Furnaces are the heart of the home’s HVAC system. Many homes in the Alameda and Contra Costa county area are older homes equipped with outdated furnaces. Not only are these furnaces inefficient, they may be too big for your home! The experts at All Things Good have the experience to guide you through your furnace upgrade.
Avoiding the One-Size-Fits-All Myth of Furnace Systems
The home heating experts at All Things Good understand the intricacies of getting the right size and kind of furnace installed in your home. Many HVAC contractors look at your home’s square footage and recommend the furnace model from the industry manual. The problem with that is the manual selects the furnace that will be sized 20% larger to perform at a certain level on the worst, coldest, heating day. On the surface, this may not seem like a huge issue--wouldn’t a bigger unit just keep your home cooler, faster? In reality, however, an oversized unit cannot perform as well as one that’s properly sized for your home and will end up costing you more than necessary; you wouldn’t buy a big moving truck to drive to work every day if you might move house once every ten years.
Common Sense Home Heating
If your goal is to upgrade to an high-efficiency natural gas furnace, it makes more sense to size to match your average heating days. If you run into a super cold day, your home will still be heated, but you won’t be paying extra for more capacity than you need. In fact, for the normal heating season we experience in Northern California, All Things Good recommends an efficient 2-stage furnace.
What is a Two-Stage Furnace?
A single-stage furnace has one heat setting: high. Whenever it activates, it will burn fuel to heat at its maximum high. In contrast, a two-stage furnace has two settings: low for most days and a high setting for extra cold days. The energy savings materialize when your furnace runs mostly at low and sometimes on high, rather than running on high every day. Two-stage furnaces can be more expensive, but when balanced against rising energy prices, these units prove to be a great investment over time.
What’s Right for My Home?
At All Things Good, we’re not going to sell you a particular brand of furnace, but we can help you decide the best heating option for your home, your family and your budget. It’s important to remember that there are many attractive financing options and energy efficiency rebates that may make upgrading more affordable. Your All Things Good technician can walk you through your options!