Is it energy efficient to run the central fan in my townhouse?
Answer:
Central air fans use quite a bit of electricity. A typical fan for a three ton system will use about 600 watts. Running this 24/7 will substantially increase your electric bill. It is equivalent to running ten 60 watt bulbs. If possible, make some adjustments to the duct system to force more air up. Completely shut off the supply registers to the ground floor (but don't shut off more than 25% of the total registers). Make sure all return air vents are clear of obstructions. Also, try to keep doors that might seal off levels open, for example, the basement door.
Look for dampers in the main air trunk lines and possibly adjust them accordingly.
In this situation, i.e., three levels, an oversized A/C will aggravate the problem.
Running the fan will also increase the humidity in the house.
Are you saying you have central air, and you set the fan to "on" instead of "auto"? Or are you talking about an attic fan or whole house fan? The compressor uses much more electricity than the fan, so its possible that by turning down the thermostat and running the compressor less it would be a wash, and your comfort level would improve. Try it each way for a couple of months and see what your bill is. Putting extra insulation in the attic makes a big difference. I put 18" of cellulose in my attic over the existing insulation and it solved the problem.
yes it will use more energy true but you could hook up a solar panel system that will provide power to your house for the fan and more
it is more energy efficient, to use the fan, simply because the fan cools just you or the warm bodies that need cooling while central air would cool everything else.
Plus the fan uses less energy.
So if you are in a room with a fan then use the fan and stay cool rather than run central air and cool everything else.
We have a three story house with the same circulation problem ~ the trick is drawing the cool air from the basement up to the top floor.
We accomplished this by installing inexpensive ceiling fans upstairs which do a terrific job of pulling the air through the house. In the interim, you could open the basement window a crack, and then place a box fan on the 2nd floor landing to draw the cool air upstairs. After the upstairs has cooled down, close the basement window and keep the box fan on to continue moving the air around.
Box fans and ceiling fans use very little electricity compared to the the furnace fan.
The answers post by the user, for information only, FunQA.com does not guarantee the right.
More Questions and Answers: