I recently had some A/C service done, and the tech recommended that I leave the furnace blower running constantly, letting the heat and cooling come on as needed. The theory is that is would "even out" the air temperatures throughout the house (I have a 2-story house with basement, dual zone system). Makes sense to me, but wanted to know what the smart folks in this ng thought?
Last year my tech told me the same thing in the winter I do not have a heating problem but in the summer its harder to cool evenly. My down stairs was comfortable and upstairs too warm. I have vents on the wall floor level. I purchased angled plastic to shoot the cold air up and re adjusted all the vents to have less cold air down and keep the vents upstairs open all the way. The ac runs a little longer but its more comfortable all over. PLUS I KEEP THE FAN RUNNING 24/7 it helps a lot try and see what you think.
mike
It will keep you more even and clean your air better , but figure the cost. I pay 0.12 KWH my fan pulls apx 400 watts or 9600 a day , at
0.12 thats 1.152 a day or 34.56 a month. Well my entire electric bill last month was 15. I think I like the savings of 350 a year, but you may enjoy the comfort Also fan motors only last just so long.
That's 9600 watt-hours or 9.6 kWh per day.
Nick
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Fan motors, like other types of motors and light bulbs are stressed the most on starting up. Run the motor 24/7/360, and it will last a long time. I run mine continuously and it is now 18 years old.
If you want to, run it all the time.
With a good filter installed, it will also help get a lot of the dust out of the air.
In my previous house, I ran mine all the time during the summer to de-ice the a/c coils between cooling cycles. Compared to the power used by the compressor, the cost of running the fan was nothing.
Bob
I also would like to hear what others have to say about this.I have been keeping my AC in the fan position but keep it on auto during the heating season. I did some un-scientific testing after having my Central AC installed a few years ago.I found that the AC compressor ran only a little more than half as often if the FAN was allowed to run all of the time. Also the house comfort level seems better with the air constantly moving.
I've been here 13 years and just last month replaced a fan motor that had been running 24/7.
Of course the motor was the original from the '60's, so the life expectancy of a 24/7 motor is somewhere between 13 and 40 years.
If you had a problem with icing, you had a real problem. Icing up with central air is not normal.
It was a new Clayton trailer home. Clayton used ducts that were too small and airflow was inadequate as far as I was concerned. Clayton said it was adequate. Trailer homes are built to minimum specs. I agree it shouldn't have been like that, but it was. A local heating contractor told me the only solution would have been to put in larger ductwork to get adequate airflow. Clayton, by the way, is bottom of the line. I learned a lot when I bought that home. Now I live in a site built home. No more trailer homes for me.
Bob
temperatures
my only thought is that if you do this, dont get some super hepa filter for the thing. those things add a lot of work to the motor. if you want a true filtration system get one. but just for your stated purpose, i dont see a problem.
randy
Gotcha....
Sure run it 24x7 to save the motor , and heat - cool more evenly or just do what is smart . get a better thermostat or adjust your anticipator for less swing , or get the proper equipment with a DC motor . Or get a better tech.
My last motor was original, 40 yrs old and consumed apx 550 watts. The furnace never runs more than 8 hrs a day in winter at -10f and avg over the whole summer 1 hr a day. So say in winter for 6 months I would be adding 16 hrs and in summer for 6 months 23 hrs running. So in winter I would add 8.8 kwh daily, 264 kwh mo. 1584 kwh - 6 mo x
0.12 kwh for an increase $ 190.00 . In summer 12.65 kwh daily 379.5 mo. 2277 - 6 mo x .012 kwh = $273.24 or $463.24 a year or 9264.80 over 20 yrs or an axp 40000.00 -50000.00 with compounded interest . Sure everybodys run time is different but many of you have much bigger unefficient motors pulling Double this amount or more.So how many motors and doughnuts can you buy for $ 40 - 50000.00 thousand thousand thousand. And for what , better air flow?
Go buy a new furnace with a DC motor that consumes 50% less and a Cadillac first.
I generally buy the better quality filters that run $3-5 each, not the $0.50 blue fiberglass ones. Since we have a dog, better filtration is required. I'd considered electrostatic, but won't go Hepa due to cost and it's probably not necessary either. I hadn't figured on the motor working harder trying to pull air through the Hepa filter, but good point there.
DesignGuy, or anyone:
The red Filtrete (3M) filter (MERV=11; $9.xx at Lowe's) was what was in place when we moved into this house six months ago, and we have bought a couple more. A local store had the purple Filtrete on sale (MERV=12; sale price approx. $10 instead of the usual $15+) a while back. and we bought a couple of those but haven't used one yet.
Other family members have severe allergy problems, so we've continued buying comparatively expensive filters.
Are we wasting our money?
MB
On 05/15/04 10:26 am DesignGuy put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace:
imho the 10$ filters is the best price range to be in. they actually seem to do a decent job of getting rid of some stuff from the air. the el cheapos are only good for keeping the cat out of the furnace should it somehow get in the duct. the expensive ones seem to me like a waste because if you really need a good air filtration system, you need to add a seperate unit to your current system or get a dedicated standalone unit.
i had one of those washable 'electrostatic' type ones in a house i lived in a while back. cost about 16$ i think with a plastic frame. when i need to replace what i have thats probably what ill go with. washed it about once a month and you wouldnt believe what came out of it.
randy
If your coils were iced, AT ALL, the unit was not running right and you had other issues...
Just for the record.
Running constant fan is not going to hurt your equipment, but if the ducting is leaking to the exterior; it will amplify any losses you may already have. As air leaves the building through leaks in the ducting, it is replaced by air infiltrating through crawl space, attic etc.
Hi, Also run it at lower speed if wanted. My electric power costs 8 cents/KWh fixed for next 4 years. Monthly average usage is 1200KWh. High efficieency blower motors are DC driven which has higher efficiency.
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