Important Tips to Consider When Purchasing a New Furnace

Buying a new furnace for your home may seem like a daunting task, but with the right information, you can easily choose a heating system that will serve your needs for many years to come. The following tips can help you identify what's important in a new furnace.

• Efficiency: The efficiency of your new furnace will determine how effectively it heats your home and how much it will cost to maintain indoor comfort during the colder months. Higher-efficiency models use less fuel and, as a result, provide heating for a lower cost. Look for a furnace with a high AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) rating, usually 90 or above.

• Size: Proper furnace sizing is essential to buying a system that works well for your home. Sizing, in HVAC terms, refers to the system's capacity to produce heat and keep your indoor living spaces at the temperature you prefer. Have your HVAC professional perform a load calculation on your home. This is a detailed evaluation process that determines exactly how much heating is needed. When you have this information, you can easily find a furnace of the correct size.

• Fuel type: Most often, you'll probably want to buy a new furnace that uses the same type of fuel as your old one. If you have a gas furnace, for example, you'll already have the utility connections in place for a new gas model. However, there are circumstances where you might want to change fuel types or switch to an electric furnace. Ask your HVAC expert for advice.

• Efficiency-boosting features: Additional components can be added to your furnace to boost performance and efficiency even higher. Variable-speed blowers, for example, provide a lower speed for use when less heating is required. This lower speed uses less energy and costs less to operate. Dual heat exchangers improve heat transfer functions.

Air Assurance offers expert heating and cooling services to customers in Tulsa and neighboring areas. Contact us today for more information on how to choose a new furnace and for expert help with selecting, installing and maintaining your heating system.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Dirk Ercken/Shutterstock”

If You're Buying a New Furnace, Do Your Prep Work First

Even though buying a new furnace can be a daunting expense, the improved efficiency of modern furnaces can save homeowners considerably on their heating bills. In our area, where winter temperatures may be quite cold, it won't take too many years to recoup the initial outlay for a more efficient furnace. Following are some pointers to help guide you while you are hunting for a new furnace. 

Why Size Is Important

Getting a furnace that is bigger than you need might sound like a good idea, in terms of really warming your home quickly. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. A furnace that is sized too large will short cycle, turning on and off too frequently, never really heating the entire home and causing extra wear and tear on the furnace. On the other hand, a furnace that is too small to heat your home adequately will have to run all the time and will cost you a lot in utility bills. Make sure your contractor uses the standard HVAC software, Manual J, to size your furnace correctly.

Understand the Importance of AFUE

You need to know how quickly your new furnace converts fuel to heating energy. So, look for the annual fuel utilization efficiency number, which is reflected in a percentage. It tells you how much of the energy that the furnace uses converts to heating for your home.Federal regulations require that all furnaces have an AFUE of at least 78 percent. A higher AFUE gives your furnace a higher efficiency rating.

Choose Features You Need

Choose a furnace that has features you need. For example, a furnace with an ignition system might be ideal because its intermittent direct spark helps increase efficiency. It also improves the AFUE rating. Also, an air filtration system might be helpful if you have asthma or lung disease because it reduces the dust particles in the system.

Call us at Air Assurance if you're buying a new furnace. With more than 25 years serving the Broken Arrow and Tulsa area, we can help you keep your home comfortable this winter.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Stokkete/Shutterstock”

New Furnace? What Else Should You Include With Your Installation?

When you reached the decision to replace that ailing furnace, it may have seemed you’d done all the work expected of a homeowner. Surely, now it’s all up to your trusted installer to get the project under way? Not entirely. There are a number of possible additional features you might want to consider with your new furnace installation, to further upgrade your northeastern Oklahoma home. What else should you include?

Chimney Liner

If your new furnace is more than 80 percent efficient -- as most modern appliances are -- the manufacturer may well mandate that your contractor install a chimney liner. Venting through an improperly prepared chimney can pose serious health risks.

Humidifiers

Moist air allows the body’s natural defenses to more effectively block viruses and bacteria. It also keeps nasal passages and lungs better lubricated, which often alleviates allergy symptoms. Consider the installation of a whole-house humidifier along with your new furnace.

Filtration

Regular fiberglass mat or pleated paper filters serve to extend furnace life by protecting the air mover (blower) from abrasive material. There are, however, several enhanced filtration options available to you. These require special housings to accommodate them, so it’s cost-effective to have them installed when the other work is being done. Consider:

• Deep-pleated conventional filters, which work far more effectively than the typical, inch-thick units.

• Electronic air cleaners, which use advanced technology to remove a wider range of contaminants.

Thermostats

Thermostat technology has come a long way in recent years.

• Programmable thermostats allow your system to react to usage patterns, only heating the home when it’s occupied.

• Zoned thermostats keep empty living space cooler than the rooms you most often use.

• Wi-fi thermostats allow you to alter settings from remote locations, and can even react to local weather bulletins without your input.

Supplemental furnace equipment can increase both fuel efficiency and safety of system operation. To ensure you get the best from an appliance that may well be heating your home for decades, discuss your requirements in detail with a tech from Air Assurance Heating, Air Conditioning and Plumbing. We serve the entire greater Tulsa metropolitan area.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Considering A New Furnace Before Winter Arrives? How To Determine The Right Size

The purchase of a new furnace is a significant investment in a sturdy piece of HVAC equipment that can be expected to give you, on average, 15-20 years of reliable service. You expect your furnace to provide consistent levels of heating throughout your home and to operate as efficiently and economically as possible. To ensure these needs are met, it is extremely important that you choose a new furnace that is correctly sized for your home.Sizing a furnace involves determining your home's heating load, or the amount of heating that is needed to keep your living environment at the temperature you prefer. It also involves making sure that the furnace you purchase can adequately meet that heating load. A too-small furnace can't provide enough heat and works too hard, causing unnecessary wear and early breakdowns. A too-large furnace overheats and wastes energy and money. Overheating also produces dry indoor air, which can cause uncomfortable physical effects on residents and damage to wood furniture and building materials.Many older furnaces tend to be oversized because they were installed when homes were often ineffectively sealed and insulated. A well-insulated home with few air and energy leaks will not need as large a furnace. Further, if you are installing a high-efficiency furnace, it won't need to be as large as the unit you're replacing.Heating load calculations should be performed by a qualified HVAC expert and according to industry standards such as the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) Manual J, "Residential Load Calculation." This manual contains all the technical procedures and standards for determining how much heating your home requires and the size furnace you need, based on evaluation of factors such as:

• Local climate and weather

• Size and shape of house

• Directional orientation of house

• Amount of insulation

• Window size, location and type

• Presence of heat-generating lights and appliances

• Resident temperature preferences

Air Assurance has provided more than 30 years of reliable, professional HVAC services to customers in and around Tulsa. Contact us today for more information on furnace sizing, to get a cost estimate and load calculation for your home, or to schedule an installation at your convenience.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Image courtesy of Shutterstock