keep fan on 24/7?

[ferreter]

A friend of mine told me it is more efficient to keep the fan on the "on" position all the time. He says it circulates the cool air from the basement to the hot rooms upstairs. Is he right? :confused:

[danski0224]

Yes, there is truth in that. General circulation in the living space makes the home feel more comfortable.

However, unless you have a variable speed drive on your furnace, that luxury will cost you.

[Grady]

In cooling, it is generally counterproductive to run the fan constantly. The water left on the coil starts to re-evaporate back into the room air making the humidity higher.

[Jay11J]

I agree with Grady.

I tried it on my system, Ran the fan, humidity stayed around 50% when it was not cooling...

now the fan is off, it stays around 40%.. so the house stays dryer..

You'll have to try it yourself in your home and be your own judge. In my parents last house, they had a 2 story home.. *upstairs, main floor, and basement." lot of area.. so they ran the fan 24/7, and it was fine. and also comfortable..

If you have variable speed, it won't cost you much to run the fan all the time.. I run mine all the tiem in the winter. makes a house comfortable.. A regular fan will take more power to run.

[ferreter]

Thanks for all of your replies. I am running mine 24/7 and the house feels comfortable. I was just wondering if it costs more to do that. I don't have a variable speed fan, so I think all of you are saying that it will cost more. How much more? Just a little? I have a 3 story house with about 3000 sq. ft. in northern virginia.

[Ed Imeduc]

Just make sure you keep a clean filter in there all the time.

ED ;)

[danski0224]

If you can figure out how many watts your fan uses, and if you know what your cost per kWh is, then you can figure out how much it will cost to run your fan.

If your fan uses 1000 watts (8.3 A draw), and your cost per kWh is $.07 then it will cost you $1.68 to leave it on for 24 hours... if my math is right :) An extra $50 a month.

This doesn't get into day/night/peak rates or discounts over a certain kWH usage.

If your unit cycles the fan on and off between turning the condenser on and off, the motor startup costs more.

[hvac01453]

air changes per hour will increase bringing in outdoor air along with the humidity... If you have an outside air damper its worse... Some people have to have the air exchanged especially on tight houses. Now this applies to summer only...In the winter....24/7 oh yeah!