What You Should Look For In Buying a High Efficiency Furnace

The average home in colder climate areas consumes 60 per cent of total energy used for home heating.  If you want to cut your home energy bill by 30  to 35 per cent you can accomplish this by replacing you old gas-guzzling inefficient furnace with a new high-efficiency unit.

It is true that a high-efficiency furnace will cost several thousand dollars to buy and install in your home.  Hence you should be sure to choose the best furnace, and a good contractor for this considerable investment.

The first decision you must make is whether to get a high-efficiency furnace (90% to 97% efficient), or a mid-efficiency unit, with a 78% to 82% per cent rating.  The fact is that the high-efficiency unit's greater cost will be recovered in less than six years, due to the increased fuel savings. Regulations are that all new furnaces must be of at least the minimum mid-efficiency rating. In Canada now only high efficiency furnaces can be installed.

In addition to greater fuel savings, a high-efficiency furnace makes much less running noise than a mid-efficiency model and also maintains a more constant temperature in your home which makes the house more comfortable to live in.  High-efficiency models can also be obtained with an optional direct current motor furnace fan, which uses 30 per cent less power than the standard alternating-current electric motor.

A high-efficiency furnace can as a rule be smaller, in heat output, than a mid efficiency or an older low efficency furnace.  The quality of your house insulation has a significant effect in the amount of heat needed to keep your home comfortable. Before installing a new furnace you should make sure that your insulation is of a high standard in order to conservr energy even further.

Furnaces with an energy efficiency of 90% or over qualify for an Energy Star® label which is mounted on the furnace.This signifies that the furnace has passed the necessary requirements to obtain this classification.

You should try to get three or more written price quotes for the installed cost of the furnace from heating system contractors who have experience in the installation of high-efficiency furnaces. The contractor can also provide a heat loss calculation, to determine the size of furnace you need for your home.You may have to pay for this service but it is worthwhile in order to determine the size of furnace you require. 

Installation costs can vary a lot, depending  the amount of new ductwork which is necessary. For example, High-efficiency furnaces can usually use the same ducts as your old unit used but they are vented through an exterior wall with plastic pipe. Fresh combustion air for the furnace is also piped in from outside using plastic pipe.