That's the sound of savings coming from the ceiling of a Reedley home. It's a whole house fan and homeowners in the valley are becoming big fans because the device can really cut down on how much electricity they use. Mary Fast uses one in her 26-hundred square foot home. In the summer, most families pay 3-hundred dollars a month or more to cool off a house that big.
Mary Fast, Whole House Fan Owner: "Usually our bill is, if we run the air for a while, between $100 and $125. If not, it's $75-$80."
The concept is simple. When the weather outside is cool enough at night or in the morning you open the windows or doors and flip the switch to the whole house fan.
The fan pulls cool air from the outside in. It's not central air ... More like a central breeze ... And it can lower the inside temperature in a hurry.
Mary Fast: "It blows the cool air from downstairs upstairs and through the attic and gives us a nice, cool home for the day. We shut it down in the morning and come home to a cool home."
While air conditioners use a series of motors and fans, whole house fans are much simpler and cost-effective.
Brad Melton, Melton Air Conditioning: "A whole house fan uses a lot less electricity because it's basically only one fan, a small motor, and you're using all that free cool from outside."
Unlike air conditioners, whole house fans can't cool your home when it's hot outside, so most people use both... Air conditioning when it's really hot, whole house fan when it's cooler.
The fans cost between two-hundred and three-hundred dollars. Installers will put them in for about 15-hundred or you can do it yourself. There are a couple knocks on whole house fans: first, they can be a bit noisy.
Mary Fast: "It does make noise, but it's consistent noise, so it's kind of a lull."
Plus, the fan pulls in dusty air, so people with allergies or asthma should avoid them.
Rohde Electric
www.servicemagic.com/rated.RohdeElectricInc.4971046.html
Quiet Cool
www.quietcoolfan.com
Airscape Fans
www.airscapefans.com
Bright Ideas
Jim Call
559.593.8099
JB Construction Services
Jerry Sickler
559.855.5880
Melton Air Conditioning
(559) 268-6286
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