roof and extending the material life. It also reduces the load on your air conditioning system, will cut your cooling costs dramatically and makes your attic be cooler very quickly.
The single 25watt solar vent fully vents up to 2,200 square feet area, and provides up to 1900 CFM of ventilation, with the new high-efficiency brushless motor keeps you a quiet environment!
In addition to, at a very low price, it comes with a 30W poly folding solar panel that can give your 25W attic fan enough power to work even on the cloudy days. The 30W poly folding solar panel includes angle adjustable bracket and 5m wire then you can adjust the optimal angle relative to the sun to get the best efficiency!
Other Features:
- Continuous working even in cloudy days (minimum 3.5V start up).
- Brushless motor quiet power on.
- High-quality poly solar panel with angle adjustable bracket, can be applied to different roofs.
- Simple connectors, easy to install and operate, just plug and play.
5. Amtrak Solar Attic Fan (35W) Review
For any solar attic fan to perform well it will need power from solar panel. If the solar panel is low wattage the fan motor will not get enough power to run the fan. Amtrak solar panel provides 35W high quality crystalline solar panel, unlike competitors which offer only less than 30 watts solar panel.
This fan could be installed in the gable vent or anywhere in an attic. The fan turns on as soon as the sunlight hits the solar panel and runs all day. Keeps the house cool and ventilated with fresh air circulation all day.
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