Top 5 Tips For Picking The Right Furnace For Your Home

Home maintenance is not exactly the most fun part of owning a home. However, one of the most important things that you simply cannot forget to do is to service the heating system in your home. 

If you service your furnace and suddenly realize it is not quite working as it once did, it could not be putting as much heat out anymore, it might not even be heating anymore at all. Last year’s energy bills may have left your wallet looking sad, and now you need to find an alternative. 

So, what do you do? Well, you buy a new one of course! But first you need to recognize when you need to replace your furnace, and then you need to realize what you should be looking for in a new furnace. 

For more information on furnaces, see more at Furnace Prices, but if all you want to know is how to pick the right furnace, stay here as we have plenty to tell you! 

When Do You Need To Replace Your Furnace?

On occasion, you do not need to replace your furnace, but instead you just need to give it a good old fashioned cleaning and a bit of maintenance. However, we’ve all been there when it happens to cost more to fix your furnace than it does to buy a whole new one. 

Typically, there are several signs that your furnace is on the way out the door, and you should start shopping around for a new unit. 

These are the signs that you need to go furnace shopping.

Age

Furnaces are not immortal, as great as that would be. Most furnaces will only live between 10 years and 15 years old. If your furnace is over a decade and a half old then it may simply be more cost effective for you to simply buy a new unit instead of attempting to fix your old one. 

New furnaces will also be more energy efficient, so although it may seem like you are spending more money, you are actually saving money by being forward thinking.

Repairs

If your furnace is constantly needing fixing, and is back and forth from the furnace doctors, it might be time to get rid of it. Furnaces that constantly need to be maintained and paired will cost you much more over a period of time than it will to just get a new one. 

If you do worry about how much a new furnace costs, just remember that while it seems like a big one off payment, that one-off payment will be less than all the constant smaller payments you would make to fix your old one. 

If you’re in a tight spot, you can finance furnaces as well!

Energy Bill Increase

Energy is always on the rise, especially at the moment, it is hardly cheap. While energy prices are higher at the moment, this is not always the cause of high energy bills. Your furnace might be struggling and is working harder to keep your home at a reasonable temperature. 

When furnaces get older, they can also start cycling on and off, they may unevenly heat rooms. Their utilization efficiency is lower, and your wallet will suffer for it. 

Corrosion

If you are seeing rust on your furnace it may be a sign that it is dying. Should you see cracks and corrosion on your unit or around it this can be a sign it is old, and is asking to be replaced. 

Old furnaces can also put out soot, dust, rust, and dirt particles into the air, and you may suffer humidity issues. 

Picking Out The Right Furnace For You

Do the above things sound like your furnace? We are sorry to hear that, but now you get a shiny new furnace! 

This is the tricky bit, now you need to pick out a new furnace. You want to protect yourself from having an overload of options by thinking of your home and what it needs. So, let’s talk through what you should be thinking about as you consider your new furnace. 

#1. What Is The Fuel Source?

Nowadays you can pick a furnace to run off of any wide array of things. You can run your furnace off of oil, natural gas, electricity, or propane. The easiest thing to do is pick a furnace that will run off of whatever you currently use. 

If you do not have gas lines in the home, then a gas furnace is very unlikely to work. 

That being said, if you have thought about converting what fuel you use, now is the time to switch. Just make sure that you are certain about your choice. 

Our top tip is natural gas, as it is the most efficient option.

#2. What System Do You Have?

There are some houses which will have something known as a packaged system, this is when your system runs both your heating unit, and your air conditioning from the same unit. Some homes will have a system that is split. 

You need to know if your system is split or packaged, and then decide if you wish to continue with your system as it is, or if you want to change it. 

Maybe your system was split, but now you are fancying combining them to give your home more space. Or maybe you want to split the systems. It is up to you. 

#3. The Type Of Unit?

Now, after you have decided on the fuel and system you want, you need to consider the models you have to choose from. 

If you want to have an oil operated furnace you will be able to choose from up-flow, down-flow, horizontal, or waste oil. Each of these options needs oil, but how it is done mechanically will vary. 

Each model varies in size too, so you need to think of how much space your furnace will need to heat. 

Trained and certified technicians can tell you which is best for you if you are having trouble choosing.

#4. ‘Zones’

All of us have lived in homes where one room was like the desert, but another was reminiscent of the Arctic, this is especially true for homes run off of a single thermostat. 

However, with home heating improving we are seeing more homes take to zone heating. 

This system is set up to operate in different ways in different areas of your home. You can also set up dampers in the ducts to cut off heat to some parts of the home to allow the flow of heat to other areas as you want. 

This is a unique recent development which many are talking about, and we highly recommend. 

#5. Associated Costs

Finally, we can’t ignore that getting a new furnace does cost you money. Any homeowner will be worried about the costs of getting a new furnace. You should always look at the price tag, but do not stop here, you want to think about other things too. 

Consider the cost of installation, accessories, and any costs of changing the fuel source of your home, and connecting a new furnace to an old system. 

How much it costs will differ depending on the efficiency, air quality features, and size of the unit. You should never spend more than you can afford to, but you should also be looking to get one that is right for you. Sometimes a big chunk of money can save you even more later on.

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