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About "Ask the Energy Expert" Craig Muccio ran FPL's Conservation Research & Development Program and crunched the numbers to figure out how you can save by managing your energy use. Your questions on energy-related topics can be submitted anytime to our Ask the Energy Expert blog. Just click here to submit your question, and if chosen, it will be answered here Asked on: August 28, 2014 by Beverly H., Weston Which A/C fan setting costs more, “on” or “auto?” My friend believes the “auto” setting uses more electricity. That’s actually a common, but important question. The on/auto fan switch on your A/C thermostat will affect the price you pay to cool your home. The A/C fan circulates the cooled or heated air throughout your home. Setting the fan switch to “on” will make the A/C fan run continuously, 24 hours a day. Choosing the “auto” setting will cause the fan to shut off with the rest of the cooling system as soon as your desired temperature on your thermostat is reached.

Fan “on” costs more Advice from friends can be helpful, but in this case your friend was mistaken to think that the auto setting used more electricity. Let’s assume your air conditioner normally cycles off 30 percent of the time. In this example, turning the fan switch to “on” will make the fan run over 200 extra hours a month. For a typical size central air conditioner, that would cost you about $8 more each month. Keep in mind, a fan that runs all the time may also wear out sooner. Another reason to keep it on “auto” Setting your A/C fan to auto also helps provide better dehumidification. Have you noticed how moisture from the air condenses on the outside of a cold drink on a humid day? Your A/C unit captures moisture the same way, helping your home feel more comfortable. When the fan cycles off using the auto mode, moisture has a chance to drip from the cold cooling coils into the condensation pan and then drain outside. However, when the fan runs all the time in the “on” setting, less moisture has a chance to drip and drain outside.

Instead, some gets blown back into the air again. Some people prefer the feel or sound of the fan running all the time. If that’s you, at least now you know how much that choice will cost you. Learn how to save even moreDuring Florida’s hottest months, we want to remind you that you can save five percent on your monthly cooling costs for each degree you turn your thermostat up. Also, our top summer tips can help you save even more. You can also take our Online Home Energy Survey to get a personalized savings plan filled with energy-saving tips and recommendations.
how much does a new ac unit costIt’s easy, and can save you up to $250 a year.
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Get more expert energy saving advice by following our Ask the Expert column monthly and remember you can submit your own question. Your safety is very important to us. If this is a medical emergency, please call 911 immediately or go to your nearest emergency room. For non-emergencies, you can reach us during regular business hours via Facebook private message, or follow and message us on Twitter and one of our representatives will assist you. To report an outage, please call 1-800-4-Outage. Thank you and please stay safe.It's the first product his Southwest Center City industrial-design firm, Likuma Labs, is seeking to bring directly to consumers, by way of a Kickstarter campaign launching Tuesday.The Noria air conditioner, priced at $295 for early supporters, will ship in time for summer 2017 - if the company can raise $250,000 in 45 days to make that cool fantasy a reality.Swanson, 32, said he'd been thinking about tackling a project in thermodynamics since launching Likuma four years ago."

I thought, 'How can I leverage what I know about heat transfer into a better product?' The air-conditioning unit was the obvious choice. "This is a big industry, and people buy these things and universally hate them."Over the last year, he and the Likuma team - including industrial designer Devin Sidell, 30, and electrical engineer Don Pancoe, 48 - began focusing on the problem in earnest. Swanson's father, Will, 61, a 25-year Boeing employee with expertise in ergonomics, took a yearlong sabbatical to help out.Swanson said rethinking the air conditioner was a project that required engineers and designers to work closely together in a way they might not at established appliance manufacturers. Likuma is well-equipped for that kind of collaboration - the entire staff shares a single small office inside NextFab, the fabrication and maker space on Washington Avenue.Their innovation was in rethinking how the air conditioner components fit together, reconfiguring the fans and heat-exchanging coils."

We want to pack as much cooling power in as small a space as we can," Will Swanson said.The result is 40 percent smaller than a comparable standard air conditioner, he said, and 25 percent lighter. It comes with a handle, and it slides into a frame that's positioned in the window first for easier installation.Tucked under desks in their office are prototypes: a working version in unglamorous sheet-metal housing, and an example of what the finished body will look like, made with NextFab's 3D printer, laser cutter, and water-jet cutter.The design part of the job was in Likuma's wheelhouse. The company has crafted everything from a dog-food dispenser that doubles as a toy for a Manayunk company called Paw 5 to the housing for an iPhone-powered DNA analysis device for Old City's Biomeme. Tacked to the wall of their office are new ideas for an air filter for Camfil, a large New Jersey air-filter manufacturer, and a laparoscopic tool handle for a medical-device company."Anything you buy really should get design consideration," Swanson said.