Heating and cooling account for about half of the average American home’s energy consumption and makes a high-efficiency furnace installation a great investment. Heating and cooling are easily a family’s most expensive energy costs every month.
If your home’s HVAC equipment is older than 10 years old, a high-efficiency furnace investment cuts your energy expenses significantly.
Because they extract more heat from the gas they consume, a high-efficiency furnace uses less energy to heat your home. This increased efficiency saves you money. Learn what else makes a furnace highly efficient and why a high-efficiency furnace is worth the investment below.
What Makes a Furnace Highly Efficient?
AFUE, or Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency, measures how much fuel is converted to heat. It is noted on the yellow Federal Trade Commission-required EnergyGuide label on the outside of your furnace.
To qualify as highly efficient, a furnace must have an AFUE rating of 90 percent or higher. This is around 10 percent to 20 percent higher than mid-efficiency models. In some cases, such as original HVAC systems, it may be even higher.
Features of a High-Efficiency Furnace
To use less energy to heat your home, all high-efficiency furnaces come equipped with the following components:
- Electronic ignition. This saves more energy than pilot lights on gas-burning furnaces. Electronic ignition only kicks in when the furnace is signaled to start.
- Two-stage heating. This allows high-efficiency furnaces to run using less energy under mild temperatures. The higher stage turns on to heat your home only under extremely cold weather conditions.
- Second heat exchanger. This extracts heat which otherwise escapes your system through vented exhaust gasses. This produces more heat using less energy.
- Variable speed blower. This can run at faster speeds when your home needs more airflow and switch to a lower speed when less will do.
- Sealed combustion. This allows high-efficiency furnaces to draw in outside air for the combustion process and conserve energy.
Advantages of a High-Efficiency Furnace
Replacement of your old heating system with a high-efficiency furnace is a worthwhile investment with several benefits, including:
- Cost savings. A high-efficiency furnace pays for itself in savings on your monthly energy bills. Having an ENERGY STAR-qualified high-efficiency furnace installed in your home could save you more than $115 annually on your heating bill, according to ENERGY STAR.
- Higher performance. High-efficiency models use quieter, newer technology so you’ll benefit from advances in gas valves and sound-absorbing materials.
- Cleaner, better airflow. High-efficiency furnaces operate via variable speed motors, which distribute heat more evenly throughout your home. Additionally, you’ll breathe healthier air. Newer filtration systems remove mold, dust and other allergy and asthma-causing particulates.
- Better for the environment. High-efficiency furnaces use a third of the fuel compared to standard models. They also have lower carbon dioxide emissions.
High-Efficiency Furnace Experts in Alabama – Douglas Cooling & Heating
Having a high-efficiency furnace installed in your home is a great way to save money on your energy bills in the long run. The pros at Douglas Cooling & Heating are experts at high-efficiency furnace installation. If you have any questions or would like to talk to us about a free estimate or finance options, contact us at Douglas Cooling & Heating today.
