Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Do "Whirly Birds" really work to reduce indoor temperatures?

I'm looking for a sustainable way to keep the house a bit cooler in the summer. The roof has dark tiles and when you go inside the roof you can see day light through the tiny gaps in the tiles. Since there are already gaps in the tiles would the extra added spinning vent/s make any difference?

Another option is to have a "Whirly Bird" that is connected via tube to a vent in the ceiling and bypass the roof cavity so that the "Whirly Bird" will be letting out hot air from the living space itself.

I would prefer to build a passive home from scratch but that is not an option at the moment.

we put whirly birds in the roof at work, dropped the temperature about 10 degrees but it is tin and has no ceiling

10 degrees is a fair bit

I'd also go with additional roof insulation... between the two, you should see a good drop in temps.

And if you really want to go full throttle, go with something like this:

http://www.quietcoolfan.com/howitworks.html

yeah it gets pretty hot in the workshop, makes it a similar temp to outside rather than so hot you can't move

If you put Whirlybirds in the roof make sure you have ventilation in the eaves. Cant suck hot air out if cant pull cooler air in. Normaly the eaves has slotted sheeting, couple on each side of house. I made that mistake with my other house, put in the Whirlybirds and had solid eaves.

Thank you for your responses everyone.

I think the plan will be to put a number of whirly birds on the roof with vents at the eaves and in the indoors ceiling so that hot air will not get trapped inside and can escape. (Windows will have to be open to let new air in or addiontal vents might need to be added)

Hopefully this will help create a breeze through the house and also reduce temperature because of the moving air.

What about during winter? Will you be able to block them off?

Yes Arbe the plan is to have vents that can be closed, thanks for mentioning that.

I wonder if it is sufficient to just close off the inlet vents or would the whirley birds have to be blocked?