Attic Power Vent - Attic Ventilation Problem Solution Basics

Attic power vent warning:

Fan blades are extremely sharp! When doing any type of maintenance work around it, make sure that power supply to the motor has been turned off! Most of those vents are controlled by a heat or humidity sensing switch, and can become active/cause injury while you're performing cleaning.

Humming, muffled noise coming from above the ceiling during the summer is most likely an attic power vent, working hard to pull out hot air from under the roof (attic power vent should be placed close to the roof ridge - top, or installed as a gable vent).

The most common installations include adjustable thermostat and in some cases humidistat, which activates an attic power vent motor accordingly with your preferences (once set, it operates automatically responding to temperature or/and humidity changes).

There are also some devices preset by the manufacturer (usually between 85F - 100F), and attic power vents with no sensor at all, controlled by on/off switch mounted in various location (usually close to the attic entrance).

For the attic power vent to serve its purpose properly, and save instead of wasting your money, certain requirements have to be met:

There must be other, adequate number (or more likely square footage area) of ventilation ports installed in lower section of the roof.

Those ports are called:

soffit vents, if your house roof has an overhang, which extends beyond the house exterior wall
or gable vents - located at the attic area, commonly on the exterior wall where the two planes of a sloping roof join, forming a triangle

There's a possibility, that type of your roof allows only for installation of vents on its surface - good examples are hip roofs on many of the Chicago style Georgian type homes, which have no overhang/soffits.

In such case, if the attic power vent has been installed in upper section of the roof, passive vents should be placed not less than 1/3 of the distance between the roof bottom edge and top (ridge). Hip / ridge vent system can be also installed, or vented drip edge mounted along the roof edges.

For the attic power vent to perform efficiently, the attic floor, and all penetrations between the attic and living area of your house should be properly insulated and sealed.

Any gaps, holes, and lack or inadequate number of attic vents will cause attic power vent to create a vacuum, and remove AC cooled air from the house. In some properties, there's an open duct (or two) between the attic and utility room, which provides combustion air for gas burning appliances - it must remain open on both sides.

Make sure that the attic power vent, or its opening is protected with wire mesh / screen. Vents are usually equipped with wire mesh that wraps exterior of the fan blades housing, and prevents rodents from accessing attic area. If that screen becomes damaged and you decide to install one from the attic side, be prepared to clean it often - the birds often build nests inside the fan, especially during the cold season.

Also, some of the larger animals are strong enough to penetrate this obstacle, in the process damaging fan blades. Therefore, it's a good idea to examine your attic periodically - be careful, most attics have no flooring installed, and walking on framing is difficult / if possible, examine fan condition from attic access point.

Before installing a new attic power vent in your house attic area, make sure you properly calculate square footage area - vent calculator. If installed fan is too small, it will have to operate much longer, to move the same amount of air through the attic.

Adjusting thermostat too low might cause fan to run constantly during hot summer - try to set the temperature dial to a 100 -110 degrees Fahrenheit.

The fan should start automatically as soon as the attic temperature rises above the preset setting, and cuts off when the attic is cooled down to approximately 10% below the thermostat setting.

Go Green and try low voltage, solar battery operated power vent - saves money on installation, very quiet, but approximately 3 times as expensive, as a regular attic power vent.

For more valuable information from Dariusz Rudnicki, on how to maintain your real estate property, correct most common problems, and prevent serious disasters by doing repairs the right way, please visit http://www.checkthishouse.com

Dariusz is a licensed Illinois home inspector who has been in this business for over eleven years, crawling through the areas you'd newer expect that even exist in your house... just to let you know that everything is working properly... or not. If you have some attic ventilation, or any home maintenance related questions, you can always ask him for help.

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Heater Humidifier - Solution For Your Moisture Related Health Issues!

A humidifier is looked upon as an appliance that can help in controlling humidity in a single room or the entire house. A heater humidifier plays an important role in controlling the moisture levels in your house. While heater provides a good efficient solution to combat extreme cold climate it is also important that you get fresh air for your breathing.

Several health issues are related to the moisture levels at different range. A high moisture level may result into molds and energies while a low level may create itchy eyes and other skin related problems.

The component or the basic parts in a humidifier includes reservoir, wick and a fan. The common types of these models can be classified as cool mist, evaporative or wick humidifier.

In case of warm mist or vaporizer models the water is boiled and the steam is released as moisture into the air. An external inhalant can be added to the steam for some medical purpose and this type of air is healthier can cool mist as it removed impurities completely.

Ultrasonic models create water droplets that are released as cool fog in the environment. These models should be cleaned at regular interval of time to avoid contamination through bacteria.

Some additional features in these types of models can be a humidistat feature that can give you information about the current humidity level in the atmosphere. An electronic device of this type serves the purpose of a sensor element with a relay amplifier and has metal conductors on a small flat plate.

The other feature may be an alert mechanism for the replacement of filters. Filter in this device may become dark in color and also needs to be replaced after some time. This feature ensures that you are able to maintain your appliance with fewer efforts and with accuracy.

You may try to install heater humidifiers in isolation for your guest rooms or bedrooms. You can also install a model with high capacity for your office place so that you can have a refreshing stock of air inside your office place.

Since heater humidifier comes in different size and designs it is also easy to select an appropriate model that can suit your requirement. You can always opt for some portable models for your personal use. During extreme cold climate conditions when you are forced to stay indoor for longer period of time you may rely on these products for your sound health and heating solutions.

The author is an expert in the field of humidifiers [http://heaterhumidifier.org]. To get access to more uses about this product visit our website heater humidifiers [http://heaterhumidifier.org]...

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