Would an attic exhaust fan be beneficial??

Question

We raised the roof on our home several years ago. We didnt remove the original roof to save money. My mothers bedroom quarters are the farthest from the Central Air condenser outside. Upstairs in all our rooms, but especially hers get sooo hot. She has the thermostat in room for the upstairs. Its set at 75 degrees but it is always about 80 degrees in her room. I know its summer out but I would think the AC unit would be able to keep up since its running continuosly. There is no ice formation. The AC is set to 80 downstairs with the kids running in and out all day. Could the 1st roof be retaining th heat? Should be install fans at either end of the house? We were told it would cause an updraft and we would loose the cool air we are getting. HELPP!!!!

Answer 1

Several issues here.

1. How old is your A/C unit and when was the last time you have professionals check the Feon level? Feon leaks over time, especially if you have an older unit and some piping or connections could start rusting and feon could leak. The cooling efficiency drops and you will see the unit seems to work all the time but you don't get the same cooling it used to provide. Not only it costs a high electric bills, some part will eventually break down and cost a higher repair bill. Have someone take a look if that's the case.

2. Make sure there is sufficient insolation (Fiber glass) in the attic. Thicker is better.

3. Attic fan will help lower the temperature in the attic and help reduce the load for your a/c unit. It won't cause updraft because it is pulling the air from both ends of the attic and not from downstairs.

4. If you have any unoccupied rooms, close the vent in those rooms, and it will direct the cool air to the occupied rooms better.

Answer 2

Assuming ALL the air filters on your central A/C have been changed recently and are not fully clogged up, the most likely cause of your problem is that the ducts in your central A/C system are not properly "tuned "(i.e.sized) for the new rooms they are supposed to be keeping cool.  Effectively, not enough cool air is reaching your mother's room, because the ducts aren't the correct size for the expanded space after the remodel.

I would start by trying a duct booster, basically a small fan that sits on top of the register (vent) where the A/C air is supposed to come out and sucks out additional A/C air into the room.  That should greatly improve the flow of cooled air into the room.   If you can keep the room comfortable with one of those, that's very good news, because things likely get expensive if that doesn't work.  

If a basic duct booster isn't sufficient to solve the problem, you may very well have a much more serious issue, which is that your existing central A/C unit was sized for the pre-remodeled house and is now too small for your new, bigger house and cannot keep up with all the extra space you are now asking it to cool.  That most likely means replacing the central air system with a bigger one, or installing new window units in the rooms that cannot be cooled by the existing central A/C alone.

If the little duct booster you can buy at the home center doesn't work, it is time to call in a professional HVAC contractor.  A professional can install baffles, bigger in-line booster fans etc. to balance the system better, and they may be able to get things working better without replacing the system with a bigger one, but the fact that all the rooms upstairs are too hot after a major renovation leads me to think there is a real risk you now have more house than your old system was designed for.

An attic fan and some more insulation between the attic and the upstairs would help a little bit, but your principal problem isn't going to be solved by that, you have an A/C issue, not an insulation issue.

Answer 3

How about this,simply turn the thermostat down.an attic fan will help draw the hot air out of the attic.

Answer 4

an attic exhaust fan is always beneficial for keeping the upper part of the home cooler. Make sure you have good insulation also otherwise your letting all your cool air escape. The upstiars will always be about five degrees hotter then the downstairs in the summertime.