|
|
Tamarack Ghost Whole House Fans - Techs and Specs
Features for Tamarack Ghost Attic Exhaust Fans
|
2 Piece Ghost Whole House Fan Housing
|
The Tamarack Ghost Whole House Fan should be placed on the framing between the space to be
cooled and the attic. In most cases that means the attic floor. Locate the system as close to the
center of the home as possible for an even draw of cooler outside air throughout your home.
|
Specifications:
|
|
Tamarack Ghost Whole House Fan
|
|
Power Requirement
|
115VAC 60 Hz
|
|
Power Draw When Fan Running
|
Low 350 watts
High 450 watts
|
|
Air Flow @ .1" SP
|
Low 1600 cfm
High 2800 cfm
|
|
Sound Level
|
Low 59 dBa
High 68 dBa
|
|
R Value when Panel Doors Closed
|
AirTight - R-22
|
Size of Housing
(Top & Bottom)
|
Bottom:
25 7/8" Length x 29 1/2"
Wide x 13 5/8 " High
Top:
26 1/4" Length x 26" Wide x 14 1/8
" High
|
|
Rough Opening
|
14.5 inches x 22.5 inches
|
|
Minimum Attic Opening
|
14.5 inches x 26.5 inches
|
Height w/ Doors Open
Doors are inside of housing
|
Overall height assembled: 27"
|
|
Fan Grille Color
|
White
|
|
Weight
|
45 lbs.
(shipping 69 lbs.)
|
|
Pressure relief required
|
4.0 Square Feet - (Open Space in Attic)
|
|
Air Flow Fan Sizing
How much air needs to move through your house to make it cooler?
The following table shows estimates of how quickly all the air will
move through different size houses with different size Ghost attic exhaust fans.
| House Size |
Ghost
Low Speed |
Ghost
High Speed |
Typical 24" Fan |
Typical 30" Fan |
| Air Flow |
1600 CFM |
2800 CFM |
3000 CFM |
6000 CFM |
| 1500 square feet |
7.5 minutes |
4.2 minutes |
4 minutes |
3 minutes |
| 2000 square feet |
10 minutes |
5.55 minutes |
5.33 minutes |
2.67 minutes |
| 2500 square feet |
12.5 minutes |
6.95 minutes |
6.67 minutes |
3.33 minutes |
|
Side View of Ghost Whole House Fan
|
Tamarack Ghost House Fan Technical Evaluation
Attic Cooling
When heat builds up in the attic, some of that heat will transfer into the house. It is similar to having an
overheated blanket covering the top of the house. This will increase the temperature of the interior of the home.
This increased interior temperature has a negative effect on human comfort. Additionally there is ongoing research
on the negative effects of excessive heat on building materials. The traditional answer to this problem is to
ventilate the attic with either passive or powered ventilation, moving air through the attic to reduce the
temperature.
Passive ventilation:
Many homes have passive attic ventilation in the form of ridge vents at the peak of the roof, gable vents at
the ends of the roof, soffit vents in the eaves, or some combination of these vents. Turbine and/or roof vents
(passive vents that penetrate the roof) are also used. A driving force, such as wind or a pressure differential,
must be present for air to move. The hottest days of the year are the calmest, with little or no wind.
Power ventilation:
Attic ventilation fans are roof or gable mounted fans that draw air
out of the attic, relying on passive vents to supply cooler outside
air to replenish the air being exhausted. An attic fan does not exhaust
the heated air from the living space.
Whole house exhaust fans are mounted in the attic floor pushing house
air out through the passive attic vents and bringing cooler air into
the living space through the windows. This directly cools the inside
of the home, enhancing the comfort level for the occupants. The
greater the air flow generated by the whole house attic fan the greater
the area of the passive attic vents must be to relieve the attic
pressure. If the relief vents are too small, the air will "squirt" out
through any available hole, which can damage building materials.
At the same time, excessive pressure will reduce the effectiveness
of the fan, and materials in the attic such as insulation and stored
items can be blown about. The relief opening should be based on:
1 square foot of opening for each 650 cfm (cubic feet per minute)
of air flow. Using this formula, a 1000 cfm fan would require about
a 1.5 square foot opening and a 6000 cfm fan would require a 9.25
square foot opening, equivalent to about five 12" turbine vents
or 14 roof vents.
Summary:
Removing the "blanket" of hot air in the attic can help to reduce the temperature in the home.
Although an attic exhaust fan can effectively exhaust the hot air from the attic, it does nothing to exhaust
the hot air in the home. A small whole house fan can do both jobs - reducing both the attic and house
temperatures. This will only work effectively throughout the year, however, if the whole house fan is
sealed when it is not in use.
Cooling Savings:
To start with, a Tamarack Ghost whole house fan can often be used in place of using an air conditioning
system. There are many days in many parts of the country where the conditions are ideal for just drawing
in fresh, cooler outside air to replace the over heated inside air. For every degree Fahrenheit that a
thermostat is raised , air-conditioning costs can be reduced by 7 - 10%. Since air-circulation with a fan
allows a thermostat increase of 4º F with no decrease in human comfort, a fan can provide as much as a
40% savings in cooling cost.
Operationally, a central air conditioner costs 15 times more per hour than the Tamarack Ghost Whole House
Fan.
A window air conditioner costs 12 times more per hour than the Tamarack Ghost Whole House Fan.
Operating a properly sized, 2-ton air conditioner with a seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) of 10 in
Atlanta, Georgia, costs over $250 per cooling season (1,250 hours) based on 8.5 ¢/kwh or roughly 20
¢ per hour of runtime.
A large, 18,000 Btu/hour window unit air conditioner with an energy efficiency ratio (EER) of 8.8 costs more
than 17¢ to operate for one hour.
By contrast, an Ghost whole house fan draws only 450 watts and costs less than 3¢ per hour of use.
Glossary:
CFM: Cubic feet per minute - this is a measure of the
volume of air moving in one minute
FPM: Feet per minute - this is a measure of the rate of air moving in one minute
R value: The ability of a material to resist the conductive flow of heat.
The higher the R value the greater the resistance.
Reff: The average R value for an area such as an attic floor.
U value: The ability of a material to conduct heat. The inverse of the R value.
Conductance:A term referring to the U value of a material. The flow of heat energy from
molecule to molecule, molecules warming or their neighbors.
DD: Degree Day - "The number of degree days in one day is the difference between the
average temperature for that day and 65º F. The accumulated number of degree days during the heating
season is kept by the weather bureau as an indication of the amount of fuel consumed. A similar concept is
cooling degree days, the difference between the average temperature and 78º F."
BTU: British Thermal Unit: A measurement of heat energy. One BTU is about the energy in a single kitchen match.
Convection: The flow of heat energy via fluid or gas motion.
Pascal: A metric measurement of pressure in a very small increment. One thousand pascals
equals 0.145 pounds per square inch.
|
|
|
|
