Helper fan in air duct

Home Depot Employee

On the circuit board of your Trane furnace are terminal conections marked EAC. This is to power a 120V electronic air cleaner (less that 7 amps) Connect your 2 wires to these (hot & neutral, along with a ground to furnace ground). Your auxillary booster fan will automatically be powered on with fan on any heat or cooling calls. You may also wire it to the terminals marked HUM (humidifier) and the same result will happen except on heating calls only.

Dont forget to use proper wire and connections per code along with a service switch at the fan to shut off.

Mick

no heat upstairs

I have installed a helper fan in my air duct to improve
the heat to upstairs, is there any way to connect it to
the furnace fan so it would only run when the furnace fan
is on. Now if I want to heat the bedrooms, I have to go
down to the basement and plug the "helper fan" into an
extension cord, but this way it runs all the time. The
furnace is less than a year old, its a trane Xv90. Tks

Larry C_14

Boosting heat to upstairs

Home owner here:

Are there return ducts for the upstairs rooms?

The best way I know to improve the forced air heat upstairs, is to pull the cold air out.

I think there should be a return duct for every supply duct.

Brad White

More to it than that....

Larry is on to something when he asks about return air paths. A new furnace properly sized should have plenty of capacity. The newer 90+ range usually move more air than equivalent BTU models of lower efficiencies.

That said, let's look at the entire system:

1) Return air paths as Larry C. suggested? If none, not a whole lot of purpose to pulling more air out if it cannot get back. Be generous with your return air. In-ee equals Out-ee, ideally, but having 10-15% more area on the return pays dividends. Returns from each room are ideal but going back to do that now may not be practical. See what you can do.

2) Ductwork- is it sealed? Thinking older system with a replacement furnace; does not necessarily just "drop in" without looking at what actually delivers the heat to the rooms. Forget insulation if you have not sealed your ducts. A brush-on water-based mastic such as Hardcast Iron-Grip is something I recommend.

On this point of leakage, you might find a local energy conservation group/company who can test your ductwork for leakage and make a determination. First though, check for obvious leaks and seal what you can.

3) Balancing. If you are not getting air to a more remote room, I tend to think that the rooms closest to the fan are getting more. Try balancing those down (close down the dampers somewhat) to see if that does not force more air to the remote reaches.

4) Your question on the booster fan: Most do have a thermostatic kit. The button thermostat resides in the ductwork and senses the upcoming warm air which turns on the fan. You may not have enough flow but you will have some temperature rise to trigger this. Very common control strategy.

Mick

return air

Tks for replys, no return air ducts at all upstairs. Century home with new ducting but there was never any return upstairs for what ever reason. System is well sealed and all hot air ducts are wraped in insulation. The fan I put in didn't have a thermostatic kit, just the three regular wires for hooking up to a power source. I figure there must be a way to connect it into the furnace fan or the main control board.

Brad White

Veris Hawkeye

Veris' #735 Hawkeye current sensor is an ideal device to start parallel loads based on current flow in a primary circuit.

But the thermostat kit might be simpler as it is local to the fan itself with less wiring required.


EDIT- Yes, it is like an amp clamp but also can be mounted in a breaker panel if need be.

Mick

735

Is this current sensor fitted over the main fan wiring harness, like an amp clamp. It is a great idea thanks.

tom_49

Bring the fan back and have one of these systems installed.

http://www.arzelzoning.com/

We install these systems to existing houses w/ the problems you described all the time..... about 1 a week .

This will direct the air where its needed.

mtfallsmikey

I used to do my returns

Like Brad mentioned...especially with heat pumps, and it actually made my systems work quite well..used wall stack, hi/lo returns so you can switch them over between summer/winter. Only fly in the ointment was not enough customers willing to put the extra money into doing this.

Mick

was easy and works great

Thanks a million. I found the EAC terminal, it was hidden with a wiring harness, wired it up like you said and it works great. Thanks again.

ll velasquez

Hi,

I need some help. I have installed two booster fans, and I am reaDy to power them at the furnace. I do not know how . I have a CArrier furnace model 58wav. S/N 326197-101 REV-A. I have the electrical diagram, but I am not good reading it.

would some one help me with instructions how to do this.

thank you!
llelder.velasquez@greenheck.com

Brad White

I think

you may want to post this as a new thread so that it gets the attention it deserves. It is on the tail end of a thread that might have run it's course. See the New Thread tab above, cut and paste.

ll velasquez

Date: November 20, 2007 02:04 PM
Author: ll velasquez



Hi,

I need some help. I have installed two booster fans, and I am reaDy to power them at the furnace. I do not know how . I have a CArrier furnace model 58wav. S/N 326197-101 REV-A. I have the electrical diagram, but I am not good reading it.

would some one help me with instructions how to do this.

thank you! llelder.velasquez@greenheck.com

ll velasquez

Help powering booster fun directly to the furnace

Date: November 20, 2007 04:58 PM
Author: ll velasquez



Date: November 20, 2007 02:04 PM Author: ll velasquez


Hi,

I need some help. I have installed two booster fans, and I am reaDy to power them at the furnace. I do not know how . I have a CArrier furnace model 58wav. S/N 326197-101 REV-A. I have the electrical diagram, but I am not good reading it.

would some one help me with instructions how to do this.

thank you! llelder.velasquez@greenheck.com

allan_7

R U sure

about that ampere rating ?? I read seven (7) amperes. Is it more like one (1) ampere perhaps ??? Seven amps on the on-board relay will probably fry it.....try and find a new Trane IFC Board at your local Home Depot.. I don't think so.

Home Depot Employee

Yes

Commander,

For your information Trane/American Standard use the same relay with identical contact ratings as they do for fan motors on all their units up to 140MBTUH. . In this case the unit, XV90 is the predecessor for the new model, XV95 which is variable speed, 2 stage. Which doesn’t matter as the auxiliary relay once again is the same on all their circuit boards for the purpose of consolidation. Don’t believe, take a close look at one next time, you will notice the 3 relays on the board and they are the same, regardless of low or line voltage usage. That being said the earlier mentioned contact ratings for a unit with up to a 1 H.P. motor far exceeds the 7A I used as a guideline. In fact it is almost double however, knowing it is human nature to exceed advice, I chose that rating to share as a base.

So yes the answer is, I am sure!

And if that as a jab at me with the Home Depot comment, sometimes things or people aren’t what or who they appear to be.

Happy Thanksgiving

allan_7

Sorry, do not

believe you. I will have to research the schemetic and notes to verify. Most boards spec the EAC terminals will only support up to one (1) ampere load. When I get a free moment I will check into it. And the answer is "no" it does not matter to me who you work for. No jab intended, just a snide comment; take it any way you wish... Happy Thanksgiving to you too....