We had a hail storm this week in San Antonio. I walked my roof to check for damage. Best I can tell all I have is a turbine vent with a helluva dent in it. The two on my house are pretty old, and I have always heard they really are not effective. I saw on HD's website solar powered exhaust fans are on the market. Anyone have any experience with these? Most of the customer reviews look mixed.

I decided against those and went with radient barrier + ridge and soffit venting instead. It cut attic temps by 30+ degrees.

If I were looking at a major roof project I would probably go back with a ridge vent and soffit. As it is, I am just lookin to fix or replace the turbine.

Gotcha, I just assumed it was happening already due to the hail. From what I've read attic fans can end up pulling air from the living space. That was the biggest complaint I've read anyway. My patents had a wired one but it didn't live long. The heat got it.

This may be lipstick on a pig. My house was built in 1947 and has had a couple of additions built over the years. The newest addition has a ridge vent and soffit. The older parts of the house have gables and turbines. The roof has a low pitch, and I am too fat to have made my way far into the attic. I have a double layer of shingles thanks the the previous owner that presents an insurance issue It has some deferred maintenance that will eventually need to be addressed, but financially I was trying to delay that if I could. Other than the dented whirlybird, I didn't see any signs of hail damage, but I may give my agent a call next week to see if he can have someone inspect it.

If you have a beat up whirlybird, I'd be surprised if you didn't have at least some roof damage. Definitely get someone to look at it.

Yeah, if the bird is damaged your roof is too.

Insurance adjuster was here today. Looks like I am getting a new roof. Plan to go back with a ridge vent and soffit vents.

Good deal!

So...attic fans are not a good idea?

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So...attic fans are not a good idea?

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Not really. As said they can pull air from inside if there is not enough supply vent air available. Then the motors have a tendency to die pretty fast - 3-5 years. So any savings you get are eaten up by those factors.

Radiant barrier is effective, but I would only do it if I was going to replace the roof decking. The retrofit options on existing decking are so so at best and very pricey. Again, while it will reduce attic temps, it is hard to make back the large investment. But your mileage may vary.