Does running your furnace fan continuously save energy in the Summer?
Answers:
Unless your ductwork is open to the basement, you wont pull any air upstairs. Usually, the return duct is a closed duct. It just pulls air from the rooms upstairs and brings it back to the furnace. If the duct is open to the basement, by the time that air is brought upstairs and circulated through the house, its not going to be very cool. A very common setting for t-stats in summer is to put the fan switch to ON and set the system to COOL and set the t-stat setpoint. The fan will run continuously, and the t-stat will cycle the A/C condenser on and off when it needs to. This will help circulate air through out the house and keep it cool and dehumidified. It also helps with homes with smaller ductwork, or hard to cool rooms. Good luck and hope this helped!
Other answers:
Central Air Is Alot More Expensive.
Central Air Is Alot More Expensive.
We run our fan all the time winter and summer so that more air can circulate through the house and through the furnace filter we have on the furnace ( we have a very expensive filter on the furnace). It does not really seem to be that expensive and seems to help with keeping the house cool alittle better to us.
We have run our furnace fan like this for ten years as in the winter we have a humidifier on the furnace so we want the extra dampness as well running through the house as it holds the heat better too.
You could always try it for a month to see if you like the results and than turn the fan off for a month and see how the difference in the bills are.
It saves entergy due to the fact that it keeps your house at a more constant temp. That way when your system comes on, be it heating or cooling it dosen't take as long for your system to meet the demand. The motor in your air handler is rated as a continous duty motor, so it dosent hurt it to run all the time. It is also easier on the motor since the hardest thing (also draws the most power) is when your motor starts up,and it uses surprisingly little power when it is running. So all things considered you are better of to let it run.