What Is the Purpose of an Attic Fan?

Many homes with an attic have an attic fan facing outside. Some homeowners underestimate the usefulness of having one. But what is the purpose of an attic fan exactly, and does every home need one? The basic idea of an attic fan is that it pushes hot air out of your home. This can be very helpful in combination with air conditioning and other systems for controlling the temperature inside your home.

What does an attic fan do?

Heat always travels upwards, and this includes any heat generated by air conditioning units and other devices like boilers that affect the temperature of your home. As a result, all this heat tends to build up inside the attic. If you don’t use a fan – or at least keep a window or loft hatch open – to push that hot air out, it will accumulate in the attic.

That might not be a problem directly, but it could affect the operation of some temperature control systems inside your home. An attic fan is therefore a good auxiliary tool to be used on top of air conditioning and other similar solutions.

What are the benefits of having an attic fan?

It might seem like an attic fan doesn’t do much more beyond cooling the attic itself, but that’s quite wrong. By cooling down your attic, you can reduce the overall temperature across the entire house. This is very beneficial when using an air conditioner to cool down your home.

An attic fan will therefore make your home more energy efficient. It will also reduce the strain on your air conditioner, extending its lifetime. Finally, you will also see some benefits in the durability of your roof. By preventing the roof from constantly being exposed to high temperatures, an attic fan is a good solution for keeping your entire roof in a good condition.