Energy efficiency is one of the major considerations you should be concerned with when you’re replacing your home heating system. Even though it typically doesn’t get bitterly cold in the Vacaville, California area during the winter, a gas furnace is still one of the best options to provide heat when you need it. While conventional furnaces are less expensive and still heat extremely effectively, upgrading to a high-efficiency furnace can really pay off. This article will explain why that is by showing you how a high-efficiency furnace works and what benefits you can get when upgrading to this type of furnace.
What Makes a High-Efficiency Furnace Different From a Conventional Furnace?
To understand the specific differences between a conventional furnace and a high-efficiency model, it’s first necessary to cover the basics of how a gas furnace heats. Two of the most important components in a gas furnace are the gas burners and the metal heat exchanger. The burners are obviously responsible for burning natural gas or propane to produce heat. As the gas burns, it produces extremely hot combustion fumes that primarily consist of water vapor and carbon dioxide. The furnace’s draft inducer fan then pulls these fumes out of the combustion chamber where the burners are located and into the heat exchanger, which consists of several metal tubes. As the fumes get drawn through the tubes, they cause the metal to quickly get extremely hot. The heat then continually radiates off the tubes so that the air the blower draws into the furnace and over the heat exchanger gets fully heated.
The reason conventional furnaces are only medium-efficiency units is that they just have a single heat exchanger. That means the fumes retain a fairly substantial amount of heat when they exit the metal tubes and then begin flowing up through the exhaust flue on their way outside. Newer condensing furnaces have a secondary heat exchanger that absorbs the majority of the heat that remains when the fumes exit the primary exchanger, resulting in much less heat and thus much less energy being wasted. So much of the heat gets removed from the fumes that most of the water vapor gets cooled to the point that it condenses into liquid, which is why this type of unit is referred to as a condensing furnace. The condensation is why this type of furnace also requires a drip pan and drain lines to collect and carry the water away.
The other reason newer furnaces are so efficient is that all of the air required to supply the burner flames with oxygen gets drawn in from outside the building through a PVC air intake pipe. Any type of flame requires oxygen to continue burning. Supplying the flames with enough oxygen is especially important when burning natural gas or propane since it both ensures the flames are fully hot and that the gas burns cleanly so no carbon monoxide is produced. Conventional furnaces just take air in from the surrounding area, which can sometimes result in the flames not getting as much oxygen and not burning as hot. By actively drawing air in from outside, a condensing furnace tends to burn hotter and use the gas it burns more efficiently.
Reduced Heating Costs
The biggest benefit of upgrading from a conventional furnace to a high-efficiency furnace is that it saves you money on your heating bills. The majority of conventional furnaces have efficiency ratings between 80% and 85%, meaning they waste 15% to 20% of the heat the burners produce. A basic condensing furnace is always going to be at least 90% efficient, and the very best units are just over 98% efficient. That means you’ll save a lot on your heating bills if you replace a conventional furnace with a high-efficiency unit. If you have a conventional furnace that’s more than 12-15 years old, you’ll probably save even more. That’s because your old furnace most likely doesn’t work as efficiently as it did when it was first installed. Even in the Vacaville area, a 10% improvement in energy efficiency will usually add up to savings of $100 or more per year.
More Consistent Temperatures Throughout Your Home
The fact that a conventional furnace pulls air from the surrounding area into its combustion chamber also commonly leads to cold spots in certain parts of a house. The reason is that all of the air the furnace draws in results in a decrease in the air pressure within the house. That means you end up with colder air from outside getting pulled into the structure through other places, such as around window and door frames.
This process can always occur whenever there is an imbalance between the air pressure within the house and the pressure outside. It’s less pronounced in a newer home that has fewer air leaks, but it can be a major issue in an older house. The cold air coming in from outside can then result in the surrounding areas taking longer to heat up or frequently being cooler than the temperature your thermostat shows. This issue generally doesn’t happen with a condensing furnace since it directly pulls air in from outside, meaning it doesn’t cause the air pressure inside the house to drop. The result is fewer cold spots and more even temperatures in each room.
Faster, More Effective Heating
The fact that a high-efficiency furnace uses the heat coming off its burners more effectively means that it will generally heat a bit faster than a conventional furnace. In your area, that means your furnace will rarely stay on for longer than 15 minutes. If you normally leave your heating turned down overnight, you also won’t have to wait as long in the morning for the furnace to heat your house back up to your preferred temperature.
Available Incentives
Another great thing about installing a furnace with high efficiency is that some models qualify you to earn incentives such as rebates and a federal tax credit. Many natural gas providers offer rebates of up to a few hundred dollars for customers who install a gas furnace that meets a certain energy-efficiency requirement. If you install an ENERGY STAR-certified furnace that’s at least 97% efficient, you’ll also be eligible to claim up to a credit on your federal income taxes for the following year. While the credit is limited to 30% of the cost of purchase and installation cost of the new furnace, you’ll usually qualify for hundreds of dollars worth of rebates.
At Cozy Home Services, we take pride in offering the best heating services in the Vacaville area, and we also handle cooling, indoor air quality, plumbing installation, and more. Our company is certified by the Building Performance Institute, meaning we have what it takes to ensure your home is energy efficient and help you maintain a healthy, comfortable indoor environment. If you want to upgrade your HVAC system, we carry a selection of quality, highly efficient furnaces, heat pumps, air conditioners and ductless mini-splits.
If you’re struggling to pay for your HVAC installation upfront, we offer financing on approved credit. That way you can get the new unit you need now while spreading the total costs out over a longer period of time. We also offer exceptional HVAC maintenance and repair services to ensure your heating and cooling functions effectively for years to come. To learn more about your options for upgrading to a high-efficiency furnace or about how we can help you in other ways, contact us today.
