Whole house fan

This could be a good idea, in fact it would solve the difficulty I've had with finding actuators suitable for my windows.

Perhaps, if you could vent outside air into the HVAC return air duct so that this air would be drawn thru the HVAC plenum and all the normal AC delivery ducts into each room with a cooling vent and then finally outside from the wholehouse fan.

This outside air vent would probably suffice and might not even need a blower. If this airflow did need a boost, the existing "fan" that is frequently controlled by the AC thermostat would work, if its was mode switch was changed from AUTO to ON. This plenum vent would require a butterfly valve to close the vent into the plenum for normal "auto" operation and I know these are available reasonably.

I do like your idea

An intake vent is what you need, like a bath or dryer vent, but in reverse, to take in fresh air.

Not at all uncommon in newer tightly sealed houses, and those with air to air heat exchangers.

Wouldn't the "other" source of outside air require the same cubic feet/minute air flow rate as the whole house fan? Put a second whole house fan in a wall oriented for inward air flow and turn both on at the same time. The air flow wouldn't reach other rooms unless those rooms were in the path between fans.

My whole house fan is thermostat controlled. I use an X10 Appliance Module to keep it off when the house is unoccupied.

Yes, we use one of those, see redoak web site below.

Fresh air is sucked in thro an outside vent and is blown into all rooms except the kitchen, utility and bathrooms.

The other rooms have vents that suck the air out. Outgoing moist air goes through a heat exchanger to warm up the incoming air.

True, all windows are kept closed from autumn to sprint and the system avoids condensation too as a bonus.

We are all electric and heavily insulated. See

-- John Perry

"Jack Ak" wrote

The answer is no, you don't need a matching fan. Whole house fans are designed to work without any input fan. The amount of air that they pull in is dependant on the restriction of the opening. As the opening gets restricted enough, the fan becomes inefficient.

The idea is that a fan will effectively reduce the restriction of a smaller opening so that a large opening is not needed.

Yes, the air will take the path of least resistance between the intake and the fan. They are typically used with windows open part way in a number of rooms. It does not require that they be all that far open, and is better that the nearer ones not be very far open. My townhome happens to be particularly suited for a fan. It is very tall so that heat naturally collects in one location. However, one possibility that I listed was to use the furnace fan to distribute the make up air to all the rooms better.