The Ins and Outs of Furnace Ownership
Forced air gas powered furnaces are the most common home heating system used in the United States of America. Odds are your home depends on this type of unit for your home heating needs every winter season. Despite the importance of this systems proper function, many homeowners neglect their furnace until there is a major problem with the unit. In an effort to educate consumers, we will examine all aspects and stages of furnace ownership. Whether you are looking to purchase a new furnace or to maintain or repair your existing furnace, you will find useful information here that will help you make informed purchases and decisions regarding your home heating system.
Purchasing a New Furnace
There are two main reasons why people replace their existing furnace. Either the furnace finally broke down for good, or the furnace is old and inefficient and needs to be upgraded. Whichever category of buyer you fall into, purchasing a new home heating system can be a daunting task. Which contractor should you use? What features should you look for? What do energy efficiency ratings mean?
For starters, stop, take a breath, and ask around. Check with your family, friends, and neighbors and see which heating and cooling contractor they would recommend. If you live in the Chicago land area, Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning is probably going to be one of their recommended contractors. Four Seasons makes the purchasing process as painless as possible for the customer, and their attractive financing options make buying a furnace easy on any budget.
When buying a furnace these days, there are many new technologies that go into these home heating units. All of them work to make furnaces more energy efficient. For example, look for a furnace that has a variable speed blower motor and two-stage function. A variable speed blower motor will automatically adjust the speed that it runs at. This allows the furnace to conserve energy on milder days when the temperature requirements for the home can be met at lower fan speeds.
The two stage function also works in a similar way. On days when it is extremely cold, the furnace will use a “high-fire” setting to keep the home warm, but on cooler days, the furnace has the option to switch to “low-fire” to reduce energy consumption. The less energy the system uses, the more money you save on your energy bills. Furnace with these technologies will have efficiency ratings around 80% AFUE or higher. The higher the percentage is, the more energy that is actually being converted into heat for your home. Older units waste energy and are usually only 60-70% efficient.
Maintaining Your Furnace
Heating and cooling systems need to be maintained yearly in order for them to function properly. Furnace units are especially prone to failure when they are neglected for years and years at a time. Before the winter season arrives, you should have your furnace cleaned and checked over by a certified heating and cooling specialist like Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning. They will clean out the parts of the furnace that are prone to failure when dirty. For example, when the burners are coated with dust and debris, they may not fire completely or at all causing an unnecessary furnace repair call. Poorly maintained furnaces also don’t last as long as home heating systems that are cleaned yearly. This is because as dirt and debris build up in the system the unit has to work harder to meet the set temperature. The harder the unit works, the more likely it is to fail. A dirty furnace can also lose its efficiency. You could spend thousands of dollars on a high efficiency unit, but you will never see the full benefits of that efficiency if the unit is filthy and overworked. Don’t waste your money. Have your furnace cleaned and tuned-up yearly, and you will defiantly see a great return on your investment on the next energy bill.
Four Seasons will perform a heat exchanger inspection as part of the yearly maintenance. The heat exchanger is the part of the furnace that heats the air that is circulated in the home, and it creates a separation between the harmful combustion gases and your breathing air. Poorly maintained furnaces tend to develop cracks in the heat exchanger much sooner than a well maintained furnace. The crack that develops can lead to a carbon monoxide leak in the home. Carbon monoxide is an odorless killer that you need to protect your family from, and one way to do so would be to have your furnace checked yearly.
Repairing Your Furnace
Even when you take very good care of your furnace, there is still a possibility that it will break down at some point and need furnace repairs. Most homeowners feel like they are at the mercy of their furnace repair specialist when the unit breaks down. However, there are some points of the system that you can check on your own before calling your heating and cooling company. The last thing you want is for the serviceman to come into your home for five minutes, flip a switch, charge you a service fee, and book it.
The first part of the furnace to check is the thermostat. Many people will accidentally set the thermostat wrong. Check that the thermostat is in the “heat” position and that the temperature has been raised higher than the current temperature in the home. Next, check the circuit breaker or fuse box. Sometimes a fuse may blow out or a circuit might trip. All you have to do is replace the broken fuse or flip the breaker switch to try and get the unit to start up.
After you have done these checks you should go to the furnace. Check first if the furnace filter is dirty. A dirty furnace filter can choke the airflow to a furnace and prevent proper ignition. Replacing a filter is not a furnace repair that you need a technician for. Also check the on/off switch at the furnace. Sometimes this switch will get turned off inadvertently or need to be reset by flipping it off and on again. If you have performed all of these checks and the furnace still isn’t working, it is time to call your furnace repair company. Four Seasons is open 24 hours a day for emergency heating and cooling situations just like this.
Furnace ownership isn’t easy, but with the help of the right heating and cooling company it can be a little less stressful of a responsibility on homeowners.