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Tamarack Ghost Whole House Fans - Techs and Specs
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Install Location
New 2 Piece Ghost Whole House Fans!
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 throughout the home.
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Specifications
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Tamarack Ghost Whole House Fan
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Power Requirement
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115VAC 60 Hz
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Fans Running
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Low 350 watts
High 450 watts
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Air Flow @ .1" SP
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Low 1600 cfm
High 2800 cfm
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Sound Level
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Low 59 dBa
High 68 dBa
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R Value when Panel Doors Closed
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R-22
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Size of Housing - Top & Bottom
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Bottom piece:
25 7/8" Length x 29 1/2" Wide x 13 5/8 " High
Top Piece:
26 1/4" Length x 26" Wide x 14 1/8" High
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Rough Opening
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14.5 inches x 22.5 inches
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Minimum Attic Opening
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14.5 inches x 26.5 inches
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Height w/ Doors Open
Doors are inside of housing
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Overall height assembled: 27"
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Grille Color
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White
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Weight
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45 lbs.
(shipping 69 lbs.)
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Pressure relief required
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4.0 Square Feet - (Open Space in Attic)
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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 fans.
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House Size
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Ghost
Low Speed
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Ghost
High Speed
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Typical 24" Fan
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Typical 30" Fan
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Air Flow
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1600 CFM
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2800 CFM
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3000 CFM
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6000 CFM
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1500 square feet
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7.5 minutes
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4.2 minutes
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4 minutes
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3 minutes
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2000 square feet
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10 minutes
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5.55 minutes
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5.33 minutes
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2.67 minutes
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2500 square feet
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12.5 minutes
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6.95 minutes
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6.67 minutes
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3.33 minutes
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Side View of Ghost
Ghost Whole House Fan
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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 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 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 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.
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