Does running the house fan save electricity

We’ve heard it said – most likely from our friends – that running your ceiling fans will better circulate your AC’s air, resulting in a lower electric bill. We all love hearing ideas that will save us money, right? Unfortunately, this one is commonly misconceived. Here’s the skinny on ceiling fans. While it’s great to feel that cool air circulating on your skin, it’s likely not saving you very much on your energy bill.

The Most Important Thing to Understand About Ceiling Fans

Ceiling fans do NOT cool the air; they cool your skin. You see, your air conditioner is designed to move cool air into – and hot air out of – your home to keep you at a comfortable temperature. A ceiling fan itself has no cooling mechanism. It wicks sweat from your skin to cool you down as it blows air on you rather than actually lowering the temperature of the room you’re in.

So, what exactly does that mean?

Unless you are physically in the room while the fan is on, it’s not doing any good. If you’re not there to benefit from the ceiling fan’s air circulation, then you’re just using more electricity. If your air conditioner isn’t operating efficiently, then your ceiling fan isn’t doing it any favors.

This is where most people get into financial trouble. They turn on all the ceiling fans thinking that they’ll help the AC work more effectively and lower temperatures throughout their whole home, only to discover even higher bills once all that extra energy use is clocked. Fans have no effect on the efficiency of your AC!

Want to hear the solution to this common problem? It’s simple. If you want to benefit from the energy-saving potential of your ceiling fans without costing yourself more money, then be sure to start by turning fans off whenever the room is empty.

Want to start saving money on your energy bill? Contact the experts at Hoffman Electrical online to discuss which type of high-efficiency unit would be right for you and your home.

The Second Most Important Thing to Understand About Ceiling Fans

Here is another most common way that you’ve unknowingly sabotaged your own money-saving efforts.

Many homeowners don’t realize that they should actually raise their thermostat setting slightly when running their ceiling fans.

With air blowing on your skin from your ceiling fans, you will feel physically cooler at any given temperature than you would at the exact same temperature without the fan blowing. That means, if you want to feel like the room is a comfy 72 degrees, you can – and should – raise the temperature on your thermostat to 77. That 5-degree difference will be virtually unnoticed by you – except when it comes time to pay your energy bill, and then you will see how much you saved by running your AC a little less.

The Best Way to Use Your Ceiling Fan to Save Money on Your Energy Bill

It’s all starting to come together now, isn’t it? You can even start today. Try these two steps to get the most out of your AC and ceiling fan working in tandem:

• Raise the temperature on your thermostat by about five degrees. You can even go up a bit more, as long as you’re still comfortable. The higher the temperature, the less your air conditioner runs and the more you save. That simple fact is the key to saving money – with or without a fan. The fan is just the part that makes those higher temperatures feel good – plus, it always feels good to save money, especially when you’re not sacrificing your comfort levels.
• When you enter a room – and only when you enter a room – turn the ceiling fan on. Remember to turn it off again the moment you walk out. Old habits are sometimes hard to break. Just think of it like this: if you’re leaving a room, you usually turn off the lights to save energy, right? Just flip the fan switch off as well.

If you want to learn more about saving on energy costs with a more efficient air conditioner, a better cooling system overall, or if you just want someone to install ceiling fans for you, contact us today for a free estimate!

If you’re not running your system’s fan often, you’re missing out on a lot of the benefits of owning a home with a central duct system:

1.    Use Your Home’s Filter, Don’t BE the Filter. Every central duct system should include some sort of filtration option, such as an air filter or electronic air cleaner. Constantly running the fan and filtering the air in your home has huge benefits for the health of your home’s inhabitants.

2.    Reduced Dust. Running your system on constant fan will run air through your filter more often, reducing the amount of dust your family breathes in your home. 

3.    Reduced Allergies. A good filter reduces the allergens present in your home’s air, which can help reduce the negative health effects of allergies.

4.    Feel Cooler During the Summer. When air is moving around our home, it helps us feel cooler during warmer weather if your home doesn’t have air conditioning.

5.    More Even Temperatures in Your Home. Slowly circulating the air in your home using constant fan helps to even out the temperatures in your home, making it much more comfortable. 

6.    Dry Out Wet or Humid Areas in Your Home. By circulating air in your home, you’ll also help dry out bathrooms after a shower, or any other areas where excess moisture can accumulate, reducing mold and spores, which are harmful for your family to breathe.

Supercharge the Powers of Your Home’s Air Quality Solutions

If you’re looking to increase the air quality in your home with an additional product, such as the Air Scrubber or the Trane CleanEffects, then running your home’s fan constantly allows them to do their job much more often, which can help with the following:

7.    Reduced Bacteria and Viruses. You’ll be constantly sterilizing the air in your home by sending the air through the CleanEffects, or helping the Air Scrubber send out activated air molecules and mixing them with the rest of the air in your home.

8.    Reduced VOCs in the Home. The CleanEffects and Air Scrubber also remove harmful VOCs. VOCs can have a negative effect on both our short-term and long-term health, with symptoms ranging from flu-like all the way up to increased cancer rates. 

9.    Further Reduced Allergies. A high-end air cleaner will remove or sterilize 99.9% of allergens from the air in your home, drastically reducing the amount present in your air.

10.    Sterilize Mold. The CleanEffects and Air Scrubber can also sterilize mold in your home, keeping it from multiplying and invading your family’s lungs.

11.    Reduced Odors. An electronic air quality option helps eliminate odors from your home, especially when combined with a constantly running fan.

The Downsides of Running Your Fan Constantly

1.    An Inefficient Fan Can Be Costly To Run. If your home’s fan motor is an older inefficient “PSC” model, it could be costly on your electric bills to run it constantly.

2.    Possible Reduced Fan Motor Life. If you don’t replace your filter often enough, it could put a lot of undue stress on your fan motor, as it has to work a lot harder to move air through a clogged filter. This can be alleviated by changing the filter every couple of months.

3.    You’ll Have to Change Your Filter More Often. Constantly running your fan will move a lot more air through your filter. It’ll need to be changed more often. The upside is that the air your family breathes will be cleaner and healthier, and so will your home.

Getting a More Efficient Fan Motor May Be a Good Idea

Most fan motors in older furnaces are the less efficient “PSC” type motor.  Today’s high efficiency “ECM” models are much more efficient. If you plan on taking advantage of the benefits of a constantly running fan, you may consider purchasing a new ECM blower motor for your furnace. ECM motors are up to 70% more efficient than older PSC motors and can save you enough in electricity usage over a PSC motor to pay for itself over a relatively short period of time, especially if you plan on running the fan constantly (you should!). 

If you’re interested in purchasing one for your home, an Evergreen universal ECM motor fits most older furnaces. Give us a call at 206-565-1455 to get pricing and to schedule an installation.

Get Help Setting Up Your System to Enable the Many Benefits of Running Your Fan

Most central HVAC systems have the capability of running the fan independent of heating or cooling the air. In fact, many of them can run the fan at a lower speed when running independently of heating or cooling, meaning they are constantly mixing the air in your home without causing unwanted noise or unneeded airflow. If you’re not sure if your system has this capability, give us a call to schedule a maintenance. During this appointment, we’ll be able to tell you if constant fan is currently option and help you program the necessary settings in your thermostat. If for some reason your current system isn’t set up to enable constant fan, we can provide a quote to upgrade your current system with this capability. Give us a call at 206-565-1455 or contact us online and we can schedule a visit by one of our technicians.

Air Scrubber by Aerus

The Air Scrubber by Aerus sends out active air molecules throughout your home to clean the air and surfaces of contaminants, pollutants, allergens and dust. For more information: Air Scrubber by Aerus
 

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