If you’re upgrading your home’s heating system and looking at equipment features and options, you’ll want to investigate more efficient furnace motor replacement options like electronically commutated motors (ECM). Here’s some information about ECM motors so you can compare them to the permanent split capacitor motors (PSC) found in standard blower units.
Differences Between PSC and ECM Motors
PSC motors have only two operating speeds: on and off, compared to ECM motors that can vary their speed incrementally in response to your heating needs. A standard single-speed PSC motor starts up and runs at maximum speed during every cycle, while an ECM motor comes on softly and ramps up slowly to the lowest-possible speed needed to maintain the thermostat temperature setting. PSC motors also start and stop frequently, while ECM motors tend to run for longer cycles.
Benefits of ECM Vs. PSC Motors
Here are some performance-related factors that you should consider to help you decide whether an ECM or PSC motor is the most beneficial choice for your home:
- Energy usage. Furnace blower units equipped with variable-speed ECM motors typically use just a quarter of the electricity that blowers with PSC motors consume.
- Maintenance requirements. ECM motors have “true” bearings that don’t require lubrication, they start, ramp up and stop softly and operate on low much of the time. This reduces the amount of strain and wear on the moving parts, so these motors need less maintenance than PSC units.
- Temperature control. The variable-speed operation and longer cycling of an ECM motor can let you enjoy more even heat control and fewer temperature inconsistencies than you’ll experience with a PSC blower motor that starts and stops repeatedly.
- Equipment longevity. PSC motors have average lifespans ranging from 40,000–50,000 hours, while ECM motors typically last for about 90,000 hours.
- Air filtration. Because ECM motors cycle for longer periods, they pull the indoor air through the air filter more times each day, which means that more debris gets removed from the air supply.
To learn more about different furnace motor replacement options for your Dayton home, contact us at Ace Hardware Home Services.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Dayton, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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