Q.
What area does Jet Fan Installations cover?
A. Chicagoland attic fan and whole house fan installations by Jet Fan Installations cover Chicago and suburbs. A large percentage of our work is in the Naperville area with special trips as far as Lansing, Frankfort, New Lenox, Joliet, Yorkville, Plainfield, Elburn, Woodstock, Round Lake and Gurnee.
Q.
When can the work be done?
A. Installations are performed Monday through Saturday during daylight hours.
Q.
Will I be subject to a high pressure sales pitch if and when I call?
A. Absolutely not! We do not like it when we are treated like that and we will not do it to you. When you first call you will probably get into our easy telephone voice mail system. Leave your name and number, the best times for us to call and any details. An estimator will call you back within 48 hours.
Q.
What do I need to tell the estimator?
A. The estimator will have some easy questions about your house like: How old is it? Where is it located? How big is the attic? (The length times the width of the attic in feet; the height does not matter because heat rises. ) How steep is the roof? (Can someone walk on it or will they slide down?) Does the roof have regular asphalt shingles, cedar shake, and slate or clay tile? Is there an access (scuttle) or trap door in the ceiling or wall that goes into the attic? Is there a pull chain light in the attic? It is okay if you do not know all the answers, but the more you know the more exact we can be with the price we quote. The estimator will also answer questions, provide any additional information, and schedule installation. If there are any discrepancies the Jet Fan Man will discuss them with you before we start work.
Q.
My house is completely different than any other house on earth; will you come out and look at my house just to see if the attic fan will help?
A. Honestly, after over 25 years of doing this, there really is not too much that surprises us anymore; but we can come out, especially if you are considering a more complex whole house fan installations. For an attic fan there is usually no reason to come out first. If the attic fan will not help your situation; the Jet Fan Man will tell you so when he comes to do the work. He also may have other ideas for you if an attic fan is not appropriate. Read the following question and answer about required conditions for attic fans.
Q.
What structural conditions in my home are necessary for an attic fan to work right and help my situation?
A. The following four normal conditions must be in place for the attic fan to work properly and help:
There must be an unfinished, unheated attic crawl space above your ceiling or behind the walls of your heated and air-conditioned rooms.
The attic space is, or can be vented, to the outside through attic wall vents, roof vents, roof ridge vents or through the eaves, overhang, or soffit vents. For example: if your roof is made with clay tile or the attic walls are brick without any vents or windows, or there are not any overhangs or eaves. These conditions definitely drive the installation cost up and we would consider coming out to the house first to give an estimate.
Most homes have air conditioning, and the attic air is substantially separated from the house air. In very rare circumstances, there may be gaps allowing house air to flow into the attic. These gaps may be in the form of missing access doors or whole house fan shutters that are missing or broken or just plain holes in the ceiling or walls that separate rooms from attic space. Walls and ceilings should be somewhat airtight and insulated whether you have an attic fan installed or not. Your rooms walls and ceilings should not have holes and should be insulated and the attic access doors and ceiling scuttle panels should be somewhat airtight.
Otherwise during winter, heat and humidity from the house can rise up into the cold attic spaces. You will not only lose heat but the heat and humidity flowing into the attic will create dampness and frost on the wood framing of the house and eventually cause mold and rot. Also, during summer your air conditioned house air could escape or be sucked into the attic by the attic fan if there are holes in your ceiling or walls or missing access panels. These are unusual circumstances which should be corrected for the attic fan to help you cool your rooms efficiently. Minor leaks through light fixtures or wall outlets will not impact your cooling bill and could provide a little exhaust of stale air by making room for a little fresh air from outside like a bathroom fan or energy recovery ventilator is intended to do.
Of course any such leakage can and should be minimized by keeping your homes doors, windows and chimney flues closed while using air-conditioning. For houses that do not have enough venting to the outside from the attic; the addition of more attic vents to the outside will minimize overall suction in the attic and thereby minimize drawing air from the rooms and maximize airflow from outside through your attic, right where you need it. Jet Fan includes up to four roof vents with the installation if you need them to minimize attic suction and provide maximum air intake and cross flow from outside into the attic and not from outside into the rooms of your home.
