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The gable vents/shutters are in an area of the attic that's not easily accessible for me. Ideally that's where the attic fan would go. Is there a benefit for me to still run a powered attic fan as close I can get to the vent, even though it won't be attached to the vent? It would be blowing air to the vent from about 6ft away. I know it's not the most effective way, but I assume it would still move air around in the attic. Any downfall to that setup?

Edits: I live in Southeast US, so it's mostly hot weather. The goal is to reduce cooling/heating costs. There aren't any major issues within the main house, but attic gets super hot during summer. House is around 10 years old, so I believe the air circulation is there, it's just not efficient. The attic has soffit vents and ridge and gable vents. The gable vent is in an area of the attic where the vaulted ceiling meets, so it's hard to get to. That's why I was thinking of blowing the air towards it with the fan.

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  • What are you trying to achieve with this attic fan, and are you in a mild/coastal, heating-dominant, or cooling-dominant climate?
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Jul 17, 2021 at 3:06
  • where is the air the fan blows coming from?
    – dandavis
    Jul 17, 2021 at 8:46

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No, you actually have to pull in fresh air and exhaust the heated air that is in the attic. Turning on a fan in the attic will not displace the hot air and bring in cooler outside air. It will just circulate the attic air with-in the attic.

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The only way that would work would be if you installed a whole house fan. That is a fan that's mounted on our ceiling, preferably in a hallway and vents into you attic. You open windows, doors in your house, turn on the fan, it sucks air from the opened windows, doors, through the house, into the attic and out the soffit vents and gable vents.

I have one in my house and granted, I don't use it much in the summer months because of the heat. On some really hot days, I'll open one door and run the fan for 15 minutes just to vent the attic. At 5400 CFM, it drops the temp quite a bit. On days when the temp drops due to rain or just cooler weather I'll run it to get some fresh air in the place and vent the attic. In the Fall and Winter months, it's really great.

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