Setting up my furnace for ventilation only


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Old 05-16-14, 11:06 AM
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Setting up my furnace for ventilation only

Hi, I have a Payne PG8JAA installed in my house by the contractor and it does a great hob heating. I believe the furnace can also be used for ventilation only, without heat, but I can't make it work that way. My contractor couldn't answer this and told me to call supplier. Supplier says the wire G has not been connected, which I can confirm. Contractor says the only 2 wires it came with red and white have been connected and heater is doing what it should do - heat. His is not being as helpful as I would expect.

In fact the G wire was never connected. And I see a third wire not connected in the thermostat and going to the garage. Could I use it to connect to G on the furnace and get ventilation setup? I would need to extend it. What kind of wire do I need?

Would using it as ventilation do anything to help cool the house? Wouldn't at least be moving the air?

I really appreciate your help here.

Thanks
 
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Old 05-16-14, 12:18 PM
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Does your thermostat have a manual/auto switch for fan operation?

Without that switch, it makes it difficult to run the fan without the normal furnace heat cycle.
 
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Old 05-16-14, 12:45 PM
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Your second question "Would using it as ventilation do anything to help cool the house?" should be discussed before you go to too much effort getting your fan to to run. Yes moving air will feel cooler than not, but circulating warm air from the ceiling down to where the people live may not help.

If you can give us some additional information, perhaps reducing the heat that is penetrating your home would be more effective. In addition, if you calculate the energy costs for running that fan, there may be better places to spend that money.

Bud
 
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Old 05-16-14, 01:58 PM
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Does your thermostat have a manual/auto switch for fan operation?
It does have that setting
 
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Old 05-16-14, 02:01 PM
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Bud, that's a great point. I am also looking at other solutions. I am in San Francisco, house has no insulation. There a few weeks a year that gets hot, a little over 90 degrees inside. I am looking different options like spraying insulation on attic and walls, or getting a central A/C, or even just putting a window unit in the bedroom. Trying to gauge all the pros, cons and cost. I thought that circulating the air would be just one step, the easiest one to help.
 
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Old 05-16-14, 02:22 PM
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First off, yes, connecting the green wire to the proper terminals at both the thermostat and furnace is the first step. You most likely would need the green wire connected if you were to add central cooling. Second step, to be accomplished with the first is properly trim the excess exposed conductor on those thermostat leads. The insulation should be almost touching the terminal block, not a half-inch away.

As for just circulating the air to make it seem cooler...trust me, it won't help. I live in a climate that is similar to yours in the summer, I have tried the "fan only" option on my furnace and it only made it worse. Plus, Bud has a good point about it increasing your electrical consumption if you have a "conventional" blower motor rather than an electronically controlled variable speed model as is installed on more expensive furnaces.
 
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Old 05-16-14, 02:59 PM
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As for just circulating the air to make it seem cooler...trust me, it won't help. I live in a climate that is similar to yours in the summer, I have tried the "fan only" option on my furnace and it only made it worse. Plus, Bud has a good point about it increasing your electrical consumption if you have a "conventional" blower motor rather than an electronically controlled variable speed model as is installed on more expensive furnaces.

Read more: http://www.doityourself.com/forum/du...#ixzz31uz6ejGY
So if I decide to put a cooling system I would still have no control of the speed? So I would also be consuming more energy than needed? Or the cooling system would allow some control over temperature, speed, etc...?

Insulation guys are quoting over $10k to insulate my home. I am trying to find solutions, as I have an infant daughter and I worry about the heat. It's for my comfort as well. I wonder if just putting some vents in the attic wouldn't already provide a noticeable improvement?

Thanks
 
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Old 05-16-14, 03:24 PM
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That's where I said "If you can give us some additional information,". Attic venting is important but you haven't told us what you do or do not have. House style, number of floors, size, and so on will give us more of a chance to make suggestions.

You said no insulation, in that case, zero insulation in an attic will cook the house below and air sealing with a LOT of insulation up there is an easy job, far less than $10,000. Insulating walls would of course help as well, but the ceiling is an easy palce to start.

Bud
 
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Old 05-16-14, 03:50 PM
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Thanks for helping. It's a 1940 san francisco (marina style) house. 1 floor of living area (about 1200 sqft) with a garage below. Attic has no insulation for the most part, the guy from insulation company said he saw some patches of fiberglass insulation that would need to be removed. But there is no crawl space, not sure it can be called an attic, it's about 10" high max.


1st quote:

- electrical inspection - $275
- insulation removal - $1400
- air draft sealing - $1500
- attic insulation upgrade - $3500
- attic ventilation - $3600


2nd quote:
- electrical survey - $250
- attic insulation - $1600
- temp attic access - $175
- wall insulation - $3800

2nd guys didnt include sealing or vents, but they said I get a $3000 rebate from PG&E. I supposed I can get the same rebate with the 1st work too.

The thing is, it only gets really bad a few weeks per year, like this week. I am trying to make it more comfortable, not necessarily do all that should be done for maximum efficiency. When I talked to the 1st guys on the phone and asked if they could give me an rough estimate of how many degrees cooler it would be on a day that currently get's to 90 inside, they said they can't estimate that.

My guess is sealing would be the lower hanging fruit (if there is a lot of transfer through gaps), then venting so attic doesn't get so hot, and then insulating the attic, and lastly the walls.

I need to mention that my roof is flat, so I was wondering if it wouldn't be easier to just insulate it, instead of the attic?

Thanks for all the help
 
 

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