but I think just perhaps people are thinking the (possible) solar powered attic ventilator and the whole house attic fan I already have are one and the same, when they're 2 different items.
The whole-house attic fan I've had for 6 years took almost 2 years to find one to fit the super-narrow upstairs hallway. The only model in that size came with nothing more than a pull chain. Thank goodness it still has really strong pull.
It's a solar attic ventilator (different thing) I want to add that had me concerned because of what I read in the trades; concern that it would have to be turned off during AC season and the fact that the only kind I could begin to afford just fits outside the soffit and doesn't require wiring, just mounting. By the time I paid an electrician to install a fancier solar kind with a kill switch inside the house it would cost a minimum 3 times what the simple one that only requires mounting, no wiring at all. I can't afford that.
And of course I've never tried to run the whole house attic fan I already have at the same time as the AC.
I've since decided not to worry though because with all the mental stimulation everyone kindly offered, I realized I can still shut off the stairway at the bottom and top; since I don't use the upstairs during heating and cooling weather, I don't think the downstairs window AC will be bothered. Took me 2 years to find an 18K BTU AC narrow enough to fit any of the windows, too. In a 100-yr-old house they're tall and quite narrow just like the stairway and hallway. The only kind of regular window ac that would fit in these windows would be too wimpy to cool much more than a closet. You can imagine the vastly greater expense of a central AC system and all the new ductwork that would require. Not to mention the additional cost of operation.
That's part of the fun(?) of real Vics. Trying to find stuff that will fit. Couldn't be done w/o the internet. Doors are narrow too. The main compensating virtue is that the rooms are 15x15 at minimum. Well, except the upstairs bath, which is only 15x12. Everything in life's a trade off.
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