If your home’s furnace fails, it’s best to have it fail now, before the serious cold of winter arrives. Or maybe you discovered the furnace trouble before it failed thanks to regular maintenance through our HomeSavers program and you know you have to replace the furnace in time for the chill of December.
No matter the situation, if you’re ready to schedule furnace installation in Warsaw, IN, we recommend you consider installing a high-efficiency furnace.
Isn’t a high-efficiency furnace more expensive?
Yes, it costs more to purchase a high-efficiency furnace compared to a mid-efficiency one. They have more features and more precision construction. However, the advantages of going with a high-efficiency furnace often outweigh their higher cost, and they soon pay back their increased price with their energy savings.
Here’s a hypothetical: You have an old furnace in your house that’s been there since you moved in. It’s 20 years old and has finally died or is at the edge of it. The furnace has an AFUE rating of 70%, common for furnaces built at the time. This means the furnace converts 70% of the natural gas it burns into heat energy, and the remaining 30% is lost as exhaust through the flue.
If you replace this furnace with a high-efficiency unit, you’ll make the change to a system with—at a minimum—an AFUE of 95%. You’ll only lose 5% of the energy from the natural gas to exhaust. This means, on average, paying 25% less to heat your home every year thanks to the new furnace. Factor those savings over a modest 10 years (and the furnace will almost certainly last longer than this if you take care of it), and you’ll see how much you’re saving over the long run.
How does a high-efficiency furnace work?
Furnaces, in general, are better built than they were 20 years ago, so even mid-efficiency furnaces have higher AFUE than 70%. But high-efficiency units have several special features allowing them to significantly reduce energy use and energy loss.
- Multi-stage burners: The burners in the furnace don’t need to work at the highest power level all the time and they scale back when possible.
- Variable-speed fans: The blower fans for these furnaces can also reduce the capacity at which they work, and this drops electrical costs connected with the furnace.
- Sealed combustion: The combustion chambers of high-efficiency furnaces are sealed to the home and draw air from outside. This prevents heats loss during combustion.
Other benefits of going high-efficiency
A high-efficiency furnace has other advantages. Sealed combustion is safer and it also keeps the furnace from drying out the home’s air. Variable-speed fans reduce the amount of noise from the furnace and working in connection with multi-stage burners, they help create a more even spread of heat around a house. A high-efficiency furnace means better comfort along with those lower utility bills.
But make sure you only work with HVAC professionals when it comes to a new furnace installation. You can trust in our team to see you have the right new heating system for your home and budget.
