QC Manufacturing QC 1500 D QuietCool CLASSIC 1527 CFM Whole House Fan

My house was built in 1965 and is a brick ranch with a walk in basement. The previous whole house fan was apparently taken off from a helicopter and occupied a three foot by three foot space in the main hallway.When we dared to turn on the old fan, we would instantly suck the pilot lights off and cause the occasional window to buckle and shatter. It would also deafen small children and suck up any small unsecured pets.It certainly exchanged the air in the house, but it was so loud that we would never turn it on. When eventually it made a horrendous sound and threw a pulley, we thought it would be time to replace it.We knew that we wanted a quiet fan system that would exchange the air in the house and blow out the heat in the attic space.When I researched this model, I looked at the original website and saw that my 1400 square foot house would need about 3000 cubic feet minute or CFM. This model is about 1500 CFM. At $550, I was not able to buy the two I needed and I did not want to make a first time investment in a larger unit.The very tall package arrived promptly and I confirmed that the unit is a circular fan with some flex duct and a box with spring doors. It also came with a white grille. The air box has two doors on hinges that pull open with the air flow but then drop down and seal the unit when not running.The instructions are slightly vague, but the obvious nature of how this installs makes up for that. If you have a house built before 1965'ish, you need to check the space between the rafters. Apparently they used real 2x4 and the space will be 1/4 to 1/2 too narrow for the size of the air box on this unit. You can get around this by making a box between the rafters and then screwing the air box to that. Otherwise, installation was not hard for one person to do in about three hours. The electrical work is easy too. The unit comes with a standard three prong plug. In my case, I just used the old power cord and made an outlet and plugged it in.The grille has some internal tabs that got bent when I tried to screw them to the bottom of the ceiling. This caused the grille to warp and it is something that my eye will always see.The noise level is very good. When it runs, it sounds like my noisy refrigerator or outside air conditioner unit, if I stand in the hallway. When I go to either bedroom, it is barely noticeable.Now I said that I clearly got half of the CFM draw that is recommended. It is obvious that this unit alone will draw what is available from two bedrooms. I will have to get another unit to put on the other side of the house.I would really prefer that this unit cost about $400 instead of the $550 I paid. For that price, it better run for ten years without a problem, I don't see why not.

This thing definitely moves some air, as evidenced by the opening doors when turned on (if not completely closed). Almost no noise inside when it's running. Definitely not an instant temp drop but the perfect alternative to running a/c after sunset to cool the inside of my home to match the outside air temp.

Love it. I had already seen the product in my uncle's house and had to get it. Just waiting for the weather to be right for it.