What Does The Fan Do In A HVAC System?
While thinking about an HVAC system, it is tempting to only think about the furnace, air conditioner, or thermostat. Nevertheless, there is one critical component that is sometimes overlooked and that is the fan. Air fans embedded in all HVAC units provide necessary circulation to warm up or cool down a home properly regardless of whether summer or winter is in Haysville, Kansas.
So in this article, we will discuss the various varieties of HVAC fans, their roles, the impact of using these fans on the effectiveness of your system, and much more. Premier Comfort Solutions wants to make sure you understand your air conditioning system, and especially the fan, which some may consider trivial but is not.
What is HVAC Fan and What Does it Do in an Air Conditioning System?
The main purpose of the fan is to move air in and out of the house which means that it blows hot or cold air from the home’s HVAC system to the targeted spots in order to help maintain home temperatures. The fan circulates air through ductwork even when there is no air conditioning or a furnace in use.
HVAC systems are equipped with two types of fans, which are as follows:
– The blower fan (Indoor Unit)
– The condenser fan (Outdoor Unit found in AC Systems)
The blower fan (indoor unit) and the condenser fan (outdoor unit in AC systems) are both included in the system. Together, each fan serves its distinct purpose maintaining the system’s efficiency and comfort for your home.
The blower fan: letting air flow all over the house
The heated or cooled air is distributed throughout the different places of your home through ductwork by the blower fan placed inside your home. The blower fan operates as follows:
Air Circulation: This fan comes in to draw the air from inside a house through return vents whenever there is a heating or cooling signal to the house sent by a thermostat. This air then goes through either a furnace (if heating) or evaporator coil (if cooling), and is either warmed up, or cooled down.
Conditioned air delivery: After the air has been conditioned to the desired temperature, it is blown through ducts, which leads to the vents in each room using the blower fan. This automatically makes sure that every part of the house is reaching the temperature level set on the thermostat.
Continuous Operation: The blower fan does not only work when there is a heating or air conditioning requirement. Most HVAC systems may include a “fan-only” mode that allows the fan to move air even when heating or cooling is not operational. This can be useful in enhancing air movement, air cleaning, or normalizing indoor air conditions.
Put simply, the blower fan is very important in ensuring that the air which is being conditioned by your system is in fact delivered to where it ought to go.
The Condenser Fan: Essential Components for Air Conditioning
You will see the condenser fan located on the outdoor unit of your HVAC system (in air conditioners or heat pumps). Its main function is to assist in venting out the heat from inside the house during the cooling phase. This is how:
Cooling Process: When the refrigerant picks up heat from your house, it goes to the outside unit. Now, in the state of gas, the refrigerant has to get rid of the heat it has accumulated. And that is where the condenser fan comes in.
Heat Exchanger: By blowing air across the coils, the air heater expels the heat that was taken up by the refrigerant. In turn, the process takes the refrigerant back into a liquid state so that it can be sent back inside your house for use in the cooling cycle once again.
Evaporative Heat Exchange: Your air conditioning system is only as good as the ability of the condenser fan to pull heat out of your house and disperse it in the environment. Problems with the efficiency of your condenser fan will always mean that your AC will be overloaded when trying to cool your house which increases your energy consumption.
The blower fan and the condenser fan placed together perform their duties to enable the HVAC system to work properly either heating or cooling the house and also assist in the regulation of indoor temperatures.
The Role Of Fans In Improving HVAC Energy Efficiency
Your HVAC fans do not only perform air movement functions but they also contribute to the oil boiler system efficiency of your system. Here are a few ways that fan performance can keep your efficiency in check and your comfort in the realm of energy use.
1. Energy Efficiency
Fans of HVAC, mostly the blower fans, are utilized repeatedly across the day. In case the fan is inefficient, then it can consume more electricity implying more costs for you. At least 70% of the builders employ a variable speed blower fan in their systems. This can help to minimize deaths from unnecessary power-enhancers. Traditional fans only had one speed, and no ability to adapt for any reason, making them very inefficient.
2. Air Circulation
Good air circulation and movement of air are essential for bringing about comfortable living conditions indoors. If the blower fan in your house is faulty, the comfortable temperature range even across regions of the same interior is difficult to maintain. Poor circulation also compounds the situation further in regard to the quality of the innermost regions per building as unwhealed homes can be infected by static air or polluted air.
3. Avoiding System Over Heating
As the outdoor unit is trying to release heat from your home, the condenser fan is essential in keeping the outdoor unit cool. If the fan is out of order, then the outdoor unit may get heated up forcing your system to work even more for cooling your home. This reduces the efficiency and can result in some breakdowns of the system in the long run.
HVAC System Fan Problems
Although fans are made strong enough to serve the HVAC fans for a reasonable duration, fans can at times encounter problem that will affect the overall efficiency of the HVAC. Here are some fan difficulties that may impact your comfort.
1. Failure of Fan MotorBushings
The most typical issue with HVAC fans is motor failures. Furthermore, both the blower and condenser’s fans have to spin their fan blades to draw air, and this is only possible with their motors. These motors will also wear out over time and there are in any reverse circumstances that can fasten this process, such as lack of maintenance or overloading. In case of failure of the fan motor, the fan will not rotate leading to blockage of airflow resulting in poor performance of the system.
2. Unclean fan blades
Almost all components of your HVAC system, except perhaps the thermostat, will get dirty over time, and so will the fan blades. Because of the build up, the workload of the fan may become increased in order to move air, hence, reducing the efficiency of the fan. This problem can be avoided by cleaning the fan blades while performing routine maintenance of the HVAC system.
3. Damaged Capacitors
The electric energy required to initially start the fan motor is supplied by a device called a capacitor. A failure of the capacitor means that the fan will not work, which will also mean that the air circulation in the HVAC system will not take place. This is a moderate issue that can be fixed easily by trained HVAC experts who can test and replace damaged capacitors, allowing the fan to work once again.
4. Damaged Fan Belts
In some older HVAC units, the blower fans may be actuated with a belt. The fan belt can also wear out, tear, or snap, preventing the fan from functioning. Changing a fan belt is simple and that is why it is considered routine maintenance for the fan to continue operating efficiently.
Significance of Fan Maintenance
Just like other components of the HVAC system, it is essential to carry out a routine check on the fans, otherwise, failure of it can lead to poor performance and efficiency. Here’s how routine fan maintenance can help.
Longer Life for the Overall System: Maintaining cleanliness of the fan parts and making sure that they are adequately lubricated makes it easier and less stressful for the motor, thus preventing it from damage.
Enhanced Energy Efficiency: A clean fan is optimally efficient which needs less energy to push air meaning a decrease in utility bills.
Reliable Comfort: Regular fan repair so that air is evenly distributed in different regions of your house and there are no cold or hot regions.
What Premier Comfort Solutions Can Do
In this regard, at Premier Comfort Solutions, we appreciate the importance of the fans as part of the HVAC system. Our qualified technicians regularly perform maintenance, replace or repair various parts of the system to ensure normal operation. So if your blower fan shows some abnormal sounds or your condenser fan is not functioning properly, we can help.
Operating in Haysville, Kansas, and surrounding areas, we ensure that your home is comfortable and that all your HVAC requirements are satisfactorily met. Call us now for any service appointment, or visit our website for more information about the maintenance of the HVAC system fans.
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