Your blower is one of the most important and hardest working parts of your furnace. The blower’s function is to send the warmed air from your furnace through the ducts, out of the vents and into various rooms of your house. Blowers are powered by a motor, and in older furnaces, this was usually a single speed motor. Today, however, variable-speed blower motors provide a more energy efficient alternative. A variable-speed blower motor not only saves energy, but it also allows your furnace to work more efficiently, which can prolong the life of the unit.
To understand the benefits of a variable speed motor, it’s important to understand how furnace blower motors wo
rk:
- With a single speed motor, your blower is either on or off. There is one speed that is hard wired and cannot be changed. Regardless of how cold it is out, when your furnace kicks on, your motor operates at full blast and blows air at full blast.
- With a variable-speed blower motor, your motor can be programmed to come on at a fraction of its full throttle when it initially starts. It will run at this reduced speed for a few minutes and only turn on the rest of the way if your home has not sufficiently warmed up. This is often referred to as a “soft start” and furnaces equipped with this feature are called “two-stage” furnaces.
- Two stage variable-speed furnaces can also run at a low volume on a continuous basis, which is a great option for people who want to use air filters or other HVAC add-ons that require the system to be running.
For more information on variable speed furnace blower motors or to schedule an appointment, contact Marsh Heating & Air Conditioningtoday.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about furnaces and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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