What you Need to Know When Buying a New Furnace

Late fall arrives and the house has cooled off. You turn up the thermostat, but can’t feel any hot air coming through the heat registers. The furnace seems to be running – you can hear it knocking around – but no heat.

 Depending on the make and model, most medium-priced furnaces should last around 15 years if serviced regularly. If not serviced, performance tapers off year after year. If you’re furnace is not generating heat its time to call in the repair guy. Your choice is to have the repair guy replace components on an old furnace for the next couple years. Or replace the furnace with a new more energy-efficient furnace. Here’s what you need to know when purchasing a new furnace.

 AFUE Rating

 AFUE stands for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. Most lower cost furnaces have an 80 percent AFUE. That means 80 percent of the energy is used to heat your house and 20 percent goes up the flue as a waste. More expensive furnaces are 90 percent AFUE up to 98 percent AFUE. These are more expensive because they are better engineered furnaces with more expensive components. In the case of the 98 percent AFUE furnace, 98 percent of the energy is used to heat your house and only 2 percent goes up the flue. Therefore, with a higher efficiency furnace, you pay less money each month to heat your house. The trade off is that these higher efficiency furnaces cost more money given the higher-grade technology.

 Two-Stage Furnaces

 Something else to look for is whether the new furnace operates on a single stage or two stages. A two-stage furnace runs on high and low. At the high stage, it begins to heat the house in the morning, which requires more fuel. Then once the house is at a comfortable temperature, the furnace switches to the low stage using less fuel to maintain that comfortable temperature.

 A single-stage furnace has only a high stage. The furnace turns on frequently throughout the day as the temperature in the house drops. This turning on and off throughout the day requires more energy to run the furnace, costing you more money to heat the house.

 Energy Proofing

When purchasing a new furnace, it is a good reminder to go through your house and energy proof it. This means checking around every window and door frame to ensure there are no drafts from outside. If there are drafts, seal with a caulk gun. A peak in the attic to see how much insulation you have. Many utility companies will provide insulation as no cost. If you get repair services or purchase your new furnace from a heating company in Acworth they will know about local utility programs. There could even be a rebate from the utility for purchasing an energy efficient furnace per their guidelines.