A Case For The V In HVAC

4 May 2016
 Categories: , Blog

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For many people, the acronym HVAC simply stands for heating and air conditioning. In reality, it stand for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. The "v" is more than than a leftover from a time when ventilation, a term used to describe the operation of fans, was the only way to cool a home. In fact, if you install a house fan in your home, you can reduce your cooling costs when used in conjunction with an AC unit. 

House Fan vs. Ceiling Fan

When discussing the benefits of a house fan, it is important to note that there is a huge difference between a ceiling fan and a house fan. For starters, a ceiling fan is designed to move air around a room. By way of contrast, a house fan is designed to cool an entire house. To install a house fan, workers must first cut a hole through the ceiling of the top floor in your home to the attic. They then install the house fan in this hole. A house fan must be sized based on the square footage of your home, and once in place, it can pump all of the hot air out of your home in a matter of minutes. 

A House Fan vs. an AC Unit

An AC unit cools a home by using a refrigerant to absorb heat from the air in your home. Because of the design of an AC system, it can only handle so much air at a time, and it can only cool the air so much at a time. In fact, an AC unit can only decrease the temperature of the air in your home by 15 or 20 degrees at a time. In other words, if the temperature of the air in your home was 95 degrees, the AC would first drop it to 80 degrees and then to 65 (unless you have the thermostat set for a higher temperature. 

In contrast, a house fan pumps hot air out of your home. A correctly sized unit can completely change the air in your home every couple of minutes. Thus, by opening your windows when the outside temperature starts to fall, you can cool your home quickly, and because a house fan uses a fraction of the electricity required to run an AC unit, you will save money. 

A house fan will not work to cool your home during the peak hours of the day because there is no available cool air outside to pump into your home. However, if you use a house fan to cool your home through the night, you can save money on your cooling costs. For more information, contact an HVAC company like Mike's Bremen Service Inc.