When it comes to summertime cooling bills, most homeowners are trying to do everything possible to reduce them. One thing you may consider is running the blower fan for your air conditioner instead of running it on cooling all the time. Here, we’ll discuss whether or not this is a good idea when it comes to keeping your home comfortable and reducing your energy bills during the hot summer season.
Understanding Fan Mode
Before we dive into talking about efficiencies in relation to your thermostat’s settings, we need to first describe what fan mode is. When you look at your thermostat, it will have an option for your blower fan. You can set the fan to off, on, or auto. Additionally, your thermostat has a setting for heating, cooling, or off.
When your thermostat is set to cooling and the blower fan to auto, it will turn on and off depending on the temperature your thermostat is reading and the settings you have programmed. For example, if your thermostat reads the temperature in your home to be 75 degrees Fahrenheit and you have your thermostat set to 73 degrees, your air conditioner will kick on to cool your home back down.
When your air conditioner is running, it’s using the blower fan to circulate air throughout your home. Once your indoor air temperature reaches 73 degrees, it will turn back off. If you have your blower fan set to on instead of auto, your blower fan will run non-stop. This means it will circulate cold air whenever your air conditioning system is running, but will only circulate the ambient air when your air conditioner isn’t running.
A Note on Power Consumption
When your air conditioner is running, the compressor inside your outdoor condenser unit is drawing a lot of energy. In fact, it’s the most energy-consuming component of your home’s air conditioning system. Whenever your air conditioner is off and the blower fan is set to where it’s just running and circulating the ambient air in your home, it’s using much less energy. There’s no doubt that simply running your blower fan instead of your AC unit is much cheaper on your budget.
Understanding the Cooling Process
It’s crucial to note that running the blower fan for your AC unit on its own will not cool your home. It simply will circulate this air throughout your home to prevent it from being stagnant. It has no effect on its temperature whatsoever. To reduce the temperature in your home, your air conditioner needs to be running.
When your air conditioner normally runs, the refrigerant inside the evaporator coil in your indoor air handler unit is actively absorbing heat. As the heat transfers from the air in your ductwork to the refrigerant, excess moisture will form on the surface of the evaporator coil. This moisture will eventually drip down into the drain pan and exit your home through the drain pipe.
Removing this excess moisture from the air is the key to enhancing your household comfort. You want to avoid having high indoor humidity levels, as they make it very hard for your body to naturally cool itself down by sweating. Less of your sweat will get absorbed into the air, leaving you feeling hot and stuffy instead of cool.
Fan Mode Can Humidify Your Home
It’s very common for a lot of homeowners to think they can run their air conditioning system to cool their home down to a comfortable temperature, then switch over to using their blower fan to continually circulate that cool air. The reason why this isn’t the best idea is due to humidity. If you turn your air conditioner on and it runs to cool down your home, there’s going to be a lot of moisture over your evaporator coil.
Once your air conditioner turns off and you switch over to simply using fan mode, the refrigerant is no longer absorbing heat. This allows all the moisture droplets on the surface of the evaporator coil to be absorbed back into the air as the blower fan circulates air over the coil. When you run fan mode directly after cooling mode, it will humidify your home and make it feel more uncomfortable.
You’re essentially undoing all the comfort that running your air conditioner initially provided. It won’t take long before you’ll feel like it’s too hot and sticky indoors. Then, you’ll switch back over to cooling and use more energy. It’s typically best to stick with running your system on cooling mode during the hot summer months and leave fan mode for other optimal times of the year.
When Is Fan Mode Best?
While fan mode may not be the best option during the hot summer season, there are specific times of the year when it may be beneficial for reducing your energy bills. It can be a great option during cooler evenings or nights where you still want to have airflow in your home to wick away sweat, but you don’t want to waste the energy on cooling. Fan mode can also be great for the spring and fall months of the year. They allow that extra air circulation to make your homework comfortable without the need for reducing its interior temperature.
Helpful Tips on Reducing Cooling Bills
If your summertime cooling bills are just too high, there are many things you can do to help reduce them without relying on fan mode. One of the most important things you can do is ensure you get professional maintenance service. This ensures that your air conditioner is operating as efficiently as possible, so you’re not wasting any of your hard-earned money on excessive energy bills.
Just taking the time to seal up any air leaks around your door and window frames on the exterior walls of your home can make a big impact. Ensure your attic vents are fully open so that your attic doesn’t get exceedingly hot and impact the temperature inside your home. Consider investing in a smart thermostat that will have a suggested eco mode to help reduce your energy consumption.
Take the time at the beginning of the summer season to ensure all the air vents throughout your entire home are completely open and free from any obstructions. It’s best to always trim back trees and shrubbery around your outdoor condenser unit so it has at least three feet of open space to function optimally.
Do your best to keep up with regular air filter changes. We highly recommend checking your filter on a monthly basis and always having a spare one on hand so you can do a replacement whenever necessary. If your ducting is over 10 years old, consider getting duct sealing service. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that homeowners can lose up to 30% of the cold air their air conditioners produce through ductwork leaks.
Exceptional AC Maintenance Service
Liberty Comfort Systems offers exceptional AC maintenance service for the Anoka, MN area. We can also help with all your air conditioning repair, replacement, and installation needs. Simply call us today to schedule your next service consultation with one of our highly experienced technicians.
