What is Free Cooling?
Free cooling, also known as thermal mass cooling, is where warm, stale indoor air is replaced with the cool, fresh outdoor air. This can be done by using a whole house fan. Whole house fans draw in the cool night air, precooling your home overnight to decrease your use of your air conditioner during the day.
The more you crank the AC, the harder your HVAC unit needs to work in order to keep circulating the cool air throughout your home. This increases your energy usage and therefore your energy bill.
Free Cooling With a Whole House Fan
When it comes to free cooling, instead of using your air conditioner, you'll be opening up several windows and running a whole house fan at night. As the whole house fan runs during the nighttime and perhaps into the early morning, it pulls the heat from your home's mass (flooring, walls, furniture, etc.) more and more and releases the warm air through your attic, cooling your home down and everything in it.
You'd then simply turn the whole house fan off in the morning, close all your windows and indulge in the precooled air. Then, you'd only need to use your AC when you're trying to make further comfort adjustments.
A whole house fan:
- Draws in air from the open windows
- Vents it through your attic
- Releases it outdoors through your roof
Whole house fans increase fresh air ventilation while they enhance your indoor air quality throughout your house, which makes them an outstanding way to decrease your energy use and benefit from substantial cost savings. The U.S. Department of Energy states a whole house fan:
- Is a cost-efficient and easy way to cool any home
- Lowers indoor temperatures
- Provides outstanding ventilation
- Improves evaporative cooling
Additionally, running a whole house fan will cost you much less than the cost to run your central AC system and it uses less power than your air conditioner does. It's also eligible for various local and state energy credits, incentives and discounts.
It can be tricky to install a whole house fan, however, so you might want to call in an HVAC technician to come do the installation. They'll take measurements of your attic and install the dedicated circuit wiring, along with new attic vents, if needed. Once your whole house fan is installed, you can start enjoying the benefits of free cooling.
Feel free to call us here at Wholehousefan.com with any questions: 1-.888-229-5757