Patent ID: 7222494

Claim:
A method of operating an HVAC system, wherein the HVAC system includes a fan that is operated with at least one fan “on” time period and at least one fan “off” time period, the method comprising the steps of: providing a control signal path from an HVAC thermostat for activating and/or deactivating the fan, wherein the control signal path is not shared by other HVAC thermostats; providing a random or pseudo random start time delay; delaying at least one of the fan “on” time periods by an amount that is at least related to the random or pseudo random start time delay; providing a random or pseudo random time period; modifying the length of at least one of the fan “on” time periods by an amount that is at least related to the random or pseudo random time period, resulting in a new fan “on” time period length; and operating the fan using the new fan “on” time period length.