Installed a whole house fan thinking it would cool things down, but it just brought in dust storms

I live outside of Phoenix and got a whole house fan installed last June. Figured it would be perfect for those 100+ days when the sun goes down. First night I turned it on, within 20 minutes the whole house smelled like dirt and I was sneezing nonstop. The dust here is no joke. I had to install a MERV 13 filter right over the intake vent and now it works way better, but I still have to clean it every week. Anyone else in the Southwest dealing with this?

3 comments

3 Comments

ramirez.vera5d ago

Dang, check your attic for leaks. Might be pulling dust from the insulation.

kellygrant5d ago

Wait, so your whole house fan doubles as a free dust delivery system too? That's what I call a feature, not a bug. Seriously though, I've heard that whole house fans in the desert are like inviting the outdoors in for a sleepover. You're basically running a dust farm with a built-in sneeze trigger. Glad the filter helped, but man, cleaning it every week sounds like a whole other job. Guess it's either that or roast night after night, right?

jordan_hill5d ago

MERV 13 is the move out here for sure. I'm in Tucson and my whole house fan just turns into a vacuum for dust bunnies. Ended up putting a screen over the attic vent too, helped a ton. Still gotta clean the filter every weekend though, it's a pain.