ACI Northwest Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Furnace Replacement’

AFUE Ratings for Furnaces: What You Should Know

Monday, December 18th, 2023
person-calculating-money-saved-by-making-their-home-more-efficient

When you’re researching new furnaces to replace your old one, efficiency is probably one of your top concerns. This may be partly for environmental reasons to keep your carbon footprint from getting too big. But it’s also for financial reasons because an inefficient heating system will cost a lot more money to run.

Looking at the details of any furnace, you might have spotted the acronym “AFUE” and wondered what exactly it means. AFUE is a rating system for measuring the efficiency of a furnace. Knowing what rating to look for will help you choose the right furnace. Here are the details.

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Repair or Replace Your Furnace?

Monday, February 17th, 2020

question-mark-on-blue-backgroundWhen you have a furnace for your home heating system, it is easy to see why they are so popular. From their energy efficiency to their heating power, these systems are well-known for being great providers of comfort, because they are!

Now, when you have a furnace, you will need to make sure it is taken care of with regular maintenance and timely repairs when needed. Even with careful care, however, there will come a day that your system needs to be replaced.

The issue that we want to raise is this: do you know how to tell the difference between a furnace that needs furnace repair in Spokane Valley, WA and one that should be replaced? We’re asking because it is pretty important. You don’t want to waste money on a failing furnace that needs an upgrade but you also want to avoid too early of a replacement.

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Heating Question: What is AFUE and Why Should I Care?

Monday, September 17th, 2012

There are quite a few numbers attached to the components of your home’s heating system. One number that you’ll see a lot when looking for a new home heating system is AFUE. Used to describe the efficiency of gas furnaces, AFUE is an important measurement that can affect both the cost of installation and the cost of operating your furnace over time.

What AFUE Means

AFUE stands for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency and refers to how much fuel a device consumes per year compared to how much heat it produces in that same period of time. This is often averaged over the course of a full  year to account for extreme conditions.

Effectively, what AFUE measures is the percentage of fuel consumed by your furnace that is converted into heat. So, if your furnace burns 1 therm of natural gas, how much heat energy is produced from that combustion? The closer it gets to 1 therm of energy, the higher the percentage.

How Much AFUE Is Good?

Modern furnaces range between 80% AFUE and 98% AFUE. The lowest legally allowed furnaces on the market carry a rating of 80% which is still quite good if you consider that most systems build in the 1970s and 1980s have ratings below 70%. So, if you have an older system in your Spokane home, you can almost guarantee that even the most basic replacement furnace will save you money on your heating bills.

At the same time, if you can afford the top of the line, today’s high end gas furnaces offer near perfect conversion of fuel into heat, with exceptional 97% and 98% AFUE ratings. These devices cost more to install, but the lifetime savings on your energy bills are such that they are often well worth paying that higher installation cost for. In fact, they often pay for themselves in 10 years or less, making them a good fit for anyone eager to cut their heating bills by as much as possible.

If you’re looking to upgrade your furnace, give ACI Northwest a call today! Our heating technicians are experts in furnace installation and repair.

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It’s Time for a New Furnace: Some Advice From Colburn

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Replacing the furnace in your Colburn home is probably not something you want to think about. After all, a new furnace is a big investment and not something you probably have too much experience with. And sometimes having your current system fixed or tuned up is all you need to get your home heating situation back on track. But there are certain situations in which it makes more sense to just go ahead and get a new furnace rather than simply patching up the old one.

For instance, if you have to call for either minor or major repairs to your furnace on a regular basis, it’s probably time to consider investing in a replacement. All of those repairs cost money and chances are that the furnace you’re paying repeatedly to replace isn’t going to last that much longer anyway.

Rather than continuing to dump money into a furnace that just isn’t cutting it anymore, you’ll be better off making the investment in a new unit. The truth is, you’re going to have to do it sooner or later and by buying a new furnace now, you’re actually saving all of the money you would have spent on repairing the old one for another year or so.

Also, a furnace that requires such frequent repairs is probably not functioning all that efficiently either. When you replace it with a newer model, you won’t just save money on repairs. You’ll also likely notice a considerable savings on your monthly energy bills because of how much more efficient your new model is.

Even if you haven’t been repairing your furnace often, you may be able to notice some signs that the old unit isn’t quite up to the task anymore. If you’re suddenly having some significant humidity problems in your house or if your home isn’t being heated evenly, there’s a good chance your furnace is on its way out.

And, in fact, even if your furnace is functioning just fine but is more than 10 years old or so, it’s very likely you’d benefit by replacing it. That’s because the newer furnaces available now are so much more energy efficient than their predecessors that the savings you’ll incur monthly will quickly make up for the initial installation investment.

Of course, you don’t want to get rid of a good furnace if you don’t have to. But if your furnace is getting close to the end of its expected lifespan, you may very well benefit by putting out the money for a new one now so you can start saving right away on your monthly energy bills.

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