Getting Ready For Winter

Here in upstate New York we are going into our most beautiful season, the Fall. While we wait for the “Peak” of the season (which is the maximum color variation of our falling leaves) we have time to get ready for heating season. For most of us that means maximizing our heat savings by either replacing our heating system or making it the more efficient. For those replacing their furnace, this starts with making the decision between a mid efficiency or high-efficiency furnace, a single stage or two stage furnace and a two stage or variable stage furnace. For those simply making regular seasonal furnace maintenance, the job is much simpler. This post will deal with the following: 

1. When does it make sense to replace a furnace?
2. What kind of replacement furnace should I purchase? 
3. If I’m keeping my furnace, what can I do to improve the efficiency? 
4. What else can I do to decrease heat loss and lower my heating costs? (We are not going to be able to deal with this and the previous question in this posting but I promise to make the answer to these questions the subject of my next post.) 

One of the first things all real estate agents do when they list a house for sale is to get the facts about a house. One reason for that is that once a house sells, a property inspection is done and any failures becomes a point of contention and renewed reasons to renegotiate the price of the house. One of the most common failures is that of the furnace (90% of all homes have a furnace and not boiler.) The failure is typically unknown by the homeowner because it generally is due to a burn through of the heat exchange wall which makes heat and gases leak, but still allows the homeowner to think that they have a working furnace. (By the way, if the furnace has this defect it could be found out by having the required CO2 detector nearby.) 

So the real question is what is the least expensive way to keep your furnace safe? What we recommend at Living Structures is that all homeowners have a Service Contract with their fuel supply company on their furnace. This accomplishes two goals. The first is that it will give you preferred service when a problem occurs. The second advantage of a service contract is a free (or included) inspection of your furnace. Remember, the service provider only makes money on the contract if they never have to give you service. Because of this if they see any real problem with your furnace they will not provide a service contract. It would cost them money and its the best way to find out the condition of your furnace. They may find out that although the furnace is fine, they may say “its on its last leg and will need to be replaced soon.” It now makes sense to replace your furnace. 

OK. Now that we have decided to replace the furnace we need to understand all of the options. First you need to understand that 100% of old furnaces were designed with an efficiency of about 70% and generally over-sized to make up for an old leaky house. To replace that furnace today (with a 90%-95% efficient furnace) the new furnace should be designed for about an 20% decrease in size. For an example, a new 94% efficient furnace that is rated at 80,000 Btu puts out as much heat as an older 75% efficient furnace 100,000 Btu furnace. ( By the way if the furnace company simply looks at the current Btu furnace and recommends the same Btu replacement furnace, get them out of your house asap. They are incompetent thieves.)

Now that we have a good furnace company and we know the Btu required we need to decide mid efficiency  (costing $1500-$2500 installed and saving 15%-20% on the old 65%-70% efficient one) or a high efficiency furnace (costing $3000-$5000 and a savings of 25%-30% on your old furnace). To me the decision is easy. Lets face it, the cost of fuel will only go up. If the furnace is natural gas fired the mid efficiency may make sense due to the artificially low price of natural gas. If the furnace is oil fired, there is no doubt that you must go high efficiency. 

While not as important a choice, you still have two other decisions to make. Do you go with a single stage or two stage furnace and do you purchase a two speed or variable speed blower for that furnace. If you look at the previous paragraph you will notice a fairly high variation in the price of the high efficiency furnace. To cut to the chase, the $2000 price variation is the price difference between a single stage standard two speed blower and a two stage variable speed blower (which operates on DC power and saves a ton in usage costs.) To me, if I only have to pay an additional $2500, and can cut my heating bill by 25% for the next 20 years it’s a no brainer- buy the best, most efficient, lowest cost to run unit. You won’t be disappointed. As usual, any questions, write or text me.