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. Esecially in peak pollen seasons. 

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 or vist us online to schedule a time to talk 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