Attic fans benefits types why use cold climate venting what is an attic fan.
Cold climate attic venting.
In cold climates attic ventilation is necessary for maintaining a warmer roof temperature which is essential for venting condensation and preventing ice dams.
A whole house fan is a fan that exhausts air from the home into the attic and out the attic vents.
Keeping the attic space cool.
In hot climates ventilation is just as important for the opposite reason.
Our field measurements and computer modeling show that without attic venting the temperature of the underside of the roof sheathing increases by 10 f 20 f.
In cold climates the primary purpose of attic or roof ventilation is to maintain a cold roof temperature to control ice dams created by melting snow and to vent moisture that moves from the conditioned space to the attic ventilation acts to bypass the vapour barrier created by most roof membranes.
If you vent through a soffit where attic vents are often located the moisture will get sucked back up into the attic or roof venting.
In cold climates this is an advantage.