Natural venting is the better method. The reason is that a powered attic vent can put the house under negative pressure, this is bad on so many levels… but it is mostly invisible to someone who doesn’t understand such things.

Realize also that any fan that you place in a hot environment such as an attic, that fan is just going to cook itself to death.

The better method long time proven is to put in a couple of strategically placed whirly bird turbines. These do not use any power at all, spin up on their own. You need to make sure the eave vents of your home are unobstructed and maybe add additional eave vents to help the attic ventilate better.

You could take it a step further and add Ridge Vents. These are little plastic extrusions that sit on top of the roof ridge of your home and have venting thru the top, due to the design of them they only let air escape and do not let rain water in provided you install them properly.

Also if the house in question is ‘A’ frame you could add ventilation for when cross winds blow. I have an A frame house and I don’t have these, but I do have the other things I mentioned in this post.

The temperature of my attic is usually the same or a few degrees warmer than outside ambient air temperature. I do not use ‘any’ powered attic vent, nor will I ever.

I was thinking the same on
I was thinking the same on lines out temp of unit not outside air. #
30 degrees in phx between shade and sun, I’d think the air going through the metal would be diffence of ice vs fire

Please!—Show me where “ANY” AC manufacture warns the installer not to place the unit in direct sunlight because the unit will not perform properly.

Then realize my market is Katy, Texas (a suburb of Houston) one of the hottest climates in which one can live.

I’ve been on this board for probably at least a couple of years now, have discussed many more topics than this with Mr. Proctor and others.

It was January when I wrote that post and I was likely rather board looking for some excitement anyway I could find it.

yeah, “trip you up” is what
yeah, “trip you up” is what you were doing. (groan)
have some humility and acknowledge the basic assumption error.
its the most basic electrical equation.

Sure the metal of the unit will be hot if it’s in direct sun light. This doesn’t mean really too much because the efficiency or inefficiency of the unit is air temperature. If the unit is well ventilated sitting in the sun will not matter all that much.

Now personal preference for me is that you put it in the shade of the north side of the house. Simply because I work on them for a living and working in the shade is lot easier on me.

Recent utility bill for me was $51, had another issue pop up with this aging beast of mine and I expect a larger bill this next month how much larger remains to be seen I might break $80 or $90… not sure if it is / was related to this problem but should know for sure by August some time.

There certainly are differences in how my system operates now versus before when I had the variable speed motor. It’s not really what I expected I can tell you that much.

Such designs are well-known, time tested basic stuff for shading ANYTHING, including windows.
Windows can also have massive savings with shades and awnings. And as with a/c units, don’t trap the heat nor redirect it backwards. Common sense really.

next!