Attic (whole house) fan / safety options

I've been thinking about replacing the manual knob timer on attic fan with a smart switch so we can use voice commands and timers to turn it back off.

The main thing I don't know if, or how it can be accomplished is I don't the fan to be able to be turned on unless certain windows are open.

If it's turned on, and a rule evaluates to false will it turn back off fast enough? My fan is powerful enough, without windows open it will suck out the pilot light on my water heater.

[EDIT]
I guess I answered my own question. RM will quickly turn the switch back off if a window isn't open. Built a virtual switch and a couple contacts to test with.

If you have a switch with smart bulb mode, you could set it so that pressing the switch doesn't control the load.

  1. Press the switch (fan doesn't turn on)
  2. Check the conditions
  3. If conditions met, turn on the fan
1 Like

Oh that's a good idea. Like one of my zooz switchs that has "disable local control". I like that a lot!

You should check out my app for tracking the windows.

3 Likes

Cool. Basically I would use the child device in my RM rule instead of the individual sensors, right?

Right.

1 Like