Does your heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system have a dirty blower wheel? Blower wheels will accumulate dust and debris. Even if you regularly change your HVAC system’s air filter, you may be dealing with a dirty blower wheel.
What Is the Blower Wheel?
The blower wheel is a wheel-shaped part that acts as a main fan in an HVAC system. It’s powered by a motor. When your HVAC system turns on, the motor will spin the blower wheel. This spinning motion will force conditioned air into the ductwork so that it can be distributed throughout the rooms in your home.
Weak Airflow
A dirty blower dirty wheel can lead to weak airflow. Airflow is heavily influenced by the speed at which the blower wheel spins. The faster it spins, the stronger the airflow will be. A fast-spinning blower wheel will push conditioned air into the ductwork more quickly than a slow-spinning blower wheel.
Your HVAC system’s blower wheel may spin more slowly if it’s dirty. A study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M found that HVAC systems with a clean blower wheel have 30% stronger airflow than those with a dirty blower wheel.
Indoor Air Pollution
For a clean home with minimal indoor air pollution, you’ll need to maintain a clean dirty blower wheel. The air filter won’t catch all of the airborne pollutants in your home. Some pollutants will make their way past the air filter where they accumulate on the blower wheel.
Cleaning the blower wheel will prevent these pollutants from traveling through the ductwork and into your home’s rooms. The blower wheel will spin more quickly and cleanly.
Blower Lifespan
To make your HVAC system’s blower last, you’ll need to clean the wheel. Blowers don’t last forever. Like most other HVAC parts, most of them will eventually fail. The motor, for instance, may burn out.
Burned-out motors are often attributed to a dirty blower wheel. A dirty blower wheel will force the motor to work. This increased load can take a toll on the motor, potentially causing it to burn out.
Frozen Evaporator Coil
A dirty blower wheel may even result in a frozen evaporator coil. Evaporator coils are air conditioning system heat exchangers. They are found near the furnace. The refrigerant within your air conditioning system’s evaporator coil will absorb heat from the adjacent air.
If you have a dirty blower wheel, though, the evaporator coil may freeze. The dirty blower wheel will promote weak airflow. And if there’s not enough warm air flowing over the evaporator coil, it may freeze.
