Has anyone installed a garage attic fan?

[tallhair]

Thanks 747. Appreciate the tip

 

[440+6]

If you want to move air out of the garage get it outside not in the attic (adding humidity to attic is a no no)! you can go through the roof or out a back wall, roof preferred.
Secondly use a dehumidifier large enough for your volume and pipe outside like shown above(Portable ac units do work well if sized correctly, they have been using them in Europe for at least 30 years and are a great alternative).
Also make sure you gable vents are doing there job, the cooler the attic the easier to cool the house and garage.
You say your garage is already insulated on all sides so you are ok there.
A cool and dry garage makes for happy cars, Good luck

 

[scotts74birds]

I'm kinda stuck here. Additional venting the of the attic will do little to help the temps in the garage. It sounds like you are already well ventilated. Additional airflow through the garage will make it "feel" cooler, but will still be at the mercy of the ambient outside air temp being drawn in. To take advantage of the west facing garage, maybe a tubine exhaust, and an air-intake near the floor of the shaded side of the garage. This would allow natural "convection" in which the hot air rises out, and the lower pressure would draw air in from the shaded area. This is a low cost option that will give you a small, but free, benefit.

 

[tallhair]

Well it looks l like the roofers will be here this week. I've given up on the attic fan ideas (for now at least) but am having a man door with security glass put in to replace solid one. Also putting a window in the garage sooo

Another question or few for you guys

I'm gonna have a window put in the South wall (house faces West). I told them to make it the faux 6 pane upper/lowers, insulated, double hung windows to match the rest of the house so i can open the window for ventilation, a window fan, or so i can stick a A/C in it if I need to. There is a 120V electrical outlet very close to where the ideal spot is for the window. It may have to be moved. It's approx a little higher than waist high now and they may have to move it. I'm thinking move it down, under the window about a foot off the floor like household outlets.

This morning it occurred to me based on something suggested in my compressor thread. Maybe I should change that outlet to 220V in case i do wind up with an A/C and convert the compressor to 220V. I imagine i could only run one device at a time off a 220V wall outlet and that probably wouldn't be optimal cause I'll be out there working when it's hot and using the A/C if I put one in, and i imagine I'd want to use the compressor .. but I don't know anything about electricity.

Any suggestions are very welcome !!

Thanks

 

[coloradodave]

" The attic is open to the rest of the first floor attic and has soffit and ridge vents."
When I was contracting, the National Code required that the garage wall that's common to the house had to be a 'fire wall' (2 layers of 5/8" sheetrock) all the way up to the roof, effectively separating the garage attic space from the living quarters attic space. Has the code changed? Just curious...

 

[Budnicks]

" The attic is open to the rest of the first floor attic and has soffit and ridge vents."
When I was contracting, the National Code required that the garage wall that's common to the house had to be a 'fire wall' (2 layers of 5/8" sheetrock) all the way up to the roof, effectively separating the garage attic space from the living quarters attic space. Has the code changed? Just curious...

That's still code in Calif...

 

[Hemirunner]

I built my shop with in-floor radiant heat. I also added in a air handler with an A-coil hooked to a condenser unit outside so I could just air condition the whole shop. I have plenty of soffitt vents and a full length ridge vent but the attic still gets hot. I'll be adding an exhaust fan at the end of the south gable wall to pull fresh, cool air up through the eaves and exhaust the hot air. The shop area is very tight and gets very humid without the A/C on.

 

[tallhair]

" The attic is open to the rest of the first floor attic and has soffit and ridge vents."
When I was contracting, the National Code required that the garage wall that's common to the house had to be a 'fire wall' (2 layers of 5/8" sheetrock) all the way up to the roof, effectively separating the garage attic space from the living quarters attic space. Has the code changed? Just curious...

It's open, wide open to the rest of the first floor attic but perhaps the upper story which juts up through it but not out as far as the outside edges of the first floor attic has that spec ??

That's still code in Calif...

Which is probably the highest code next to where Bob Vila (sp?) used to work ?? Boston area ?? Man I loved the old days of that show !

I built my shop with in-floor radiant heat. I also added in a air handler with an A-coil hooked to a condenser unit outside so I could just air condition the whole shop. I have plenty of soffitt vents and a full length ridge vent but the attic still gets hot. I'll be adding an exhaust fan at the end of the south gable wall to pull fresh, cool air up through the eaves and exhaust the hot air. The shop area is very tight and gets very humid without the A/C on.

