What Is a Condensing Gas Furnace?

When choosing a new furnace for your Northeast Ohio home, it’s important to keep energy efficiency in mind. Unlike a conventional furnace, a condensing gas furnace extracts nearly all of the heat energy from the fuel that goes into it. The condensing technology makes this type of furnace the most efficient in combustion heaters on the market with typical ratings of more than 90 percent AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency). This helps homeowners save ample money on their heating bills.

The basic setup of a condensing gas furnace is similar to a standard gas furnace on the market today, despite a 12-20 percent advantage in heating efficiency. Furnace installation is also similar, though the venting is handled differently.

The main difference between the two types of furnaces is the heat-exchange process that removes heat from the combustion phase, and the way combustion gases are exhausted. A condensing gas furnace and a standard model both use gas burners with electronic ignition. The condensing furnace, however, extracts heat more efficiently after combustion. A standard furnace will exhaust the combustion gases immediately, with the gases leaving the chimney flue before cooling and condensing. This means the standard furnace heat exchanger doesn’t remove as much heat from the fuel combustion process.

With a gas condensing furnace, on the other hand, heat is extracted for a longer period, allowing combustion exhaust gases to cool off and condense. This occurs by using two heat exchangers – one primary and the other secondary, with the latter handling the condensed exhaust gases of water and carbon dioxide. The secondary heat exchanger removes heat from the exhaust gases until the water condensate drips from the furnace’s heat exchanger and the remaining exhaust gases escape via a plastic PVC pipe (instead of a chimney), usually vented out the side of your home.

For more information about how a condensing gas furnace can heat your Lorain County home affordably, please contact us at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning.

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 condensing gas furnaces and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock