Does it Pay to Run the Fan with AC

**banana** · 05-25-2006, 07:20 AM

My hubby likes it cool in the house during the summer months, I cant blame him since he works out in the heat all day long.

I was wondering since we have central air if it would be cheaper to leave the fan switch in the "on position" rather in the "auto position" to circulate the air thus hopefully making it feel cooler along with using my 3 ceiling fans. Normally my dh is only comfy with the temp being 70, 72 if I turn it down before bedtime. I am hoping that if I turn up the temp to 75 he wont feel much of a difference with the fans going.

Will running the central air fan all the time without it cycling off when it reaches the required temp along with using the ceiling fans save me money? Will allowing the central air fan to run continuously damage it or wear it out any time sooner?

Thanks for all your tips and suggestions!

**PrairieRose** · 05-25-2006, 07:34 AM

Our heat and a/c man told me a few years ago that this is what the larger gro. stores and malls do and it can save you 15%. We turn our temp up to 74,
leave the fan running during the day and we stay very cool. He also told us that running the fan only uses the same amount of electricity as a light bulb. The fan is made to run and it won't wear it out any sooner. The only thing is that you have to change or clean your filter more often. (P.S. the reason this saves you money is that the most expensive part of running a central air unit is the first 15 seconds that it cycles on. Running the fan, circulating the cool air keeps the temps lower, hence the condenser kicks on less frequently)

**tbs727** · 05-25-2006, 07:36 AM

I have been wondering the same thing. Thanks for the info.

**banana** · 05-25-2006, 08:15 AM

Wow Lisa! Thanks for the info! I am definitely gonna do it and I'm gonna try to keep the temp set to 75. Hopefully dh wont complain that it is too hot!

**PrairieRose** · 05-25-2006, 08:18 AM

Yeah just don't tell him

He probably won't notice and if he does just one degree's difference will make a big change in the "chill factor".

**banana** · 05-25-2006, 08:25 AM

Believe me I wont share my secret with him, lol!

**halloweenfreak** · 05-25-2006, 02:12 PM

and this really works? i never thought about it before...

**halloweenfreak** · 05-25-2006, 02:13 PM

oh, and what about at night? do you keep it there all the time?

**mom2matty** · 05-25-2006, 02:37 PM

We always run our ceiling fans with the AC......I am able to bump the AC up several degrees and the fans make is seem like it is much cooler!!! Last year we put ceiling fans up in the bedrooms and it made a huge difference!!

**PrairieRose** · 05-25-2006, 03:38 PM

We run our ceiling fans in the bedrooms and living and even the kitchen most of the time during hot weather, but we're referring to the fan on the a/c that you can put into the on position to help recirculate cool air too.

And yes, it really works. We've been doing it for years but we don't normally do it at night. Just from morning till night.

**Katybird** · 05-26-2006, 04:49 PM

Great information! Thanks ladies. I am going to turn my cental air fan on and let it run now also.

**wendy** · 05-27-2006, 05:53 PM

Great advice! My electric bill has slowly increased over the last two months due to using the A/C. I'll try this out and see what happens! Thanks!

**baxjul** · 05-27-2006, 06:20 PM

We run ours all the time also, we keep ours at 78 degrees! We have ceiling fans also. At night I turn it up to 80 and we don't notice that much of a difference!

Right now, I don't even have it on! I'm making everyone suffer!!!!!!!!

**banana** · 05-27-2006, 07:49 PM

I want to thank everyone for the advice! I had to turn on the AC today as it got to be 80 inside my house and I knew hubby wouldnt be too happy about it when he came home from work.

I set the temp for 76 put the AC fan switch on the "on" position and also put a couple of ceiling fans on and dh said it was very comfortable in the house and actually thanked me for turning on the central air. Little did he know the temp was set at 76 instead of the usual 70!