Air Vent Inc. 24' Whole House Fan 54301 Attic & Whole House Fans

• Air Vent #54301 24" Whole House Fan
• AIR VENT INC.

I've put in three whole house fans over the years. I installed this one a few days ago and am very pleased. I deviated from the instructions in two ways to reduce noise. First, I never follow the advice to put the fan in the middle of the house. I put it as far away from the master bedroom (no children) and around as many corners as possible. In this case, after finding I had an unusually tight-fitting garage door I put it in the ceiling of the garage. My door fits so tightly I can see no light around any edge, so the fan will produce a vacuum in the garage and pull through the door to the house if blocked open. That put it even farther from the MBR and around more corners than anywhere else in the house. Second, I stapled dark gray foam pipe insulation, the kind available in 6' lengths at HD or Lowe's, around the bottom and outside edge of the wooden fan frame. I cut one of the lengths of 1" insulation in half lengthwise and wrapped it over the bottom and up onto the side, maybe an inch, all around the base of the fan's frame. That prevented direct contact between the fan's box frame and any ceiling joist. I installed lumber between the joists under the frame and the fan sits on that (plus the teeny normal contact point on the center joist). I did not bolt the fan down (noise), but just put 1x4 lumber around the edge to keep it from going sideways. The 1x4 touched the foam also, on the sides. Since the fans pulls itself down as it pushes air up, floating the fan within the confines of the 1x4s around the edges holds it place nicely. With a separate 12-hour timer I can go to be with it running and it shuts off after things cool off. The fan is quiet enough that you can talk in a normal voice in the garage while it is running on high speed. By the way, it makes no difference where you install this thing as far as effectiveness goes. A vacuum in the house is a vacuum in the house. It will pull nicely from wherever you open a window or door. Installation took 5 1/2 hours plus about 1 1/2 for the timer because I had to fish an insulated wall and because I bought the wrong kind of electric box for the timer. If you use a timer, buy an electric box for "old work." It is made to install in the sheetrock, not to be nailed to a stud and will go much faster. Be sure to block open any door that can slam before you turn the fan on. Doors will slam shut HARD and maybe break something. I thought this fan might be too small, but it's not. When they tell you it's good for a 1500 sq ft house, it doesn't really mean anything. This house is considerably bigger than that. The size of fan has more to do with how many doors and windows you can open and still get enough air movement. With this one, you can get a very gentle breeze with one door plus one sliding glass door (we have no bugs). I really like my foam invention. This fan is noticeably quieter than my previous fans. You will need a helper to install the shutter. You can't hold it up and install a screw at the same time; at least I can't.

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This is a really great Fan! After my $ rebate from my electric utility, I ended paying about $ for this item. I performed the installation in accordance with the instructions and this unit is very quiet, other than the whoose from the wind going up into my attic. To be truthful, I was fearing the noise but this unit makes less noise that my stove exhaust fan! I am a happy camper with this deal, when it switched on it produces a nice cool breeze inside my home. My advice is use the template that comes with the fan, take your time, and follow the simple installation guide.

Good luck with your next project!

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I can hardly believe how effective this fan is. Our home is not an open floor-plan, so we used to struggle with getting airflow in different rooms. This whole house fan creates a nice breeze throughout the entire house (1800 sq ft). I installed this in the center hallway, and I can feel the air drafting through the furthest windows. Since you do not need to cut through ceiling joists, I was able to easily install this by myself. The most difficult part was ensuring that everything was centered before cutting through the sheetrock. I also wired this to a switch and left it on the high setting instead of using the pull chain. I work very slowly and methodically so it took me 6 hours to install, but an experienced handyman could do this in half the time. Throw away your window fans and invest in a whole house fan. You will be so happy that you did.

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After many years of wanting an attic fan in my "new" home I finally bought and had this fan installed. The fan works great and is very quiet except the noise of the fan blades circulating the air zero or very little motor noise.

Only two complaints.

1. The sheet metal opening at the top of the fan had 4 random dents in it. If you look at the picture, the dents were on the raised rim that circles the top of the fan blade. The installers were wondering if I should send it back because it may have been knocked around in transit. I told them to test the fan motor and continue with the install if it worked since the dents were pretty much cosmetic and only visible from up in the attic when installed.

2. My other complaint is the cheap louvers/shutters, while they work well (open and close) with the fan being on or off, are very flimsy and make random rattling noise when the fan is on. This prevents me from turning the fan on at night on the timer and falling asleep I am a very light sleeper. I can sleep with the steady hum of the fan running but the random rattling comes and goes which drives me nuts as I try to sleep. Fortunately, the way I mostly will use the fan is to turn in on an hour or two before bed to cool the upstairs and then turn it off and go to bed.

I plan to look around and if I can find quality louvers that exactly fit this fan I'll buy and switch out in a NY minute.

Pro: the company: I thought there was a problem with the fan I received (it turns out there was not), so I called Attic Aire. they were extremely friendly and helpful people. Attic Aire gets an A+ for customer service. Actually, it was a desire to give them recognition for their terrific customer service which made me want to write this review in the first place.

Pro: I too mounted the fan on a thick piece of heavy wall insulation (bought from a big box store); there is very little vibration and the noise is not an issue, we don't notice it at all. I bought the 24 inch fan, perhaps the larger fan creates more vibration and noise.

Pro: we have used the fan almost every day, even when it's not hot, since I installed it: it maintains a gentle breeze and keeps the air inside the house very fresh (which can be a problem when your daughter has two house cats).

An installation idea: as mentioned, I bought the 24 inch fan; the fan comes assembled to a wooden frame; this frame is about 27 or 28 inches across. But the rafter the fan has to sit on are 16 inches apart on center (the distance across three rafters, then, is about 34 to 35 inches). So I cut 1/2 inch plywood about 36 x 36 inch square, then cut a square hole (about 25 inches across) in the center of the plywood so the fan would sit on top of the plywood without falling through. I had to cut the plywood in half in order to get it into the attic, but that did not create any problems. I then attached the heavy duty (fire-proof) insulation styrafoam to the rafters, mounted the plywood on that, then mounted the fan onto the plywood.

Another installation idea: I did almost all the work from inside the room where the fan was installed, staying out of the attic until the end: cut the hole in the ceiling, then through this hole secured pieces of 2x4's between the rafters, then mounted the insulation, then the plywood, then the fan, then attached electrical wires to the fan, then pushed the wire cable into the attic. it was only then that I turned off the power to the house and climbed into the attic to wire the fan to the house electrical system (I really don't enjoy crouching around and balancing between rafters in the attic -and needing that one tool left by mistake in the downstairs).

Good luck with your project.