BOULDER Blog

Big Fans of Solar Attic Fans

At Koala Insulation of Boulder, one of the few things we dislike about working within insulation is when it’s late in the day and we’re still doing an insulation install in one of our customer’s attics.  The reason for this is because later in the day the attic is by far the warmest portion of your entire home.  Usually, we see the temperatures peak in attics late in the afternoon/evening, well after noon when the sun is at its peak for the day.  

Typically, the temperature in a home’s attic is 20-25 degrees warmer within the attic than the temperature registered outside, or on your phone, for that time of day.  That means, for the warm summer that we’ve had this year in Colorado, most attics are well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit throughout most of the day.  (Did you know: Koalas, due to their thick fur and thick skin, become uncomfortable in temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit?). 

So, why should you care?  Excessively warm temps in the attic inevitably find their way into your home, usually playing out through temperature differences between the first and second floors.  Inconsistent temperatures throughout the home are a common complaint that we hear form homeowners. 

Similarly, inconsistent temperatures throughout the home often mean that homeowners are constantly adjusting the temperature for the HVAC within the home.  As anyone who has recently replaced their HVAC system within the home can tell you – this is a very expensive home improvement project.   

How can you as a homeowner combat this?  One way of combatting it that we love, and has been very popular in the area, is through installing a solar attic fan.  Solar attic fans are, as the name implies, powered through solar power derived from the external portion of our roof.  They’re a relatively small unit that goes on top of your home, with a measuring device that drops down into the attic.  When your attic heats up, or the humidity picks up, they kick on and get to work – though you would never know it because they’re just as quiet as most other home appliances.  These fans pull the hot air out of your attic and actively manage ventilation.  This pulls the air outside, as opposed to it finding ways down into your living space. 

As a result of this functionality, they help to save energy (limiting HVAC usuage/adjusting), extend the life of the HVAC unit itself, lower cooling costs, and reduce moisture levels.  In conjunction with proper insulation, they work exceptionally well to keep the living spaces within the home a comfortable temperature. 

‘Well, I have soffit vents and other vents in my roof already.’  We hear this regularly.  Those are good options, but not great ones.  We refer to those as ‘passive forms of ventilation management.’  By that we mean, those provide a pathway and hope naturally the rest is taken care of.  Comparatively, solar attic fans are active forms of ventilation management – responding to temperatures/humidity and pulling the air out of the problem space. 

The best part about these?  Since they are a solar upgrade for your home, the cost of the product/install is eligible for a 26% federal tax credit at year end.  In terms of immediate return on investment for home upgrade projects, this one’s hard to beat. 

All of this combines for why we’re big fans of Solar Attic Fans.   

-Obie