Do Solar-Powered Attic Fans Work? An Update on their Performance at Caerula Mar

[Originally published on BryanBaeumler.com March 8, 2021]

In Season 2 of Island of Bryan, our team came up against a slew of roadblocks relating to moisture issues. These include the devastating discovery of rotted wood in the attic and termites under the tiles, concrete, drywall, and framework of the property. At first, this conundrum of managing severe moisture levels in hotel rooms without having to use electric fans seemed unsolvable… But our team landed on what we thought was the ideal solution: solar-powered attic fans (SPAFs.)

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We installed twenty iSolar 20W106-FLEX-MOD fans on every other hotel roof at the resort.

Joining forces with iSolar

Our team joined forces with the Canadian company, iSolar Solutions, to install twenty iSolar 20W106-FLEX on every other roof of the resort. These fans are game changers in reducing humidity, maintaining ideal conditions, and keeping the hotel temperature balanced with outdoor’s. (Normally an attic will get 20°C or 65°F hotter in the attic than outdoor temperature.)⁣⁣ The iSolar fans also helped circulate fresh air into the suites during the temporary closure of Caerula Mar during the pandemic. The solar component of the iSolar fans allows us to accomplish all this without the need for electricity, which is super expensive in the Bahamas.

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Listen to that thing hum! You can feel the wind coming out of there!” – Bryan

The impact of solar-powered attic fans

“After installing twenty solar-powered attic fans on every other roof of the resort, our Project Manager spot checked several rooms that had moisture issues and found that the rooms felt much cooler. The moisture levels also had dropped below 20%! Also, I’ve checked a bunch of rooms that had really high issues on the drywall. They have dropped quite a bit, and they continue to drop. Plus, the attics are not as hot as they used to be!” -Project Manager.

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Testing the output of the iSolar 20W106-FLEX fan’s performance at the resort

No more moisture nightmare

With these things said, the powerful 20W106-FLEX fans extract an impressive amount of hot air from the villas. It thrilled my team to see how quickly the villas transformed from hot, sticky saunas into cool, comfortable living spaces. In fact, you could actually feel the draw from the fans (see above) from the soffits! Our team is extremely pleased with the continuous air quality and reliable performance of the solar-powered attic fans at the resort. We’re finally relieved that we won’t have to relive another moisture nightmare in Season 3 of Island of Bryan Renovation Island!

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Catch up on the Season 2 solar-powered attic fan install. And be sure to tune in to watch the Season 3 premiere of “Island of Bryan” “Renovation Island.” All on April 18 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada.

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