Can I run just my furnace fan?

[Bullyboy]

Hey guys. A little help please. I have let the fire go out in the boiler for a few days now. The water is still circulating but obviously the temp is way way down. So my question is, am I safe to just turn my furnace fan on to circulate air? You can see in the pic it says bypass valve - open in summer. Is it safe to close the valve with water still circulating? Is there anything else I should be doing? Do you guys circulate the water all summer?

 

[leon]

The water will go cold and it will chill the house on you so................................ spouse will not be happy.

You don't use the windowstats to dump the excess heat??

 

[Bullyboy]

Yes, daily. Lol. But was hoping on getting some of the air to our now somewhat colder basement.

 

[maple1]

I'm wondering why the water should still be circulating?

 

[Bad LP]

I'm wondering why the water should still be circulating?

Very good question.

 

[Bullyboy]

So I shouldn't keep the water circulating? I thought it helped stop anything from building up. Any suggestions are welcome, Thanks in advance.

 

[Fred61]

In the off season you only need to exercise the circulators a few times.

Trying to cool with relatively warm water ( in relation to AC coils) would be very inefficient. Those furnace blowers can really suck up some power.

 

[Bullyboy]

Ohh, I wasn't trying to cool anything. Just wanted to try using the furnace fan setting to see if I could move some of the warm main floor air to the somewhat cooler basement. Just curious if the temps will even out a bit with the fan running. I just don't want to damage any part of the boiler system trying to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[maple1]

So I shouldn't keep the water circulating? I thought it helped stop anything from building up. Any suggestions are welcome, Thanks in advance.

I'm still not thinking of a reason to keep the water circulating.

Sometimes when you start back up after shutting everything down for a few months, a circulator can stick. But if that is a concern, just running them for a couple minutes every month or so should prevent that.

 

[Bullyboy]

Ok, perfect. I'll shut her down and just run it for a few minutes every so often. Thanks.

 

[maple1]

Just my thoughts, maybe someone else knows a reason.

 

[Bristlecone]

Bullyboy - yes you can run your furnace fan whenever you want. A lot of businesses do so to keep a consistant temperature throughout the building. It does make sense to transfer upper story heat to the basement but you won't achieve what you're wanting. Floors and walls sap the heat from the air. It could take a week of constant fan to get a temperature rise, but most likely you will not feel the difference. An electric oil heater (radiator looking ones) would probably give a better result. Low power draw with constant even heat.

 

[Bullyboy]

That's a good idea. I never really thought about those. I actually like the look of the old school rads.