attic fans in wood shop

[hutchwood]

when i put my shop together, i put an attic fan in, insulated walls and attic real well, and my first summer was fairly cool working in there, but as a firefighter, i got to thinking of all the dust that was being pulled into my attic and settling on the insulation and how dangerous this could be.......any opinions on this

thanks

[Mark Anderson]

if you are going to use the fan i would sheet rock the ceiling and walls, the atic fan should be drawing air from the eves of the building and not the "living space"

if you are drawing air from the living space you are probaly defeting the purpose by sucking hot air from outside to replace the air going out. in our climate this can also cause problems with moisture as hot moist air is introduced into the cooler temps inside the building.

[JohnsonMBrandon]

I agree. The attic fan shouldn't be pulling dust up in the area where it would settle on insulation.

From a fire standpoint, I doubt you have too much of a problem. Insulation is flamable anyway. Sheetrock over the insulation gives you a "fire rating" so to speak. To create a haven for a dust explosion in a home, or hobby shop is next to near impossible, but I suppose there are always people that will prove you wrong. I don't think you will really have too much of a fire problem to worry about though. Hope this helps.

[Travis Porter]

I wouldn't want it dropping the dust up there. If you can pipe/vent it some way to the outside would be better IMO.

[Steve D]

Are you talking about a gable mounted fan or one of those "whole house" style attic fans?

[hutchwood]

this is a whole house fan, mounts in the ceiling, pulls air through building into attic.....

[Mark Anderson]

if it is a whole house fan i would duct it to the out side with fire proof ducting, you are right to be conserned about the dust build up.

doing remodeling work i have found may a squrel skeliton, spead eagle, with it's teeth still inbedded in an electrical wire. shiii stuff happens, and the dust will be up there for the life of your house.

i still have conserns over the warm air pulled into the house to replace what is being vented out, not only for the temperature but also for the moisture contained there in. watch the weather and every time you see that the "dew point" is higher than the temp inside the building your house will act as a dehumidifier for the out side air.