Discussions

My son likes the furnace fan-blower set to on instead of auto for background noise while he sleeps. My question is, what impact on my hydro bill will this have? I know it will obviously increase but by what margin? I'm sure a "white noise" machine is a better choice.

the furnace is gas and a high efficiency type it is better to keep the fan running all the time in the winter anyways. The house will have less cool spots and more even heat distribution throughout the house. Minimum increase in hydro costs.

crownyboy said "the furnace is gas and a high efficiency type it is better to keep the fan running all the time in the winter anyways. The house will have less cool spots and more even heat distribution throughout the house. Minimum increase in hydro costs. "

In a previous house we had a two speed fan motor. It ran on low all the time and high when the heat cut on. My wife said there was a lot less dust in the house because it was constantly filtering.  
OP get your son a portable fan for his room.

crownyboy said "the furnace is gas and a high efficiency type it is better to keep the fan running all the time in the winter anyways. The house will have less cool spots and more even heat distribution throughout the house. Minimum increase in hydro costs. "

its a high efficiency gas furnace.

all the time, evens out the heat,  
 
in summer if circulates the cooler basement air so your CA does not work so much.  
 
helps to keep basments dryer as well if you have a dampish t basment.  
in winter evens out the heat.  
 
I dont know the technical stuff but the start up of a fan motor takes more energy than when it is running. so in the winter when it is starting up frequently, it may actually be cheaper to just have it stay running on low speed. thereby avoiding the power surge needed to get it going.  
 
somebody on the forum will have the electrical knowledge to give an accurate comment.

Depends how old your high efficiency furnace is. The early high efficiency units (about 2005) had PCM blower motors which are expensive to run. Likely in about 2007 the PCM motors were changed out for DC brushless motors. These newer DC brushless motors use significantly less energy and and can run all the time to even out hot spots, filter air, etc. I would cross reference your furnace model to see what type of blower motor you have. If it''s the old one, you could always upgrade it with an Emerson Rescue Ecotech fan motor. They are a little pricey if you were to buy it locally, but can be picked up sometimes on line for maybe $150 bucks and can run continually on low speed year round for comfort. At slow speed, they are very cost effective over the long run, and are a quality circulation motor:  
 
http://www.usmotors.com/~/media/USMotors/Documents/Literature/Datasheets/PDS/PDS_RESCUE_EcoTech.ashx  
 
Of course, choosing the correct size replacement is important but here are a few listings for a few different sizes of these motors:  
 
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=:R40&_nkw=:rescue+ecotech+motor&_sacat=:0&_sop=:15  
 
They are not too difficult to install but do require some technical know-how and you may need an additional mounting bracket that is matched to your current furnace.  
 
Edited by JoeSixpack, 2017-11-09 01:06:47

My house was built in 2014 but I cant find a manufacture date on the furnace, just a ser# and a model#. I Googled it but theres no mention online of the type of blower motor unfortunately. I guess I will just compare the bills when it arrives.

I've installed 150 furnaces. The high efficient furnaces run pretty efficiently. I have a mid right now and run it all the time. I don't notice a whole lot of difference as far as cost . And everyone's right. Gets rid of cool spots, and condensation and what not. I've only installed Bryant, Payne , and goodman. But I'd imagine yours will be brushless. Run the fan. And make sure you get your yearly service done. Dust build up on the fins will reduce the fans efficiency good idea to pull it and clean it yearly when running it constantly. Depending on how much dust is in the air (pets, renovations, etc ). Text or call. 204-761-9500

If your house was built in 2014 then it would've been a new furnace at that point with a DC brushless motor. You should be fine running in circulation mode (low speed) economically. If anything, take a model number off the fan if you can access it, and confirm it is an ECM motor.

Lets just say you have a 1/4hp blower. For the ease of calculation I'll just you a 200W motor which is close to 1/4Hp They are 8760 hours in a year and the rate is $0.07128kWh, thus is would be about $125 bucks per year if it ran all the time at full speed. Based on efficiency of these motors I would reason that you would be looking at about $50 per year to run it all the time.  
 
You buy a fan to do that and its 100W or so. It does a poor job at the same thing and will cost you more than $50 to run it for the year.  
 
I'd reckon you should run it.  
 
Open your furnace cover and read the motor (turn it off first)  
Hp to Watts is = 746*Hp  
 
Cost per year is = Watts/1000 * 8760 * $0.07128, this assumes that it runs at rated hp the entire time.  
 
Hope that helps.