Ecobee Furnace fan run time

[Immigrant]

I installed an Ecobee smart thermostat. One of the options is to set the fan to run a certain amount of time, for instance 20min/per hour. So after 15 min, it will run for 5 min, wait another 15 min, run for 5 min and so on. It somehow also calculates that runtime in when the furnace is running.
I notice with the fan running like that the furnace kicks in less and the house is a lot more “comfortable”. My question is if the fan can handle this many “stop/start” cycles or am I shortening it’s lifespan.
What say the experts?

[Colin_r6]

I keep a fan motor on hand in the garage now.

I had one fail on me over Christmas one year and I had to pay a lot of call out fees in order to get someone to go into the store and sell me a replacement.

[Immigrant]

Originally Posted by Colin_r6

I keep a fan motor on hand in the garage now.

I had one fail on me over Christmas one year and I had to pay a lot of call out fees in order to get someone to go into the store and sell me a replacement.

Good idea to keep an extra fan on hand…..
I found a setting on the thermostat where I can extend the fan run time after the heat cycle is done. So since the fan is running already, I extended the run time by 10 minutes, essentially achieving the same result as before, with no “extra” cycles on the fan.

If there are any more “hacks” to these thermostats feel free to add them on here.

[jef612]

To me - the goal is comfort, not lifespan of the components.
Running the fan in program mode or circ mode will obviously shorten the motor lifespan somewhat, but the gains are noticeable as well. You have to decide which is more important to you

Also - Extending the fan run time after a heat cycle does not really accomplish the same goal as circ mode. That feature was originally intended to extract as much heat from the exchanger as "free heat" after the gas is turned off.
But this extended run time will only help balance the heat load after a cycle, and for much of the year your furnace simply wont cycle enough for it to make a difference.

I use program mode or circ mode year round FYI.

[dewalt18]

Won’t shorten the life of the motor or other components in any measurable way. What will shorten it is dirt. Be mindful that as you increase the run time on the blower, you should also adjust the frequency of filter changes to keep things running smoothly.

As a side note, I detest “smart” thermostats with a passion, and in fact refuse to install them for customers. Eco bee is better than a nest IMO, but still not a fan

[Immigrant]

Duly noted. Thanks guys!