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First of all, if you are skeptical of the merits of installing an attic fan let me tell you that you such a unit will make a noticeable difference on the comfort levels of your home on warm and hot days. By keeping your attic cooler, you prevent trapped attic heat (which can easily reach 150°F) from soaking down into your living spaces, making your house cooler and easier to cool (AC doesn't have to work as hard) as a result.
Now onto the review: this is a very powerful fan! I installed on a piece a plywood with a circular cutout to be sure that my gable vent was thoroughly sealed from air leakage. This little bit of extra work also made it easier to drag into position in my cramped attic and mount to the wall, as the plywood prevented the unit from settling in between joists in the attics unfinished floor.
It was a sunny day when I installed, so the attic was heating up fast. Sweat was pouring off me. Once powered up, however, the rush of air felt chilly and it was only a matter of minutes until the attic temps dropped to the point that I felt like I was sitting outside with a nice breeze, not in a cramped, hot, dusty attic.
If you are faced with the option, get a unit with a thermostatic switch. You'd be surprised by how often you can forget about turning the unit on or off, and the whole point of the unit is to take care of attic heat BEFORE it becomes a problem. The thermostatic switch takes the work out, as it makes the unit come on at a specified temperature and switches it off once the attic is 10 degrees cooler than that temp. I highly suggest wiring for two switches: a master on/off switch and a thermostat override switch. It is a bit more work, but it can give you finer control over operation. It also allows you to test the working of the unit if need be. You could even replace the override switch with a timer switch. That way you can set how long you want to the unit to run for, in case you easily forget about things like this unit running on override.
The only downside (and it is a minor one) is that I'm surprised about the noise level this unit produces. When the unit is on and you are on the floor below the gable where it is mounted there is no question of if the unit is on or off. I do not know how loud the realm of this style of attic fan is, but compared to a solar powered roof-mounted fan I've installed there is a big difference in noise produced. That being said, however, the noise level while noticeable is not obnoxious.
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Installation of the fan was a breeze...Took about 2 hrs, mostly due to getting the plywood cut, installed, and weather sealed with the attic vent opening. Installation of the fan itself took about 15 minutes. The fan is a bit noisy a constant hum as I can hear it slightly from the 1st floor. It's not entirely annoying, would consider it as tolerable white noise. The sound is a louder in the bedroom below the attic area where the fan is mounted. Again, louder but it usually shuts off by 8pm with the current temp setting so I don't hear it when we're sleeping.I have set the fan to turn on when temps reach about 105 in the attic. Ever since the fan has been installed, the temp upstairs now hovers around 81-83 on extremely hot days (102+) here in Santa Clarita, CA. Mind you the temp use to hover around 87-88 degrees upstairs without the fan. Overall, it has been helpful in keeping the house cooler. I am pleased with the results.
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I bought this item to replace a roof vent fan that stopped working. I didn't want to hire a roofer to install a new roof vent fan, and I didn't want to have to get on the steep roof myself. I was able to remove the old fan assembly with a Dremel tool (leaving the old dome cover in place) and mount this fan inside my attic over the existing hole. It just fit between the roof joists and butted up cleanly with the old hole. This fan has a larger diameter than the fan it replaced and should move more air. Although there is a slightly audible hum in some upstairs rooms when it is running, it is surprisingly quiet. My only gripe is that the packaging isn't sufficient to protect the fan housing which was no longer perfectly circular when it arrived. There was enough clearance between the fan blades and the housing so that this wasn't an issue, but if the box had been abused during shipping, I doubt that the fan would have arrived usable condition. I have only had this fan installed for a few weeks, so I can't speak to its durability, but it it working great so far and seems to move a good deal of air. If you're' going to do this sort of installation in a low clearance attic, make sure that you mount some chicken wire over the fan intake so you don't receive a permanent haircut.Honest reviews on Broan 35316 1600 CFM Gable Mount Powered Attic Ventilator
As an architect,I have always specified Broan when designing a home or any other building. Even when I needed a fan for personal use, I purchased Broan. I started this 40 years ago. When we moved into our newly designed home, I found that my attic needed an exhaust boost to keep winter ice from forming on the roof, I ordered a Broan.It is now in place and I have it taking out Fall heat buildup thru the gable vent. The price for a 1650 CFM fan was too great to pass up, even though it was larger than I needed, so I got the extra capacity. I built a containment box and am controlling the fan with a rheostat/on-off switch, this allows me to set the fan speed to perfection.
As I said, this vendor had a good price, quick shipping and excellent service.
Dennis Orr
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