It's a matter of nature and necessity. I don't mind spending to save, not being penny wise and pound foolish. But if I can find a way to step sideways and save, I will. One of the problems is that I basically don't enjoy any more interference with my privacy than I can reasonably avoid. I really enjoy being with people - somewhere else. Maybe part of it comes from too many years of the past spent having to put up with people in my home that I didn't care for. Now it's become one of those old fart habits. If I can take care of the situation myself, I'd rather. Not sure how healthy that is, but I'm old enough to be getting sot in my ways.
So I can't help wondering IF the tornado fan might do a fairly comparable job at far less trouble. If that turns out to seem to be the way to go, I'm interested in what I think is the physics aspect. Rather than bumble around experimenting, and then having to decide on the basis of my fallible impressions, I would like to consider the scientific route. If there's anyone to guide me, as I personally am flying blind.
I loved the attic fan, but it's something that when it breaks again, I'd be at someone else's mercy yet again. Also, one of my future plans is to put a solar powered attic vent up there, and they have a lot longer life span. Another problem: with a house this old, the upstairs hallway - not to mention the stairs! - is so narrow that it took me over a year to find a whole-house attic fan small enough to fit. And it lasted exactly 5 years.
Mind, I'm not complaining about the peculiarities of this old house. It has offsetting virtues such as an upstairs bathroom bigger than some NYC apartments. And the extremely narrow and steep stairs, which almost seem like a old defense system (think short doors), are the major reason most people tell me they passed on buying the place. So it stayed available for me, for which I'm thankful.
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