Tight House

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peakbagger

Minister of Fire
Jul 11, 2008
8,776
Northern NH
The hot weather finally penetrated the house last evening so I went up in the attic and uncovered my whole house fan which had been sealed up in an energy audit. I then went down out of the attic and turned on the fan without any windows open. Lots of noise but the louvers barely lifted up. I thought they were stuck until I went downstairs and opened a couple of windows. The fan then started to act like normal. I guess all I needed was a manometer and I could have checked my air changes while I was at it. I used to be able to do this and the fan would lift up the louvers, so its good indication that my houseis lot tighter these days. I look forward to a full winter with the energy upgrades in place and my new storage which were both put on line mid season.

I did get some wood smoke smell in the house so it looks like my chimney may have been the primary air vent until I opened up a window. I know that the house is on the limit where I need an air to air heat exchanger but havent found a deal on one yet that I like.

I dont use that whole house fan often but its a nice way to get some air movement into the house on a hot night. its also handy when things cool down and dry out to vent the house out. I do have a window AC unit for my bedroom but it rarely gets installed.
 
I too have tightened up my house and I get a chimney smell when the temps are above 90°F with all the windows closed, just from 'reverse stack' effect. Leaving a window cracked upstairs all summer solves the chimney problem and ensures a minimum ventilation level.
 
We did some sealing upgrades this past year after an energy audit and now when you walk in and shut the entry door one of our large windows located on the other side of the house flexes so much that it rattles a stained glass ornament hanging near the window glass.
At least I hope that's happening because of the sealing work.
 
I dont use that whole house fan often but its a nice way to get some air movement into the house on a hot night. its also handy when things cool down and dry out to vent the house out. I do have a window AC unit for my bedroom but it rarely gets installed.
It actually works better when you have cool nights and hot days. I use my WHF to cool the house down to say 70 on cool nights then close up the windows and shut down the fan in morning.It stays in the 70s all day even if the outside temp goes well into the 90s. By the time it starts getting too warm in the house its already 9PM and cooling down outside ,anf time to start the whole process over again. I use this method to limit the use of air cond to only a few days in summer when its hot at night as well as during the day. Some summers its only a few days where the overnoght temp stays above 80. And my house(100 yrs old) is not particularly well insulated to boot.
 
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