You’ve seen thermostats for as long as you can remember. But you don’t even know what these 2 settings do or what makes them different.All you know is that you’ve been told to keep your thermostat set on “Auto”.Because the “On” will cost you more money to use. Before we get into why, we need to show you how they’re different.These 2 settings refer to how your air conditioner’s fan will run. The fan is located in the inside unit and helps distribute the conditioned air throughout your home.“Auto” means that the fan automatically works ONLY when the air is being heated or cooled. So once your home reaches the temperature set on the thermostat, the fan stops.“On” means the fan is on  24/7, even when the air isn’t being heated or cooled.Increases electric bill—Running the fan 24/7 could add about another $50 to your electric bill each month.Quickly clogs your air filter—The fan will continually pull in air through your return vents, right where your air filter is.

So it’s going to nab way more dust over a shorter period of time. That means you will have to change your air filter more often.Can make you chilly in winter—The air coming through your vents when the furnace is off will feel chilly.Blower needs more frequent maintenance—Using the fan more often means it’ll break down more often.OK, so maybe we’re being harsh on the “On” setting. While you shouldn’t use it as your “go to”  fan setting, it can give you some benefits:Makes you more comfortable—The fan will circulate air more evenly throughout your home, making you more comfortable.Can help asthma and allergy sufferers—Do you have a high efficiency HEPA filter? Running the fan more often means that filter is catching more airborne pollutants that agitate allergy and asthma symptoms.Helps you dust your home—Your vacuum kicks up a ton of dust when you use it. So, before you start vacuuming, turn your thermostat to “On.”  This will pull in airborne dust into your return air filter before the dust has the chance to settle again.

Set your thermostats fan setting to “Auto” most of the time and only switch it to “On” when necessary.Did you find this article helpful? Check out our related article: How Should I Set My Thermostat? 6 Money-Saving Tips.Service Champions, your local heating and air conditioning company, serves San Jose, Sacramento, East Bay and the surrounding areas. People love their fans. They love to set them on timers, to schedule them to come on in the afternoons, to circulate air to keep the house from getting stuffy. We felt the full force of that love last week when we released Advanced Fan Control, a feature that can do all of the above. Customers have already started using it. Many used to set Nest’s fan to Always On to bring cool air upstairs in summer or just keep air fresh, then they’d go to bed or leave the house and forget to turn it off. Now homeowners can schedule the fan to run from 6-11 p.m. or 8-10 a.m. and forget about it. It’s almost like having an air conditioner. Advanced Fan Control is proving to be one of our most popular new features—the love for fans is ubiquitous.

But so is the misinformation. With all this talk about fans, we’re hearing from more and more customers who’ve been told it’s energy efficient to keep the fan on all the time, 24 hours a day. Whenever the topic is brought up, it’s a debate. Leaving the fan on seems to make sense, after all, especially in summer. portable air conditioning unit partsIf the fan can keep things from getting stuffy, you’ll use your energy-hog of an air conditioner less, and less AC will always save energy. how to check fan motor on ac unitTurns out, it could cost you hundreds of dollars a year. car ac repair in san joseWhile using the fan instead of the air conditioner really is energy efficient, leaving it on all the time usually isn’t. The average air conditioner has a 500 watt fan, which can use about as much energy over the course of a year as a refrigerator.

The costs of running it 24/7 quickly add up. Newer systems have fans that use less energy, but keeping them on all day can cause other problems. In the summer, the ducts that run through your attic or close to your walls can heat up, filling with warm air. Without the AC to cool it down, the fan just blows hot air into your house. You end up running the AC more, not less, to counteract all that extra heat. Hot ducts can be a problem even if you don’t have the fan running all the time—you may be cool and comfortable in your bedroom, then when you turn on the fan on for the night, you fill the room with hot, stale air. The fan can giveth and taketh away. That’s why Advanced Fan Control gives you a few different ways to control the fan, so you can find what works for your home. For those who want to circulate the air, we added an option that lets you run the fan for 15, 30 or 45 minutes every hour. You get the comfort benefits of a fan blowing all the time, but significantly reduce the fan’s actual runtime.

For Nesters who want the fan on for a particular period of time - while they’re asleep, for example, or just in the afternoon when everyone comes home—we’ve created a simple scheduler and a timer. You can turn on the fan exactly when it’s most efficient—when it replaces air conditioning—and it’ll automatically turn off when you tell it to. The fan deserves all the love it gets—it can make a huge difference in your comfort and your energy bill. But as with all things wonderful and beloved—chocolate, Christmas, chocolate—you can get too much of a good thing. This post is part of our HVAC 101 series about how to make the most of your heating and cooling system. Previously we covered finding holes in your ducts and insulation.How do you use the fan setting on an air conditioner? Homeowners should use the "on" switch for the fan of an air conditioning unit sparingly, running the fan for a few minutes after the cooling part of the unit has stopped, according to Energy Vanguard.

Using the "auto" option for the fan is a better choice. How do you turn the fan of a Lennox air conditioner on high? How do you remove a frozen air conditioner filter? How do you diagnose air-conditioner problems? Most air conditioner units have buttons labeled "fan" or "auto." Some air conditioner technicians recommend putting the air conditioner's fan setting permanently to "on" to distribute cool air around the home evenly, but this strategy can backfire and add more humidity to the home, according to Energy Vanguard. Instead, homeowners should choose the "auto" option, or if homeowners choose to run the fan, they should do it for just a few minutes after the cooling part of the unit shuts off. Air conditioning units have two main components, one that cools the air, and another that distributes the cooled air around the house. As the air is cooled, it also has moisture stripped from the air that condenses on the cold evaporator coil. An air conditioning unit that shuts off the cooling part after a short run may have water sitting on the coil, and when the fan is run after the cooling part shuts off, the water on the coil may evaporate and go right back into the air, claims Energy Vanguard.

When this water goes back into the air, it raises the humidity level and can make a home feel uncomfortable even after it has been cooled off by several degrees. Do all attic fans have a humidity setting? Not all attic fans are outfitted with a humidity setting, which requires that the ventilation fan unit have an internal humidistat. Homeowners who have a s... What does a thermostat switch do? A thermostat switch is used to control the mode of a unit, which is the heating or cooling element, and the circulation fan on applicable units. How do you replace a ceiling fan switch? In order to replace a ceiling fan switch, turn off the power to the fan, remove the fan housing, remove the switch and replace it with a compatible unit. How does a fan limit switch work? On furnaces, a fan limit switch uses a heat sensor to detect the temperature of the air passing through the valve that the switch is affixed to. Where can you buy an Amana furnace? How much does radiant floor heat installation cost?