moving air around through central hvac fan - any experiences/opinions?

[suchanewbie]

In a house with forced hot air system for hvac (oil ).
Pellet stove installed in the first floor of the house and adequately serves more than one half of the house.
The other half and the basement are not covered by the pellet stove.
I was wondering if I just turn on the fan (only the fan) will it help circulate the hot air around the house? Basically suck the hot air from the return ducts and pump it back through the supply vents?
I don't really know for sure if this is exactly what happens when I flip the thermostat to fan mode but I'm speculating.
I might try this once the weather gets cold enough to use the pellet stove.
This is one of those things where I won't know until I try it out but I wanted to hear some thoughts and opinions of those here.

My big concern is the basement that is completely not covered by the stove and I really, really would like to avoid pipe freeze/burst episodes, but I also don't want to run the oil just for this purpose when the pellet stove otherwise takes care most of the needs.

Thanks.

 

[OkieHusker]

I have been a HVAC contractor for over 11 years and in the trade for almost 20. I often tell people to run there fan to pull excess heat off the ceiling and distribute throughout the house. It will not be like air straight off the stove, but it should remove excess heat from the hot parts and redistribute it through the house. If your thermostat and furnace are wired correctly fan on should be just that. Fan only.

 

[Big papa]

So far I've found running the hvac fan more often gives better results than every so often being the air feels cooler running it every so often rather than more often.hope this helps

 

[suchanewbie]

Thanks.

Another thing I wonder about is the electricity draw of the blower motor, were I to run the fan more frequently.
I tried to locate the ratings on the blower motor but I wasn't able to..
I can't imagine that it would add a lot of cost.
But my electricity charges are not exactly cheap so I'm trying to be careful about that.
One thing for sure though, equally tiring is to run many little fans here and there trying to move air around.

 

[Big papa]

Some experts recommend running it all the time so I don't think that it's very expensive to run but only one way to find out.i haven't noticed any difference in my bill.

 

[xSpecBx]

I bought a honeywell thermostat that has a circulate option for the fan. I have two large registers in my living room where the stove is, another in the furthest room and another in my dining room.

I haven't had much opportunity to test it out but the couple times I did it seemed to distribute the heat pretty well. My air handler is in my finished basement so it shouldn't lose much heat.

Thw fan comes on for ~5 minutes every 15 to 20 minutes.

 

[suchanewbie]

That's interesting xSpecBx that it doesn't constantly run but seems to be on some sort of timer -- is it also somehow thermostatically controlled, or is it just a hard timer you think?
My thermostat simply has a "fan" mode which when I flip it to will run the fan continuously until the switch is flipped back again.
Should look for a better thermostat then.

 

[Big papa]

Yes get a thermostat with air circ function will make things easier and more efficient

 

[xSpecBx]

I did a bunch of searching and found the honeywell rth9250 and wound up going with it. The heat will still come on if needed, but when not running it will cycle the fan randomly.

There is an item called thermguard that is a fan timer that you might want to look at as an add on to your current tstat.

 

[BrotherBart]

The big thing is duct loses in the walls and the attic. Lots of good heat leaves the living space and never returns.

 

[suchanewbie]

Didn't think of the leaks and losses at all - good point.

 

[xSpecBx]

Only reason I did what I did was because the air handler and the duct work is all in finished space. My upstairs has thw air handler in the attic. Everything is insulated but im sure I would lose heat to the cold attic air.

 

[suchanewbie]

I did a bunch of searching and found the honeywell rth9250 and wound up going with it. The heat will still come on if needed, but when not running it will cycle the fan randomly.

There is an item called thermguard that is a fan timer that you might want to look at as an add on to your current tstat.

Thanks very much.

 

[xSpecBx]

The nest thermostat also has a fan timer but it works differently then the honeywell. The nest wil run for 15, 30 or 45 mins every hour depending on which setting you decide on. from what I read it would run straight and then be off for the remainder. If the heat came on for 10 minutes the fan would run for the remainder. I didnt like that option as much as the honeywell but it may fit yoyr needs more

 

[xSpecBx]

http://www.bearmountaindesign.com/

That is the site for thermguard

 

[xSpecBx]

Some experts recommend running it all the time so I don't think that it's very expensive to run but only one way to find out.i haven't noticed any difference in my bill.

The only thing I worry about running my air handler all the time is wear and tear on the blower. I figure with the air handler on circulate it is probably running about the same amount it would when the heat is on. The power bill should be about the same and probably be lower because of the power needs of your boiler being more then the stove

 

[Big papa]

Experts say running all the time or more often is better for the longevity of the fan more so than on off all the time

 

[xSpecBx]

Luckily the blower fre that air handler is easy to get to. The one in the attic is another story...

 

[mixpat]

This is an interesting discussion and something I'd like to try. We have forced hot air system...BUT, the wall thermostat has no fan switch. It turns on/off by temp setting. Would I be looking at big wiring job if I wanted to replace the thermostat with one that has fan on switch? I'm pretty handy and not afraid of the project...just not sure what it entails? Thanks.

 

[xSpecBx]

This is an interesting discussion and something I'd like to try. We have forced hot air system...BUT, the wall thermostat has no fan switch. It turns on/off by temp setting. Would I be looking at big wiring job if I wanted to replace the thermostat with one that has fan on switch? I'm pretty handy and not afraid of the project...just not sure what it entails? Thanks.

If your heating system has a fan it is most likely just not an option on your current thermostat. I believe you need a G wire which operates your fan. If you have G wire then you can probably get the thermguard I spoke about earlier or a new thermostat

 

[johninwi]

make a note of the speed the blower runs at, if i switch on my fan at the t-stat the blower runs at high speed, the blower speed for heat is much slower. IIRC the higher air speed for ac being helps us feel cooler, so then heat is ran at a lower speed

 

[reallyte]

In my scenario, my basement will maintain minimum 40F in dead of winter. I tried the recirc fan but it didnt really help the basement and made my upstairs quite cold. You are better off insulating basement as much as possible and letting it hit ambient ground temps. I run the oil furnace if the basement start going under 40F.

 

[Jack Morrissey]

In my scenario, my basement will maintain minimum 40F in dead of winter. I tried the recirc fan but it didnt really help the basement and made my upstairs quite cold. You are better off insulating basement as much as possible and letting it hit ambient ground temps. I run the oil furnace if the basement start going under 40F.

x2

 

[xSpecBx]

For my house my boiler also makes hot water so the boiler comes on periodicallyanyway which will keep the basement warm. The stove will hopefully heat the first floor and the second floor. The HVAC fan just helps heat the house more evenly

 

[jackbean53]

This is an interesting discussion and something I'd like to try. We have forced hot air system...BUT, the wall thermostat has no fan switch. It turns on/off by temp setting. Would I be looking at big wiring job if I wanted to replace the thermostat with one that has fan on switch? I'm pretty handy and not afraid of the project...just not sure what it entails? Thanks.

do you have ac ? how many wires to t-stat ? could put a fan relay switch on furnace and change the thermostat its easy to do and if i remember correctly honeywell has wiring diagrams in the box.