| You're sitting in your easy chair relaxing after a | | | | safe your furnace is when it's a gas or propane |
| hard day at work. In the background is the on | | | | furnace. Completing regular safety checks is |
| and off hum of the furnace working to keep the | | | | important and any sign there is carbon monoxide |
| air heated or cooled for the master of the house. | | | | or corrosion in the heat-exchanger means the unit |
| Everything's great until you open the mail and | | | | needs to be replaced.(1) Older oil furnaces are |
| discover the utility bill has gone up | | | | safer in terms of not leaking carbon monoxide, |
| again....significantly up. So much "up" that you can't | | | | but they are not as energy efficient. |
| relax anymore, because you have to get up and | | | | Another factor which will influence your decision |
| turn the thermostat up or down so the doggone | | | | to replace a furnace is the rising cost of some |
| unit quits coming on so often. | | | | fuels. Well okay...all fuels. But some are rising |
| Instead of enjoying a perfectly temperature | | | | faster than others. Actually, you have to consider |
| maintained home, you're now wondering if it it's | | | | energy availability too. For example, oil is not as |
| time to bite the bullet and start thinking about | | | | easy to get as it used to be. If your area has |
| replacing the furnace. A furnace is one of the | | | | dwindling supplies, and you also have a unit that is |
| household appliances that are out of sight and out | | | | older than 15 years, it's time to get out of that |
| of mind until it doesn't work right. Then it suddenly | | | | easy chair and start figuring out if you need a |
| seems like the most important piece of | | | | new unit. |
| equipment ever invented by man. | | | | Of course, gas prices can vary wildly but gas is |
| Deciding to replace a furnace is a big decision | | | | pretty reliable as an energy source. If your |
| anyway you look at it. Furnaces are expensive so | | | | energy efficiency rating is 80% or higher, and the |
| getting the right one for your purposes is | | | | unit is less than 15 years old and also a gas unit, |
| important. You will live with the same furnace for | | | | you probably don't need to replace it.(2) |
| a lot of years since many of them operate for | | | | Figuring up your potential cost savings is not |
| twenty or twenty-five years or more. Also, there | | | | difficult. You can get a total of one year's worth |
| are a variety of furnaces available so picking the | | | | of heating bills. Then multiply that total by the |
| best one to suit your situation can be extremely | | | | difference between the old and new efficiency |
| confusing. Do you go gas or oil? What kind of | | | | ratings. Take the cost of the new unit and divide |
| forced air furnace should you buy? How do you | | | | by the number you got for your utility cost |
| choose the right efficiency rating? | | | | savings. The answer is how long it will take you to |
| But this discussion is getting ahead of itself. The | | | | recoup the cost of the new furnace in terms of |
| very first decision to make is deciding whether it's | | | | years. |
| time to replace the furnace. Answering that | | | | In older forced air units, there is a large amount |
| question means looking at a number of things. It's | | | | of energy that is lost right up the chimney. Ouch! |
| good to mention at this point that the number of | | | | Who wants to pay for heating or cooling the |
| times you fiddle with the thermostat or the | | | | inside of a chimney? You can buy high efficiency |
| frequency with which you find yourself kicking the | | | | furnaces today that reach 90% efficiency. These |
| main unit don't count. So what do you look at? | | | | units are called condensing furnaces. |
| One of the first clues it might be time to look at | | | | One factor to keep in mind when deciding |
| replacing a furnace is its age. Though older units | | | | whether to replace a furnace is if the size or |
| may still be working, they are not working as | | | | configuration of your house has changed. If you |
| energy efficiently as newer units. That's why your | | | | have added square footage through a room |
| heart skips a few beats when you get the utility | | | | addition, it might be necessary to install a larger |
| bill. Once you account for cost increases, if your | | | | furnace to handle the work load. |
| bills are higher than they should be it might be due | | | | As you can see, there is no formula for deciding |
| to the furnace working less and less efficiently | | | | when it's time to replace a furnace with one |
| due to age. Today's new furnace units have | | | | exception. If your furnace quits working and it's |
| efficiency ratings as high as 97% while your older | | | | over 20 years old, replacing it is what modern |
| unit is probably only operating at 65% or less. | | | | lingo would call a no-brainer. Even if you decide to |
| Of course there are some other considerations | | | | repair it, there's a good chance it will break again |
| too. For one thing, you need to determine how | | | | when you are most relying on it. |