I turned on my Furnace

[phillymatt53]

Well somehow it gets cold here in Michigan and then warm, then it cools off again…

I usually always jog between my heat and A/C so time to get used to doing that again…



— Dave

Jog, eh?
Well, I just sit my butt on the sofa, no "jogging" for me!
My heat triggers on at the (wintertime) temp I have it set to, and stays within one degree of that.
In the spring/summertime, I got the handy remote control on the coffee table to kick on the AC in the dining room wall.
So yes, my hiney stays on the sofa.

 

[countryford]

Inside your house is 70 and you turned on the furnace?
The inside of my house has been low to mid 60s and I finally closed the bedroom windows.

 

[circlew]

I was cold again this morning, and came close to turning the heat on. I probably should try it before it gets really cold to make sure it's working right.

 

[circlew]

Well, I did it. I woke up cold about 7:30 this morning, and thought now's as good a time as any to turn it on. Works fine.

 

[DADoES]

My furnace is a heat pump so the majority of its mechanism also runs through the summer. It changes modes per the Auto cool/heat setpoints.

Signed: Goofy Glenn

 

[combo52]

Hi Sean, post number 18 clogged indoor air filters will cause the amp draw to go down on the compressor. They will not hurt the compressor, a clogged outdoor condenser would cause head pressures to go up and increase the load on the compressor, but all compressors are protected from overload, so it’s not likely the filters had anything to do with it.

If you really care, you can put a differential gauge on both sides of the filter and you can tell how much the air is getting restricted and just change the filter accordingly, of course the dirtier the filter the better filters, but there is a point where you have to change it allowing enough air movement for efficient operation.

In all of my for air heating and cooling systems I use a thick 4 inch pleated filter, followed by an electrostatic filter to get the ultrafine dirt out of the airstream. This is especially nice both at home and at work.

The 4 inch pleated filters only need changing every year or so a little more often at work the electrostatic filters get washed about twice a year.

At home, I run the blower 24 hours a day except during the cooling season, which would increase the humidity by leaving the fan on when the compressor shuts off.

John L

 

[DADoES]

I have an el-cheapo 1" filter in each of the 20x25 returns. A 4" filter in the attic blower-coil. My thermostat has two programmable reminders for filter change, choices of calendar days or run-time days. I have both set for 45 days of run-time (which ends up being 7 to 8 months of calendar time). The cycles are different being that the 5" filter module was added a while after system installation. 45 days is a bit short but the next choice of 60 days is too long so I ignore the reminders for a few weeks.

Signed: Goofy Glenn

 

[mattl]

I miss my old electronic filter with the snap crackle and pops. Think it was a Sears version of a Honeywell.

I've got a variable speed blower and ran it 24/7 on lowest speed, house was totally comfortable, but it did add to electric bill. My smart thermostat has a circulation feature, circulates the air for a few minutes 4 or 5 times an hour ---80% as good and a good bit cheaper, good trade off for me.

 

[DADoES]

I miss my old electronic filter with the snap crackle and pops. Think it was a Sears version of a Honeywell.

I've got a variable speed blower and ran it 24/7 on lowest speed, house was totally comfortable, but it did add to electric bill. My smart thermostat has a circulation feature, circulates the air for a few minutes 4 or 5 times an hour ---80% as good and a good bit cheaper, good trade off for me.

My thermostat has a Circulate option for the fan which runs it 35% of the time, presumably inclusive of heating/cooling operation. I tried it for a while but it has an impact from the humidity angle which is majority of the usage time so I stopped running it.

My mother has a Lennox iComfort S30 with a circulate/allergy function which adjusts from 9 mins to 27 mins per hour in 36-second steps, also disabled for the same reason. It advises to use a MERV 11 or higher filter.

Signed: Goofy Glenn

 

[combo52]

Indeed, you never want to run the fan when you’re in the air conditioning season when the compressor is not running, the evaporator coil can hold more than 2 quarts of water on its surface so every time the compressor shuts off that water is just evaporated back into the house increasing humidity and raising the discomfort level as well as raising electric cost because you have to pay to recon that water again and again.

John L

 

[Chetlaham]

I imagine a world with ample nuclear generation and electric resistance furnaces along with utility power systems which can handle it. I imagine the US with a 3,000,000 MW peak load, with the most of the interconnections being winter peaking systems.

Nothing can best the reliability, dependability, longevity and serviceability of an electric resistance furnace.

The furnaces I imagine bring a set of heaters online in sequence to pre-heat the standing air, engage the blower, than bring the remaining heaters online for maximum comfort. The heating KW output over sized by J standards to the air that comes out is like that of a generous gas furnace.

 

[Chetlaham]

My furnace is a heat pump so the majority of its mechanism also runs through the summer. It changes modes per the Auto cool/heat setpoints.

Signed: Goofy Glenn

This is what I wish was every residential furnace was like in the United States:



I know its cheesy to protect a 1.5 HP 3 phase motor with a temperature only sensing klixon, but it keeps things simple not having to add a separate standalone overload relay. The rest is heavy duty. Stage 1 heating engages for about 30 seconds before the blower to preheat the element cavity so the air coming out isn't stone cold. Stage 2 and 3 in steps to prevent noticeable dimming of lights. Reverse order happens when the the thermostat is satisfied, the delay relays cool off and open at different rates ramping the heat down in stages. Fan off delay thermostat lets the furnace cool down, but not to the point the air starts coming out cold. A blower interlock relay so the blower isn't brought online immediately if there is a simultaneous call for fan (as mentioned here folks who run the blower 24/7), and, I've come to found out in the past that when some thermostats are back fed with 24 volts on the fan terminal it will cause the cooling terminal to also become energized. Though if the US managed to make the leap to all electric that technical flaw would be worked as well.

Resistance heating is the best as their are few moving parts and the furnace can easily be built to last 100 years. Failures are easy to diagnose, very east to repair, minimal maintenance, and repair parts are both plentiful and relatively universal.

Electric heat can easily be made to be replicate gas heat where it comes out very hot from the registers,

 

[william8]

Electric heat here is 3 times the cost of natural gas. No thank you, I'll stick with my 97% HE furnace.

But, after using the heat all last weekend, the air conditioner is on today, and will be for at least a week. I love Michigan.