The attic fan will save you money when you use central or window air-conditioning because now your thermostat will not need to run the air conditioning as much. Without a Jet Fan, cooling could cost up to 50% more. On really hot days when your air-conditioning can not normally keep up, the rooms will be cooler, because the cooling load from what would be a super-hot attic is removed. Of course, an attic fan will not save you money if you do not have air-conditioning, but it will make the rooms cooler by cooling the attic to outside air temperature thereby keeping room temperatures from soaring up above outside air temperatures. With attic fan installations your attic temperature will never get up to 150 degrees again.
Q.
What if it rains?
A. Spring and summer rains usually start and stop a lot. We just plan on arriving as close to appointment time as usual and if it is actually raining hard when we get there, we will do the inside work first, if it does not stop while we are waiting, we may have to reschedule the outside portion of the work. Safety is of utmost importance to the Jet Fan Man and we will determine if we can proceed in less than ideal weather, but usually a little sporadic light rain will not stop us unless the roof is extremely steep or there is lightning. Snow and ice on the roof may also make our work unsafe and thereby indicate the scheduling of a return date.
Q.
What about service under the Jet Fan Warranty?
A. The service remains the same. When you call, we will try to help you determine if there really is something wrong with your Jet Fan, because problems are very rare. If you decide there is something wrong, we will send the Jet Fan Man to check it out. If there is nothing wrong with your Jet Fan when we arrive to repair it, there may be a small show up fee to cover fuel and service. Under the Jet Fan warranty you do not have to pay anything for any repairs needed and made the Jet Fan Man within the first two years after Jet Fan installed it for you. Any repairs or replacements after that are pro-rated according to the written warranty you received at the time of installation. If you think there is something wrong with your Jet Fan, you can shut it off with the switch we install on original attic fan installations. The switch is usually next to your attic light fixture. If your Jet Fan was installed by us as a replacement to an attic fan you already had installed previously by others; there may not be a switch because other attic fan installers seldom provide a switch.
Q.
Jet Fan Attic Fans
A. USA Made Jet Fan Attic Fans made in the USA are built to survive high winds. They’re all metal and rust proof with stainless steel bolts that don’t leave rust streaks down your roof. The truly heavy-duty screen actually stops surprise attacks from birds or squirrels trying to get into your attic. All the Jet Fan Attic Fan components are USA made. The Jet Fan electric motor is much quieter, has thermal protection for added safety, a capacitor for added life and efficiency, and oiling is optional. An accurate snap action thermostat (included) turns the Jet Fan on and off automatically and a firestat (included) shuts the fan off in the event of a home fire. Higher quality parts are what make the Jet Fan better and maintenance free. Jet Fan’s limited warranty, includes the labor that we do and is pro-rated for ten (10) years with a discount for homeowners for as long as they own their home if they ever need a replacement or replacement parts.” If you buy a USA made Jet Fan Attic Fan; you’ll be keeping Americans working and you won’t have to keep replacing your attic fan or put up with the noise.
The USA made Jet Fan Attic Fan can also help when there is an unexplained humidity problem in the attic. Humidity can cause frost and ice to accumulate on the roof-framing members and eventually cause mold, mildew and rot to damage your home’s framing. An optional humidistat turns the fan on and off regardless of temperature whenever the relative humidity is too high in the attic.
Unless you’ve spent time in your attic during the heat of the day you may not realize just how hot it gets up there. The fact is that attic temperatures approach 150 degrees during hot summer days. Ever wonder why it’s hard to get the upstairs cool or why your air-conditioning electric bills are so high? Your air conditioner has to work overtime to fight the effect of the attic heat that backs up into your rooms.
You need the USA made Jet Fan Attic Fan. Jet Fan attic fans will force hot air right out of your attic. Jet Fan Installations builds and installs Jet Fans and has installed around 15,000 attic fans since 1983. The company has learned a lot about attic fans and uses that wisdom when building what they call, “The Worlds Best Attic Fan”. The Jet Fan is simple and, using high-quality components, it can:
- save homeowners up to 30% on their cooling bills
- lengthen roof life by keeping shingles cooler
- add resale value to your home
According to studies by the Home Ventilation Institute homeowners may experience up to a 30% savings on air conditioning costs with a powered attic fan. ComEd indicates that air conditioners don’t have to run as often when it isn’t fighting a hot attic.