I may still do the attic exhaust to push hot air out of the attic (finished ceiling and walls) after the window is in and the screen door on the man door is added. I'll try natural ventilation with the new window, window fan, circulating fan on a stand, and if that don't work and I'm actually working out there enough, possibly an A/C unit. We'll see on the last one but I'm dreading the electric bills and the wifes opinion on that LOL

Sounds like a killer shop and the radiant heat sounds pretty awesome, but the insulated garage/garage door and heat radiating out of two walls seems to be enough for the winter in my "house garage". If I could A. afford it, and B. lived where I had the room I would definitely build a monster or even a moderate shop and would certainly put in-floor heat in it. My buddy has it and it's awesome. His setup is water lines to the floor are buried underground (I don't know how deep) so water is always like 50* or something and it only has to be heated minimally to radiate heat in the cold. He heats the water with a log fired furnace with pumps and manifolds which circulates the water through the floor. He doesn't have A/C but he's out in the country and the wind out there near the interstate and no trees to speak of blows all the freaking time so in the evening with the doors open it's not too bad. I'm not a fan of his location btw

Thanks again to all of you for the help and suggestions !

 

[A383Wing]

I just found a $200 gable fan on Craigslist for $35..new in box with t-stat included. I installed it in my house attic a few weeks ago...it works great.

set to come on at around 105* and off around 90* or so...I can really feel the difference in the house at night after it has shut off at set temp. My house has attic insulation blown in as well

Bryan

 

[Hemirunner]

Tallhair,
I'm just 2-1/2 hours north of you and they humidity we've had has been brutal! It's supposed to cooling down now through next week.

 

[tallhair]

Tallhair,
I'm just 2-1/2 hours north of you and they humidity we've had has been brutal! It's supposed to cooling down now through next week.

Thanks for the positive outlook for the future Hemirunner !! I'm a sweatin fool everytime I spend a few minutes out there right now. I feel for these poor roofers but actually it could be so much worse this time of year!

Where is 2 1/2 North from me if your are down south ? I've always considered my neighborhood on the northern frontier of Southern Illinois LOL

 

[goose69]

In my other house (which is now my rental) I had a squirrel fan inside of a box that drew air from a central high point in the house and blew it through a wooden duct and out the gable end. Holy crap did it ever move air through that house. I could open any window or door on the cool side of the house and in minutes it was cooled down. You could stand in the open window space and feel the rush of air flowing through. I'm looking into installing another one of a similar style in my current house.

 

[tallhair]

In my other house (which is now my rental) I had a squirrel fan inside of a box that drew air from a central high point in the house and blew it through a wooden duct and out the gable end. Holy crap did it ever move air through that house. I could open any window or door on the cool side of the house and in minutes it was cooled down. You could stand in the open window space and feel the rush of air flowing through. I'm looking into installing another one of a similar style in my current house.

thanks goose. Before we had A/C back in the 70's we used a box fan in the hot end of the house with it blowing out and opened the door and windows on the cool end. It did a fantastic job of sucking cool air into and through the house

 

[Hemirunner]

Where is 2 1/2 North from me if your are down south ? I've always considered my neighborhood on the northern frontier of Southern Illinois LOL

Peoria. The down south comes from talking to a lot of people in the Chicago area. They always say, Oh, you're from down south, lol

 

[A383Wing]

thanks goose. Before we had A/C back in the 70's we used a box fan in the hot end of the house with it blowing out and opened the door and windows on the cool end. It did a fantastic job of sucking cool air into and through the house

we did that also in our other house

 

[tallhair]

Well It's 79 degrees here now and it feels like 70. That relief sure came through Hemirunner!

I can't wait until the window is in Bryan .. I'll have a window fan it sure. The go from there

 

[mosquito13]

attic fans are awesome !!! use ours all the time here in fla. several road houses i frequent have them. clears out a smoky bar fast and pulls in fresh air. at the house control breeze by opening certain windows. the one u picture looks small. you want huge cfu for best effect. ours is like a big attic access door with louvers.

 

[A383Wing]

this is what I found on Craigslist for $35

it really moves some air out the gable outlet...and it ain't all that noisy

 

[tallhair]

Well the work on the house is finally done and I've got my new window in and a replacement man-door with a window and I'm loving it. I went with a smaller window which I regret already but I still love the light coming in and the view out the window and door. I'll see this summer how the added pass through ventilation works out but for know I'm just happy every time I walk out to the garage. Feels so much less claustrophobic out there now and the natural light during the daytime is just heaven. Now i just need to find an itty bitty fan for the window LOL

Here's some morning photo's from about an hour ago



Here's one of the other side of the garage. Prior to new man-door and window it was like a total tomb in there and somewhat claustrophobic with the door closed.




This shot show's what it looked like before with the garage door down (it's solid) and the light on. (I don't have good lights up yet)

 

[snakeyes]

I can see why your trying to get rid of a few things ,pour RT is a large storage container