Answering some Questions to help in your furnace shopping this year!
Question 1: Efficiency – How does it affect me?
If you have seen your energy bills rise up gradually over the years especially during the winters, it is a good idea to get your furnace replaced. It is shown many times that the homeowners want to warm up their homes in a comfortable way, replacing your furnace with a high-efficiency one is the easiest way to do it.
Your furnace is old and has very low efficiency. The energy your furnace consumes to heat the house can be close to 50% of your monthly energy bill, so making that one piece of equipment (your furnace) as efficient as possible will reduce the monthly energy bills drastically.
Question 2: If not broken why fix it?
To answer this question, let me ask you one, “How old is the furnace in your house?”. Well… the thing is that if you answered 20 years or more, chances are that you are paying approximately 45% more on each energy bill than you need to. In addition to that, you are throwing way more pollution into the air than you need to. The quick answer is that if you have a 20-year-old furnace, replace it now !!!
Question 3: Furnace Efficiency – What is it?
Furnaces are graded with an AFUE rating or the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency rating. This is the number that you have to think about while making a decision on replacing that old furnace. AFUE rating is roughly the fuel your furnace is expected to transfer into heat when your furnace is new.
Older furnaces tend to have an AFUE of about 65% when installed. This essentially means that nearly half of the energy consumed by your furnace is wasted, and only the remaining part is used to heat your home. On the other hand, the newer furnaces have efficiencies that can go to 98.5%, which means almost all the energy consumed is transferred into heat to warm your home. This is a huge difference.
Question 4: What is the best time to replace my furnace?
Upgrading your old furnace with a high-efficiency new one is the best way to get long-term savings, which means replacing the furnace as soon as possible. With winter just around the corner and the temperatures starting to drop it is a good idea to get the unit replaced with a reliable and efficient furnace.
Another thing to note is that many Heating, Ventilation and Cooling (HVAC) companies (including ours) offer some great deals if you bundle services. It is always a good idea to ask around and see which companies offer the best deals.
Lastly, there are some great government rebates that you may qualify for and help you save even more cash, but some of these rebates do latest for long, so to take advantage of them you need to act fast.
Question 5: What to do with my broken furnace?
If your furnace is broken, you should call a professional and have it checked. It is an industry standard to have your HVAC equipment a 10-year parts warranty, many contractors will then tag a 10-year labor warranty as well. But, if your furnace is more than 10 years old and the repair cost is relatively high, it is wise to get an upgrade.
Question 6: So many furnace brands, which one to go with?
Now that you have decided to replace that old and inefficient furnace with a new high efficiency one, the question is what company to choose. It feels like there are hundreds of furnace companies that have thousands of models and there is not a lot of difference between each of them. The truth of the matter is that the quality of the installation means way more than the name of the furnace brands. All the major brands like American Standard, Carrier, Lennox, Goodman, and others have good products but can fault miserably if not installed properly.
Make sure that the installer who is installing the furnace is a TSSA certified technician so that you can rest easy knowing that your natural gas furnace was installed properly.
Question 7: All reviews online are bad, how to make an informed decision?
Well during this age of the internet, it has gotten a lot easier to look at a product and see what people are saying about it before you make your purchase. It seems like everything on the internet is now rated on a 5-star scale and that drastically influences your purchasing decision.
The problem with furnace reviews are;
Firstly, you are reading reviews on a third-party website that is neither the installers nor the manufacturers. This implies that there is no proof of purchase so the authenticity of those reviews comes into question.
Secondly, websites like these often attract negative reviews, because would you go on the internet, find a furnace review website and leave a good review if you are happy with your equipment? No, you would only leave a review if you are unhappy with your product or service.
To finish, even though online reviews can help make an informed decision but you have to take them with a grain of salt.
Conclusion
If you are thinking about replacing your furnace, your furnace is either more than 15 – 20 years old, or it has broken down and the cost of repair is relatively higher. No matter what the scenario is, it is better to replace it now rather than later.
See for what government rebates do you qualify for, ask for free quotations from multiple contractors, take experts advice, make sure that the technician is TSSA certified, and lastly sit comfortably in your home knowing that your energy bills are reduced and the new furnace is much more reliable than last one.