Cheap Easy Whole House Attic Fan (plus one other idea)

[IrishAyes]

I've been told by several locals that the only reason they passed on my 100-yr-old house is because of the steep narrow stairs. The second floor 'hallway' looks more like a cattle chute. It took almost a year of searching to find a whole house attic fan narrow enough to fit in the ceiling there. I don't mind because all the rooms are 15' square except the master bath (old bedroom) which only spans 15x12.

Anyway! After 8 years of heavy use, the attic fan has spun its last at last and they don't make that size anymore. No one wants to fix the motor if indeed that could even be done.

So I scratched my hard head until I came up with an alternate solution. Remove the louvers in the ceiling, take out the fan entirely, and put the biggest strongest box fan up there that I can find. Place it on its back (with maybe a few widely spaced furring strips for support) so the air will be drawn up into the attic. Run an extension cord down to the nearest wall outlet, turn on the fan, and let 'er rip.

No problem because I live alone, guests never want to climb the stairs anyway, and there are no little kids to worry about. True, it won't look great but except for bath time I don't go upstairs too often anyway in the heat of summer. And when I do, that wonderful rush of upward air would make ugly looks forgivable anyway.

................................................................................

This last tidbit doesn't speak to home improvement at all unless you decorate with antique or just old costume jewelry, and I can't claim credit for the idea; but here 'tis anyway. Refurbish old costume jewelry with nail polish!



These two ideas cross-posted in the Frugal group.

[ret5hd]

1. Just an idea:

You don't have to have the old motor repaired. A suitable motor (rpm, horsepower, etc) can be found at a wide variety of places (Grainger for one). In all likelyhood you could find a direct replacement, but worst case is that it would take a slight amount of jury rigging.

[IrishAyes]

2. Wow. Thanks. THAT never would've occurred to me, since I'm not well enough versed in

anything to do with motors. I'll put my solution on the back burner for emergency only and put yours at the head of the line. I had no earthly idea that a different motor could be substituted. If I can ever get him over to the house, the guy that does such work for me is especially handy with electrical motors. He's going to check my 4-wheel adult scooter someday to see if it might be morphed into a small riding lawnmower for me too. I have a quarter acre, but it's rather intricately landscaped now after 8 years of intense effort, so I still need something small and slow. And CHEAP! I got the scooter after a bad wreck when I could barely walk for several years. Now I'm pretty much recovered and don't need it for the original purpose.

[X_Digger]

3. +1 - the motor is probably the most replaceable part of the whole thing. n/t