Thermostat that just turns on the house fan...

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

LJ4174

Member
Jul 26, 2008
100
South Eastern PA
...and not the heater...

I have oil heat with return ducts and a house circulator or whatever. I was told that there are thermostats out there, that will turn the fan on, say for 15 minutes every hour or whatever, they are programmable...

Anyone know anything about these or what this function would be called if I'm looking for a new thermostate?

Thanks...
 
I have central ac..what i did is went outside and pulled the main fuse for the outside unit,now i out the thermostat on ac and set the temp on whenever i want the fan to run...once it cools the room off that the wood stove is in it shuts off
 
FORCE FAB said:
I have central ac..what i did is went outside and pulled the main fuse for the outside unit,now i out the thermostat on ac and set the temp on whenever i want the fan to run...once it cools the room off that the wood stove is in it shuts off

That is certainly the inexpensive way to solve that problem. Nice work! :)
 
The BI Guy said:
FORCE FAB said:
I have central ac..what i did is went outside and pulled the main fuse for the outside unit,now i out the thermostat on ac and set the temp on whenever i want the fan to run...once it cools the room off that the wood stove is in it shuts off

That is certainly the inexpensive way to solve that problem. Nice work! :)

Yes, that is a solution... However, where the hell is the fuse? Wonder if you could just throw the breaker on the AC unit only???
 
LJ4174 said:
The BI Guy said:
FORCE FAB said:
I have central ac..what i did is went outside and pulled the main fuse for the outside unit,now i out the thermostat on ac and set the temp on whenever i want the fan to run...once it cools the room off that the wood stove is in it shuts off

That is certainly the inexpensive way to solve that problem. Nice work! :)

Yes, that is a solution... However, where the hell is the fuse? Wonder if you could just throw the breaker on the AC unit only???

You could throw the breaker in the house or you should have a 60AMP disconnect switch mounted near the AC compressor on the outside of your house.

I think I would just invest in a new t-stat, besides you would probably save a few bucks with the programmable anyway. If not with heat, then certainly with AC.
 
I think that would only work with an electric heat-pump. The question here is regarding an oil-fired furnace, so I don't this is a good solution for "ReallyHot". Unless I'm missing something.

Joe

The BI Guy said:
FORCE FAB said:
I have central ac..what i did is went outside and pulled the main fuse for the outside unit,now i out the thermostat on ac and set the temp on whenever i want the fan to run...once it cools the room off that the wood stove is in it shuts off

That is certainly the inexpensive way to solve that problem. Nice work! :)
 
^ No, it should work fine with either heat pump or oil furnace. You can also disconnect the wire from the Y terminal on the thermostat for the winter, by doing that the signal doesn't make it to the AC unit so it won't run on the cool setting.
 
So many solutions, so little time! :)
 
hi,
its not a good idea to turn off teh fuse/circuit breaker for teh condensing unit (outside a/c unit),,, most if not all have an electric band heater on teh compressor, to keep teh oil from coagulating or freezing,,,it would be better to just disconnect (or put a toggle switch on) teh control wire to teh condensing unit, to keep the compressor from starting when the tsat calls for cooling,,,,,,,, to run teh heater/ac fan,, just set teh t stat to cool, and set teh temp you want teh fan to come on at.........
 
The crankcase heater on the compressor is really only necessary if you are going to start the compressor. Not all units have them. They pull about 50 watts all year round whether the unit is running or not. Its purpose is to keep liquid refrigerant from settling into the oil and foaming suddenly on startup. If you are not going to run the compressor, shut off the breaker or pull the disconnect; it absolutely will not hurt it to go cold. However, make sure the unit is energized for at least 24 hours in the spring before you try to start it. Keep a heat pump warm all winter as you never know when you may want to run it.

Chris
 
This sounds like a great idea. I love using stuff "laying" around the house in an unconventional way to get a beneficial side effect. If I understand this correctly - you need the the tstat near the wood stove. As in....near stove gets to 84 degs, tstat set at 78, fan blows, 80 deg air goes to return and distributed around house, near stove cools to 77, fan off. My tstat is down near BRs in cooler part of house - wouldn't work except on the "heat" side. Am I thinking correctly here?
 
use the cooling setting on teh t stat,, that operates the fan on temp rise,,,,,
 
sounds good till the fire goes out and you forget to put the t-stat in heat mode........i have a invensys 9701 i which has auto changeover and intermittent fan. i recommend it highly.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.