OT: need advice on a small investment for home cooling

frenchie

New member
today was a hot day and hard on AC unit, i thinking of adding an attic fan since my attic has no air movement and is very hot and i think it is leaking hot air into house. i have one big vent in attic on back of house no whirly birds or anything and attic fans don't cost much. One of my buddies goin to help add insulation to attic since i have a very big attic and insulation is kinda old and flat would it be help with heating a cooling adding more insulation and attic fan, not sure about this kinda of stuff i'm a machinist and a welder by trade not much on home improvement. What do you think Capn.
 
Anything will help Darrick but you need to make sure that you can move enough air through it.

Do you have vent hole drilled into your eaves ... or do you even have eaves? If not you'll need to make sure that you can get air into the attic so you can created some kind of circulation.
 
i'm thinking of going with the gable attic fan since i have a big vent already on back wall of attic in back of house and front of house has a small window that i was thinking of replacing with a vent cover to get air flow through attic from front to back since house is long not wide. Not sure if thats what you mean but that was what i was thinking about, not sure on how to do this all so i going to get a couple of bids from local heating and cooling places to see.
 
You pretty much want your attic to vent air into it from as low in the attic as possible and to vent it out from as high as possible. That way your getting rid of the hottest air in the attic.

Needless to say, more insulation should help considerably.
 
i guess i get ideas from the guy who's coming out just gotta do something anytime its above 95 my air kicks on and stays on and i noticed changing bulbs and light fixture in kitchen that ceiling is warm and i checked attic and its freakin hot up there so i think when its hot the attic is leaking hot air into house. Hopefully i get some decent bids to get this done house does great in winter don't have problems keeping warm just keepin cool when its hot.
 
You pretty much want your A/C unit to run all day on hot days like today. If it's properly sized it will run most of the day. It's not only cooling the house but it is also dehumidifying when it's running.
 
i get it set on 77 and it would kick of here and there until around 2 in afternoon than temp held steady at 79 and 80 and air stayed on constant until about sundown, is that normal had air unit checked out its running fine switch to regular air filters for summer so air would flow easy through unit so i don't end up like stupidreefs ac unit.
 
Insulation will help the unit keep up better but don't expect it to stay off for extended periods in this heat especially if your house isn't real tight.
 
did that on my last house and it saved me tonns of money. Too bad I have to change the windows on the new place now.
 
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