Fan Off Or Auto


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Old 02-27-08, 03:25 PM
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Fan Off Or Auto

Which is the most energy effiecient way to set the fan on your heating n cooling system, off or auto. My husband says on so the air is circulating all the time in the house but I say auto because you are using electricity for the fan to run all the time and we have ceiling fans turning all the time. Who is right? We live in NC and have a south facing home with almost all gass across the back of the home. Jen
 
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Old 02-27-08, 07:09 PM
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MamaJenn WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! I'll be first so everybody else can tell you their right


IF you run the ceiling fans all the time id say why does it matter if one more is running. If its running its using electricity. But running the fan 24 7 is a great way to filter the air and have a more constant temp in the home. The hardest thing for a motor to do is start and the highest amps. Your running the fan 24 7 is costing you pennies a day let it run and have the filtered air with more constant temps. Oh your in NC once you start the AC turn the fan to auto if you have a lot of RH in your home. GO HEELS!!!!
 
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Old 02-28-08, 05:32 AM
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What does RH stand for????

What does RH stand for?

Thanks for your quick response but I am confused. What does RH stand for?

Aso,

When you mention the fan, are you talking about the fan on the h/ac unit or the ceiling fans. I am assuming that you mean for me to keep the c fans as well as the fans on the h/ac unit on 24-7 and put the h/ac fan on auto during the summer months. Thanks for your help. Jen
 
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Old 02-28-08, 07:01 AM
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I agree that running the fan all the time will make the house more comfortable. I don't think it will be more energy efficient, but it really depends on too many variables to make an educated geuss. For myself, I found the best solution was a thermostat with a programmable fan. In the mornings when everyone is getting ready and showering the fan is "on" all the time. When we are away or a sleep the fan is on "auto" and the temp goes down. When at home in the evenings and weekends the fan is on "circ" which runs the fan randomly 33% of the time, in addition to on demand (auto). I won't own a thermostat now without these features, since I like it so much. The only bad thing was it was expensive, ~$100.

Good luck
 
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Old 02-28-08, 07:23 AM
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Originally Posted by MamaJenn
What does RH stand for?

Thanks for your quick response but I am confused. What does RH stand for?
Radioactive Hydroxylamine. Real nasty stuff, and I hear it's all over North Carolina.



Just kidding. RH = 'Relative Humidity'.

Although I'm curious about Airman's reason for mentioning that. I would think that the fan on or off would have no effect on humidity. You want the A/C running a bit more when you have high RH but I don't see how having the fan on or off would affect AC cycle time. In fact I would think you'd want it on more during the summer to keep the air moving. That is if you're frugal with the AC.
 

Last edited by core; 02-28-08 at 09:20 AM.
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Old 02-28-08, 08:55 AM
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It's an interesting delima of cost v.s. comfort I think. My dad, who is 70 this year, likes to keep his blower on 24/7 and my mom thinks he is wasting electricity.

They live in south texas and the RH is pretty high down there even indoors during the summer I suppose, more so since they are on a tight budget and like to keep the thermostat set kind of high to conserve on the electricity.

With a higher humidity level in the house you feel less comfortable at say 78 degrees than you would if it was a lower humidity level. ...but with the blower on and air moving across you it feel better.

The down side? Extra cost! Here is an example of an electric air handler:

230 volt motor running pulls 2.3a of power. This is 529 watts.

529watts x 24hrs x 365days / (devide) 1000 (to convert to kilowatthours) x .11 (my electric rate cost) = $509.74 for the year or an extra $42.47 per month if ran all night and day.

A gas furnace could cost you more to have it's blower running since it is 120v instead of 230v.

Example, I pulled up two different coleman replacement motors on the web, a 120v 1/3hp and a 230v 1/3hp:

115v x 6.5amps = 747.5 watts!
230v x 2.1amps = 483 watts!

Same horse power just different requirments to get there.

...so the big question is wether or not having the blower on actually helps improve how the house feels or are the ceiling fans enough!

Food for thought!
Michael
 
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Old 02-28-08, 11:54 AM
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Wink

I find its a lot more as to what kind of home , duct work and units that you have in the home . As too should you run the blower 24/7. Like the main one being if you have a 2 story home. Lots of time the blower on 24/7 helps a lot.
Also on the RH in a home . The new units we have now will slow the blower down some so the AC can pull more humidity out of the home for you. Then when its lower the blower comes back up to speed.
Are like in the winter if you have a humidifier there on the furnace. You can run the blower 24/7 with the humidifier on to help put more humidity in the home. This can raise the
" RH" in the home for you.
 
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Old 02-28-08, 03:14 PM
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I could use a humidifier in the house here today Ed, it's 29% inside and 27% outside, I think I static shocked the cat earlier, hehehe!

Michael
 
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Old 02-29-08, 02:04 AM
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Fan on or off

Great responses and advice.

We do have a humidifier on the gas furnace that heats the main part of the house. The bedroom end of the house, main floor also, has an apollo system which does an okay job and upstairs is a heat pump. The basement is tied in with the main part of the house since it is only 875 sq ft. We had the h/ac company to send over a home auditor yesterday and he said that the systems are okay, 13 years old, but will probably fail within a year or two and will need to be replaced. He suggested going to all heat pumps but I remember the heat pumps from the late 70's and you froze. Would you recommend heat pumps or stay with natural gas units? Where can I research the best and most economical systems to purchase or can you give me advice?

Also, he said that we would have to put in a dehumidifier under the walk under crawl space of the house because the systems are so delicate today and to also close off the outside registers. Is this normal?

In the basement, the vent in the drop down ceiling is not pushing alot of air out and the air comes out from the sides rather than through the holes as it does it the rest of the house. I did not think about this until after he had left, but is this normal? He said that we needed to put in a new vent that is further from the return. Is this something that my husband could do?
 
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Old 02-29-08, 05:07 AM
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RH is relative Humidity. When you are in the cooling mode and your T-state satisfies, there will be 7 to 10 pounds of water on the coils. With the fan in the on position this water will re evaporate back into the air increasing RH as much as 10%. I should also note that this is true for green grass climates, dryer climates should not have a big problem with RH.
 
 

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