What Are Whole-House Fans, Whole-House Comfort Ventilators, Whole-House Ventilation Systems?
Whole-house fan is the term properly used for the big fan that sits in the center of the top fl oor ceiling, between the house and the attic. It generally has louvers in the ceiling that are opened by the rush of airflow through the fan. The fan vents into the attic, pressurizing the attic and hopefully pushing the air out through the attic vents properly sized for the particular whole-house fan installed. The purpose of the whole-house fan is to accelerate the natural cooling e ffect of bringing cooler outside air into the house through open windows and venting it out at the top of the house or the top of the “stack.” Whole-house comfort ventilator is the term coined by the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) to try to diff erentiate the whole-house fan from a whole-house ventilation system (see below). A whole-house comfort ventilator is HVI’s term for a whole-house fan – they both essentially refer to the same product. The purpose of the “whole-house comfort ventilator” term was to dis
