Just an FYI...If you love your BIL, ask him in the winter if he'll help you fix the problem. And get yourself up there and help him. There is nothing more that will piss a family member off, if you don't help out.
I know duct sizes that work and what you can T off of.
A 10" duct can be split with a Y into Two 8" ducts and and 8" can be split into two 6" ducts.
Looks like 25 foot of 8" flex duct insulated is about 64 bucks now.
Last time I bought any of that it was a buck a foot.
Buddy had a hot attic and bought one of those vent fans 1080 cfm one and ZERO difference vs the whirrlybird.
I tested attic temps myself.
That is when i discovered opening the attic door.
Man that cool air that rushed up through that hole when I was in the attic was welcoming.
So next test was propping it open 1 foot with a 2x4 and test temps on day 3 same weather for all 3 days.
Success. We dropped the attic temps a little.
I stuck a box fan under a whillybird vent in a house I had. No difference.
You would think the electric fans would somehow work enough to drop the temps.
Measure them for yourself and find out.
Maybe we had bad luck.
I will tell you what will cool off an attic.
A whole house attic fan.
The kind that is in your hallway and you open the windows and turn it on and it blows into the attic.
Father-in-law had one and was showing it to me and did not have windows open.
Sucked the ashes out of the fireplace.
Luckily it was summer time and no fire going.
Amazing amount of air moved by some of those.
A 10" duct can be split with a Y into Two 8" ducts and and 8" can be split into two 6" ducts.
Looks like 25 foot of 8" flex duct insulated is about 64 bucks now.
Last time I bought any of that it was a buck a foot.
Buddy had a hot attic and bought one of those vent fans 1080 cfm one and ZERO difference vs the whirrlybird.
I tested attic temps myself.
That is when i discovered opening the attic door.
Man that cool air that rushed up through that hole when I was in the attic was welcoming.
So next test was propping it open 1 foot with a 2x4 and test temps on day 3 same weather for all 3 days.
Success. We dropped the attic temps a little.
I stuck a box fan under a whillybird vent in a house I had. No difference.
You would think the electric fans would somehow work enough to drop the temps.
Measure them for yourself and find out.
Maybe we had bad luck.
I will tell you what will cool off an attic.
A whole house attic fan.
The kind that is in your hallway and you open the windows and turn it on and it blows into the attic.
Father-in-law had one and was showing it to me and did not have windows open.
Sucked the ashes out of the fireplace.
Luckily it was summer time and no fire going.
Amazing amount of air moved by some of those.
You gotta get the heat out of the attic. I installed ridge vents and gable vents when I remodeled my home. Talk about helping a lot.
Please call A&T Mechanical. As far as HVAC companies go, these guys have done the best job for me. They will come out and advise you on a plan of action.
405-810-8891
On my own, I cut more soffit vents and screwed those 50 cent grills over them I now have 1 vent every 5 foot instead of every 20 foot. I also installed two more solar powered thermostat controlled attic fans to exhaust the hot air. It is bearable up there now.
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You have problems. You need to vent that attic. Venting is a double edge sword, air in needs to match air out roughly. If you have 500 inches of vent at the top of your roof, you need 500 inches in your soffit. As swampratt says, crack open that attic access, it will help, but if you only have one small vent at your roof crown, don't expect much. You need to find a guy you can work with, and as XYZ says, Locke supply is an excellent source, but any supplier in your area will work. Walk in and tell them what you have, and you;re a little tight on money, but you're not looking for a cheap guy, but maybe a retired or semi retired good guy that will work a little here and a little there, and you pay as it goes. Good luck to you.
Gotta make sure that it's draining... There's usually PVC pipe running out of the lowest part of the tray.
And when you find access take a shop vac to it, making the best seal you can.
I learned this the hard way when my attic handler overflowed and was dripping on the living room ceiling.
Had to replace half the ceiling.
The guy I called, a licensed, bonded technician, only replaced the cutoff switch, which was getting tripped by the water .. Didn't do a damn thing about the drain. And when I called him on it, he said he "wasn't a plumber".
I pulled the gunk out of the drain with the vacuum and installed a secondary pump just in case.
Other than that, make sure the air returns have good filters.
And seconded on the ventilation.
Make sure you have airflow up there. Vent fans with thermostats if necessary.
