Can a Whole House Fan Keep My Home's Air Healthier?

Ensuring adequate outdoor air ventilation can help decrease indoor airborne contaminants. This includes viruses; even SARS-CoV-2 - the virus behind COVID-19, reports the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But, increasing ventilation by itself isn't enough protection from COVID-19 virus exposure. When you use it together with other best practices recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), like social distancing, wearing masks, surface disinfection, and frequent hand washing, increasing ventilation could be part of your protection plan for you and your family.

According to the EPA,  to increase your home's ventilation:

• Open screen doors and windows (only if doing so won't pose a health or safety risk to family members and children (i.e. triggering asthma symptoms or risk of falling)
• Run an evaporative cooler or whole-house fan, if you have one

How Does a Whole House Fan Work?

Whole house fans pull outdoor air in from open windows and turn around and exhausts it through the roof and attic. It offers great attic ventilation along with whole home cooling. Whole house fans should be providing your home with three to six air changes per hour, although this will vary depending on your floor plan, climate, etc.

You'll want to speak with an expert to determine what's good for your home. The air-change rate you'll decide on will depend on how much you plan on depending on the fan for cooling and your climate.

When you run a whole house fan as it's supposed to be with open windows, it produces significant ventilation increases with outdoor air throughout your home.

One great thing about a whole house fan that not a lot of people know about is it can help prevent sickness during the flu and cold season. During the year's colder months, it's common for homeowners to shut all their windows and run a closed-loop heater 24/7. But, when your home is closed up tight, particularly in the wintertime, all types of things become trapped indoors like:

• Allergens
• Bacteria
• Odors
• Pet dander
• And more

If one family member becomes ill, it usually spreads through the whole family. Often family members will become sick several times throughout the flu season because of this.

So, if you run a whole house fan for around five to 10 minutes each day, it could help you exhaust the germs and viruses out of your home. Now, while there are no guarantees, it could help prevent a sickness and virus from spreading throughout your entire family.

Installing a whole house fan can be a bit challenging. Therefore, you should hire an expert to come in and do the job. An experienced expert will come and take your attic measurements, install the dedicated circuit wiring and possibly new attic vents and perform the other tasks necessary.

If you have any questions about whole house fans, call us direct at

1-661-775-5979 M-F 7 am – 5 pm PST.