Can i use attic heat to warm up my garage?
Today I was installing some additional lighting to my 40x24 attached garage, so i had to go up in the attic to run some wires. It was about 35 deg F and sunny outside. It was cold in the garage. It was hot in the attic. Like, take my hat off and still started sweating. So my thoughts were, why not put a blower up there hooked to a vent in the ceiling to blow some of that heat to where I can use it? I realize it wouldn't make heat all the time, but it seems like it should work good many days in the spring and fall. Does anybody do anything like this? Any thoughts? Thanks
In reply to gearheadmb :
It should work, but if the attic isn’t insulated from the garage, the effect will be minimal. Also, to be more effective you might want the fan on a timer so it circulates the warm air daily during the period with most sunlight - they have timers that account for increasing/decreasing daylight hours that would be perfect for this.
Robbie
UltimaDork
3/17/19 8:05 a.m.
I've thought about this too. A filter would be nice as attic air might have a lot of tiny fiberglass wisps or something. I just wouldn't love to breath attic air all the time.
If I designed a system like this I would also find a way to replace the garage/attic air with outside air quickly. I'm finding there are many times the outside air is a more desirable temp than the inside and it would be nice to get that quick bump.
For example: the night time in summer, and also some warm mornings in winter.
This is different than what I do for extra garage heat...a couple extra layers..
In reply to gearheadmb :
At the old shop at my last employer, we had a 3' pedestal fan that we would point as far up as it would go, to blow cold air up and hot air back down. It made a noticable difference in the furnace's duty cycle.
