Do Attic Fans Actually Help During Oklahoma City Summers?

Attic fans can lower attic temperatures during Oklahoma City summers, but they only help in the right attic. In a vented attic with clear soffit intake and an air sealed ceiling, a powered or solar attic fan can pull out hot air. In a leaky attic, the same fan can pull cooled air out of your house.

How an Attic Fan Works

A powered attic fan exhausts hot air from the attic, and replacement air has to come in from somewhere. Ideally, it comes through the soffit vents. If the soffits are blocked by insulation or the ceiling has open gaps around fixtures and the hatch, some of that air is pulled up from your living space, the air your AC just paid to cool.

When an Attic Fan Makes Sense

• The attic is vented, with clear soffit intake and baffles in place
• The ceiling has been air sealed
• The attic does not have enough passive roof vents for its size
• You want to lower attic temperatures over ductwork on summer afternoons

When It Does Not

Never install a powered attic fan in an attic with spray foam on the roof deck. That attic is designed to be sealed. Fans are also a poor first step when the attic floor has thin insulation, because sealing and insulating save more.

Solar Fans and Whole-House Fans

Solar attic fans have no running cost and work hardest on sunny afternoons, though they move less air than powered fans. A whole-house fan is a different tool: it pulls cool evening air through open windows and exhausts it through the attic, and it suits Oklahoma's mild spring and fall evenings.

A Better Order of Operations

For most Oklahoma City homes, the order is air sealing, then blown-in insulation to R-38 to R-49, then a radiant barrier if ducts are in the attic. Then, if the attic still runs very hot, consider attic fan installation.

Attic Insulation Elite offers free attic inspections and written quotes seven days a week, 8am to 8pm. Call (405) 400-2050 or request a free quote online.