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Posted by Bob on May 16, 2006, 9:48 pm
> We live in Denver. Our home is about 3,500 Sq Ft with a 3 car garage.
> We have central air conditioner. It cools the downstairs great. But
> the upstairs can get quite hot. The garage is on the west side of the
> home and gets hotter than 40 hells in there during the summer. There
> is a south facing gable in the garage. Two bedrooms are above that
> hotter than hell garage.
> Question 1: Would a power fan mounted in front of that gable suck out
> the hot air in the garage even though there isn't another gable to
> bring in the cooler air?
>
> Above the three bedrooms upstairs is an attic that gets hotter than 47
> hells. There is a gable on the east side of the house and one on the
> west side. I'm thinking something with a bit of power up there could
> suck that hot air out and help cool the upstairs vs what it is doing
> now and radiating down into the living space. Here's the twist. We
> also have a whole house fan mounted upstairs of course. But that
> sucker could substitute for an engine for a small airplane. Works
> great but forces us to open windows which defeats the purpose of the
> central air conditioner. If we don't open windows our home starts
> smelling like soot from the fireplace. I know this is getting long so
> thanks for making it this far.
> Question 2: Based on the facts above what is the best way to remove
> all that hot air out of our attic?
>
> Lastly, my daughter's bedroom is on the west side of the home. Anyone
> who knows Colorado knows the west side of the home cooks in the
> afternoon. To make matters in her room worse .... her vent barely puts
> out any air. It's been like that from day one. So her room gets hot.
> Question 3: Based on what you know about my daughters room would it
> help to have someone install an in duct fan to push more air through
> her vent? Those $39 register fans I see at Home Depot just look
> worthless but I've never bought one so I really don't know.
>
> Last part I promise. Our home was build in 1984 and the attic has a
> bunch of blown in insulation. Should that be removed and then replaced
> with newer and better insulation?
>
> To those who made it this far thanks. I appreciate your patience. To
> those who give suggestions even more thanks. I've always found this
> newsgroup to be very helpful when it comes to stuff like this.
Insulate the @#%^@ out of the attic floor. Just add more insulation with no
additional vapor barrier. Then ventilate it. Lots of vent area very low in the
attic,
and lots of vent area very high in the attic. Powered vents might help, but
passive
venting is better if you can make it work. The gable vent may "short-circuit"
the
low/high convection air flow, so you may need to block them. Remember - hot air
rises,
you want to take advantage of this. Try to arrange the vents so the air flows
through
the whole attic - there should not be "dead" spots.
Plant a to-be-large deciduous tree west of the house.
Be aware that this advise comes from Seattle. YMMV.
Bob
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