Do whole house fans have to be noisy?
A. No. But there are several problems that cause whole house fans to be noisy. 1) Most fans sold in the big box stores are inherently noisy to begin with! They are usually poorly engineered in order to produce a cheap fan. If you buy any badly designed or built product it will perform poorly. A cheap whole house fan will be more expensive and aggravating in the long run than a well made fan. 2) Most shutter are poorly made and rattle when the fan is running. See 1) above. 3) Most installations are poorly done. Even the manufacturers’ instructions are inadequate and are written to make the fan easier to install, not to operate at minimum sound levels. We have been installing fans for over 30 years and have learned how to install them so that they operate quietly. 4) Many attics are not ventilated properly for whole house fans to operate quietly. If the air cannot exit the attic quickly enough the remaining air in the attic will cause backpressure against the fan, causing it to run more
