A friend had one in her house in NJ. They can be quiet if they are big and slow-turning. I imagine the one in your parents house was installed before home air

A friend had one in her house in NJ. They can be quiet if they are big and slow-turning. I imagine the one in your parents house was installed before home air conditioning became commonplace. Even where they are not effective in the height of summer, they can reduce the number of days when it gets unpleasant. They are more effective when you have a couple of thousand feet or more elevation, as the diurnal variation seems to be greater.