Putting in a skylight to cool home in hot weather

The warm weather is coming soon and I know last season the hot humid weather was hard to control in our top floor - so hot. We had a attic fan installed but it didn't control the extreme heat.

We have one air conditioner for our home.

It was suggested to me to have a remote control skylight installed in one or more bathrooms. Then when it gets unbareably hot and humid (basement is cold, 1st floor is normal, top floor is too hot) the skylight can be opened and the elements, like rain, will not come in. The heat will have a way to escape, thereby decreasing the cost of electricity bills.

Has anyone added this feature to their home? Any suggestions on who to use? Tips on the idea. I assume this will have to be ultimately approved by the HOA.

 

We have a skylight in the upstairs hall bath and it is a source of heat in the summer, and cold in the winter. Now, granted, it does not open. It is installed on the north side of our roof. In the winter, we plug the hole with polystyrene insulation to prevent heat loss. I suspect that the drywall in the well may not be fully insulated from the attic, and that is why it heats up so much in the summer. Might be something to keep in mind...

 

There is no way that a skylight could cool your house more efficiently than an attic (whole house) fan. Attic fans are really effective in New England (where I grew up) because they are only used in the evenings to draw in the cool night time air. There are many nights, in this climate, when all you will be doing is sucking in more hot humid air.

I'd move your bedroom to the lowest floor in the summer, and the highest floor in the winter.

Beleive it or not, some schools of thought for air conditioning say that you should leave the fan on your A/C in the "ON" (Not "AUTO") to be the most efficient and to cool your house more evenly.

 

I am not an attic fan expert but I am pretty sure that they draw the hot air OUT of the attic.

There could be some that work in reverse but I have not heard of pulling air into the attic as you would be pulling in possible moisture too.

 

Yes, I think there is some confusion here.

There are attic fans that help rid the attic of the hottest air - mushroom shaped fans installed in the roof or cylindrical fan installed in a vented gable.

Then there are whole house fans. We had one when I was a kid. It was about 3'x3' located in the upstairs hallway ceiling. I agree with pga_mike, a whole house fan in this area would hardly be helpful in midsummer when the temps never fall below 70.

 

So, what replaces the hot air that is drawn out . I hope that it doesn't form a vacuum...attics would be imploding all over the place!

 

All roofs are built with eave and peak vents. If you look at some roofs, you'll see strips at the top of all the peaks, this is an outlet for hot air, under the eaves, you'll see the siding has holes for air to be drawn in. This assumes that convection will do all the cooling for you.

However, adding an additional attic exhaust fan will definitely help rid the attic of hot air. Using a thermostatically controlled fan will keep the temperature in the attic at a recommended level.

Of course, making sure your attic has the proper depth of insulation is also crucial. When we moved into our VM home on Marsh Creek, we checked this during the initial walk-thru, and had them add the proper depth of insulation.