Technology in general has come a long way in the last fifty years. Furnaces and their efficiency are definitely a part of that trend. The older the home, the more problems you’re likely to have with your furnace. Those issues usually take a toll on your bill. If you’re like most people, you haven’t even thought of replacing your furnace. The idea is to use it until it can’t work anymore. A furnace isn’t cheap, so putting off buying a new one might seem like the better financial decision. In reality, it may be costing you more. Furnaces last a long time. Once you buy a new one, you can enjoy the heat without having to worry about replacing it for years.
How can you tell that it’s time to buy a new furnace? There are only so many times you want to shell out money on Lenexa furnace repairs in order fix a furnace that breaks down repeatedly. At some point it really is better to invest in a high quality appliance that cuts down on your bills. Old furnaces are highly inefficient. The less efficient a furnace is, the more money it costs to run it. It is also much harder on the earth. It costs a lot to run an old furnace. Unfortunately, the harder a furnace has to work to heat your home, the worse off the environment is.
A special rating is given to determine how efficient a furnace actually is. This is known as an AFUE rating, or an Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency rating. The test basically figures out how much fuel it takes a furnace to run, and measures how much of that fuel is simply going to exhaust. If you happen to have a furnace that is from the 70s, it’s likely that your furnace has a rating of 65%, which basically means that 45% of the fuel used gets wasted through the flue in the form of exhaust. Older furnaces are wasteful. A high efficiency furnace does the same job without needing to use as much fuel.
There have been stricter demands put on furnace manufacturers. Obviously emissions take a massive toll on the atmosphere and surrounding environment. To help curb that effect, the government requires that new furnaces have a minimum rating of 78%. While that may seem like a major improvement, that number is only the beginning. Today, there are models on the market that are rated at 98.2%. Only 1.8% of the fuel used by your furnace is wasted.
With those kinds of numbers, homeowners stand to save a lot on their heating bills each winter. If you switch to a high efficiency furnace with ratings in the 90s, you can expect your bills to drop by between 25%-30%. When your furnace continually breaks down and you have to call a Lenexa HVAC company every winter, it’s time to buy a new one. Feel warm all winter long, and save hundreds of dollars off your monthly bills.
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