Shopping for a furnace is not a task to take lightly, since your selection will affect your energy bills and comfort for many years to come. And, thanks to improvements in energy-efficient technologies, you’ve got more choices than ever for heating your home.
The most important aspect of choosing a new furnace is getting it sized properly for your home. HVAC contractors have Manual J software that calculates the heating load of your home. The inputs include its size and layout, overall energy efficiency, number of family members, preferred temperatures and many other factors.
This load calculation should be completed first thing when you’re shopping for a furnace. You can’t make an informed decision about which furnace to select if you don’t know what size and efficiency level is needed to take care of your home’s heating load. More efficient furnaces need not be as large because they create more heat. The minimum efficiency of combustion furnaces sold in the U.S today stands at 80 percent AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency), which indicates the furnace wastes 20 percent of the fuel it uses.
You can find furnaces with AFUE ratings that go as high as 98 percent, indicating that the furnace wastes just 2 percent of the fuel. Such furnaces are almost always condensing furnaces, which include advanced features such as variable speed heating and a dual heat exchanger.
The second heat exchanger removes heat from the water vapor that gas creates as it burns. Instead of sending the hot vapor up the chimney, the second exchanger extracts the heat, and the condensed water vapor drains away.
When shopping for a furnace, you’ll want to consider a modulating gas furnace. These send variable amounts of gas into the burner based on your home’s heating needs. Instead of running at full capacity all the time, the modulating furnace adjusts the fuel to the heating load, saving energy. When it’s paired with a variable-speed motor in the blower, your savings and comfort will be even higher.
Contact the professionals at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning when you’re shopping for a furnace to save time and help you make a solid choice. We’ve provided top-notch HVAC services for the Lorain area for more than 35 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about furnace replacement and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area