How To Properly Ventilate Your Attic

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Why Your Attic Needs Proper Ventilation

First of all, why do you need ventilation in your attic? Ventilation removes the heat from your attic space. Think about your laptop or refrigerator—they have built-in fans to keep them cool. By ventilating your attic it will help keep the mechanics in your attic (your water heater and your HVAC system) cool.

Types of Ventilation

There are a couple of different types of ventilation. You’re probably familiar with the round ones that spin. We call those “whirlybirds” or turbine ventilators. These rely on the wind to keep it moving. When it moves it causes a draw in the attic space to help remove heat. These are not bad for ventilation. They do work. But they’re not what we would choose to ventilate an attic.

What We Recommend

We would choose solar fans. The brand we use is SunRise solar fans, built right here in the U.S. Solar fans rely on the sun, not the wind, to perform. The SunRise solar fan also has a built-in thermostat. Why is a thermostat important? During the winter, a whirlybird will spin in the cold north wind, sucking heat out of your attic space and making your house colder! The SunRise solar fan will simply not come on if your attic temperature is below 80 degrees, meaning it won’t remove heat when you want to keep it there! 

Your Next Step

Again, the whirlybirds aren’t bad. But we’d love to come out and upgrade you to a top-of-the-line solar fan. We think you will love the difference!