Selecting the Right Furnace for Your Home
 Buying a furnace is one of the biggest investments you make for your home, and is a decision that you will live with for the next 15 years. This decision can literally be the difference between a comfortable, energy efficient home, and a gas guzzling, problematic system that doesn’t heat your home properly. This decision can be complicated, but don’t worry; we’re here to help you out.
Decision #1 – The most important one!
 All of the experts agree that the single biggest decision you will make when choosing the new furnace is choosing the right company. If cars did not come assembled, but instead needed to be put together by your car dealer, you would make sure to select the car dealer with the best mechanics. The same theory applies to your heating system. Safe and proper venting, wiring, and ductwork sizing are just a few of the things that are custom designed and fabricated specifically for your home. These and many other components play a significant part of your heating system’s efficiency, life expectancy, noise, and ability to heat your home. In fact, recent studies show that as much as 90% of brand new systems are installed wrong, which either shortens the life of the system or costs you more in gas bills.
Decision #2 – Size Matters.
Don’t worry, this decision is easy because we (the contractor) make it for you.
Besides the installation, your contractor is also responsible for the sizing of your furnace. Size does matter, but bigger isn’t always better. A furnace that is too small will not adequately heat your home, but a furnace that is too big will overheat and short-cycle (frequently turns on and off). This can prematurely damage your furnace and wear out the components, will not heat and humidify your home evenly, and will also mean that you paid too much for a furnace size that you did not need.
Decision #3 – Efficiency: Save some money now, save a lot of money later
Furnace efficiency is measured in AFUE and is just like the miles per gallon rating for your car’s gas mileage. Higher AFUE means you pay less money to heat your home. There are two basic categories of furnaces available today, standard efficiency furnaces (80% efficient) and high efficiency furnaces (90-96.6% efficient). High efficiency furnaces cost several hundred dollars more, initially, but save hundreds of dollars each year in reduced gas bills. High efficiency furnaces cannot be installed in all homes though, so just ask and we’ll let you know if your home is a good candidate.
Decision #4 – Single Stage or Two Stage?
Your old furnace is a single stage furnace – it is either on full blast, or it is off. This is fine during those few, frigid, below zero days of winter. However for the majority of the winter, a furnace running at full blast will heat your home too quickly and your furnace will shut off after not running long enough. This causes uneven heating of your home (some rooms heat up properly, but the furnace did not run long enough to heat up some other rooms) and improper operation of your humidifier leaving your air dry and uncomfortable. A solution to these problems is the Two Stage Furnace. Your car heating fan has different speeds and now you can also have that comfort in your home. In two stage heating, the furnace will start in “low speed” operation and then switch to the “high speed” if necessary. On milder days, this allows the furnace to run longer so that your home heats up evenly and with proper humidity control. When a furnace runs longer it is getting better gas mileage, like your car getting better highway gas mileage than in stop and go traffic. A furnace that runs longer also brings more air past your air filter delivering cleaner air with better humidity control and lower costs to make your home a more comfortable place to live.
Decision #5 – Variable Speed Motors
 Variable speed motors are the “luxury” item when it comes to furnaces. Instead of two fan speeds, furnaces with variable speed motors have many fan speeds. This helps to heat your home evenly and efficiently and are great for homes with bad ductwork. These “smart fans” also have the capability to speed up as the filter gets dirty, and slow down when a clean one is put in it’s place. Their motors are also more reliable and cost a fraction of the electric bills to run (and this is great because this motor is also used during the summer so the savings are year-round). Variable speed furnaces also have superior humidity control year-round.
A few other things to consider
 Did you notice that “brand” of furnace hasn’t come up in discussion yet? Its very similar to making dinner; a good chef can take regular ingredients and make a great meal, but a bad chef can take the best ingredients and make something you wouldn’t feed your dog. That being said, it is still good to have the best ingredients. When it comes to furnaces, a few important things to consider and ask about are the safety, reliability, efficiency, and noise levels of the furnace.
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