HVAC / Central air question (1 Viewer)

[Otis]

Just moved into a house with central air. There are two units on the side of the house for cooling, and some kind of blower/ductwork in the basement which I assume circulates the air through the house.

Recently I began turning the thermostat to heat. I thought I could hear everything shut off and the air stop moving through the vents, and the heat in the radiators (steam) is definitely coming on. But the past couple days I noticed I still felt a breeze through the vents and could hear the unit going downstairs. I went over the house a couple times and made sure all thermostats were set to heat. Then I set them all to off. Still blowing.

There is a box that looks like a light switch on the blower in the utility room. Just went downstairs and flicked the switch, and off it went.

The question -- are you supposed to leave that thing blowing 24/7 year round? Perhaps just to circulate air throughout the house and keep temps even? If it was properly working by seemingly being on all the time, should I have left it on in the cold weather too? To keep air circulating (including warm air in winter)?

No idea what I'm doing here. TIA

 

[belljr]

Your fans set to auto ?

also new efficiency models reverse the fan between 52 and 59

 

[Hawks64]

Your fans set to auto ?

Heat is radiators so fans shouldn't be set to Auto IMO.

Otis are there radiators in each room?

 

[parasaurolophus]

Just moved into a house with central air. There are two units on the side of the house for cooling, and some kind of blower/ductwork in the basement which I assume circulates the air through the house.

Recently I began turning the thermostat to heat. I thought I could hear everything shut off and the air stop moving through the vents, and the heat in the radiators (steam) is definitely coming on. But the past couple days I noticed I still felt a breeze through the vents and could hear the unit going downstairs. I went over the house a couple times and made sure all thermostats were set to heat. Then I set them all to off. Still blowing.

There is a box that looks like a light switch on the blower in the utility room. Just went downstairs and flicked the switch, and off it went.

The question -- are you supposed to leave that thing blowing 24/7 year round? Perhaps just to circulate air throughout the house and keep temps even? If it was properly working by seemingly being on all the time, should I have left it on in the cold weather too? To keep air circulating (including warm air in winter)?

No idea what I'm doing here. TIA

Is there a switch that says fan: auto/on on the thermostat?

 

[Otis]

Your fans set to auto ?

Heat is radiators so fans shouldn't be set to Auto IMO.

Otis are there radiators in each room?

Yes. It's a nearly 100 year old house, the heating system is ancient (old steam radiators running off oil heat (until I toss that boiler for gas in the next two weeks).

So as far as I thought the heat was a separate system. But maybe this makes sense that it's reversing the fans due to it being cold?

It's weird because I thought a couple of weeks ago when the weather was in the 60s and 70s, I turned off the air and the blowers were shutting off too. It's only the past two weeks, when it's gone down into the 50s and 40s here, that I've been noticing it seems the damn things are on all the time. Maybe I'm supposed to leave them on and they are somehow assisting in heating/circulating the warm air from one place to the next?

 

[Otis]

Just moved into a house with central air. There are two units on the side of the house for cooling, and some kind of blower/ductwork in the basement which I assume circulates the air through the house.

Recently I began turning the thermostat to heat. I thought I could hear everything shut off and the air stop moving through the vents, and the heat in the radiators (steam) is definitely coming on. But the past couple days I noticed I still felt a breeze through the vents and could hear the unit going downstairs. I went over the house a couple times and made sure all thermostats were set to heat. Then I set them all to off. Still blowing.

There is a box that looks like a light switch on the blower in the utility room. Just went downstairs and flicked the switch, and off it went.

The question -- are you supposed to leave that thing blowing 24/7 year round? Perhaps just to circulate air throughout the house and keep temps even? If it was properly working by seemingly being on all the time, should I have left it on in the cold weather too? To keep air circulating (including warm air in winter)?

No idea what I'm doing here. TIA

Is there a switch that says fan: auto/on on the thermostat?

Yes! #### maybe someone left it set as "ON." Let me turn the switch downstairs back on, turn the fan settings to AUTO, and see what happens...

 

[mr roboto]

Is there central heat and radiators?

 

[Hawks64]

Your fans set to auto ?

Heat is radiators so fans shouldn't be set to Auto IMO.

Otis are there radiators in each room?

Yes. It's a nearly 100 year old house, the heating system is ancient (old steam radiators running off oil heat (until I toss that boiler for gas in the next two weeks).

So as far as I thought the heat was a separate system. But maybe this makes sense that it's reversing the fans due to it being cold?

It's weird because I thought a couple of weeks ago when the weather was in the 60s and 70s, I turned off the air and the blowers were shutting off too. It's only the past two weeks, when it's gone down into the 50s and 40s here, that I've been noticing it seems the damn things are on all the time. Maybe I'm supposed to leave them on and they are somehow assisting in heating/circulating the warm air from one place to the next?

Thermostats are set to auto, so when the thermostat calls for heat it turns the radiators on and the fans come on by default since they're set to auto. The switch you turned off is likely the power switch for the blowers for the AC. The fans being on isn't bad per se because it's circulating the air throughout the house but can make it feel cooler/cold due to it not being forced air heat.

 

[Otis]

Just moved into a house with central air. There are two units on the side of the house for cooling, and some kind of blower/ductwork in the basement which I assume circulates the air through the house.

Recently I began turning the thermostat to heat. I thought I could hear everything shut off and the air stop moving through the vents, and the heat in the radiators (steam) is definitely coming on. But the past couple days I noticed I still felt a breeze through the vents and could hear the unit going downstairs. I went over the house a couple times and made sure all thermostats were set to heat. Then I set them all to off. Still blowing.

There is a box that looks like a light switch on the blower in the utility room. Just went downstairs and flicked the switch, and off it went.

The question -- are you supposed to leave that thing blowing 24/7 year round? Perhaps just to circulate air throughout the house and keep temps even? If it was properly working by seemingly being on all the time, should I have left it on in the cold weather too? To keep air circulating (including warm air in winter)?

No idea what I'm doing here. TIA

Is there a switch that says fan: auto/on on the thermostat?

Yes! #### maybe someone left it set as "ON." Let me turn the switch downstairs back on, turn the fan settings to AUTO, and see what happens...

This was it. The fan was set to ON. Wasn't me -- maybe the painters did that or something to help keep fumes down and help the paint dry. Wish they would have told me, I might actually have connected the dots.

Thanks GBs

 

[belljr]

Your fans set to auto ?

also new efficiency models reverse the fan between 52 and 59

propers.

 

[jon_mx]

Also close your windows in the Winter time.