If someone were to ask you to name the most important components in your home’s heating and cooling system, what would be your response? It’s easy to remember components like thermostats, heating elements, and circuit boards. It seems like everyone forgets the blower system despite its crucial contribution to our indoor comfort.
The blower system is a frequently forgotten HVAC component. For the record, it is easily forgotten by homeowners. Heating and cooling contractors are very mindful of the blower system. They know that if it’s not working properly, a customer will be uncomfortable.
The Basic Premise
The blower system’s basic premise is simple: warm air generated by central heat – and cool air generated by central air conditioning – needs to be distributed evenly throughout a home to provide consistent comfort. That’s the blower system’s entire function.
A blower system consists of a blower motor, a fan, and ductwork. These three components work together to ensure consistent temperature throughout the home.
You might be interested to know that the blower system is connected to the thermostat. In fact, it’s the thermostat that signals the blower system to engage and disengage. Listen closely and you can hear the communication between the two manifested as a quiet ‘click’. You can hear the click just before the blower turns on, and then again just before it shuts off.
How the Blower System Works
HVAC blower systems are little more than powerful fans that move air through a duct system. When activated, the blower fan sucks air from the house into the system. The air passes over either a heating element or the cooling units in an air conditioner before continuing the journey to different rooms in the house.
Making it all possible is a collection of vents and returns. The vents expel warm or cool air while the returns provide a way for air to re-enter the system.
Incidentally, blower systems can use either single or variable-speed motors. A single-speed motor is powered by a simple on-off switch. It runs at one continual speed. Meanwhile, a variable-speed motor can automatically adjust its speed to maintain better temperature consistency.
When Blower Systems Go Bad
While most modern furnaces and conditioners can require some complex repair work, blower systems have remained fairly simple for decades. They are among the easiest components to repair. Utah-based Comfort Solutions says the majority of blower system repairs are related to one of five things:
The Blower Motor – The blower motor is an electric motor that turns the blower fan. It can wear out and fail over time.
The Capacitor – A typical lower system is equipped with a capacitor that provides an initial burst of energy to get the motor running. It can also fail.
The Bearings – Bearings or what make it possible for the motor and fan to freely spin with little to no friction. When bearings go bad, they make a unique and easily recognizable sound.
The Control Board – Modern blower systems rely on control boards to receive signals from the thermostat. Replacing a failed board is a fairly simple repair.
Wiring – The wiring and connectors making the entire system work can come loose. Sometimes they break. But again, repairs are pretty simple.
Without a blower system, it would be impossible to heat or cool an entire home with central HVAC. So although most of us take the blower system for granted the role it plays in heating and cooling is undeniably crucial. We are fortunate that blower systems don’t need repair that often. And when they do, repairs tend to be easy and affordable.
