Did your furnace conk out and cause you headaches this past winter? Were your gas or oil bills higher than expected, putting you in a tailspin over the holidays? If you answered “yes” to either question, you should go shopping. Furnace shopping, that is.
Our old furnaces can give trouble and cost too much in fuel during the winter. As spring sets in here in the Metro-East, the bad memories fade and we turn our attention elsewhere. The problem is, there’s another winter coming up. Older furnaces are like old cars, first this part then another part wears out. Pretty soon, it’s costing us every time we turn around.
If your furnace is 20 years old or older, it may be living on borrowed time. They always go at the worst time — just when you need them most. When that happens, you get another as quickly as possible, without taking time to compare efficiencies and features. It’s an emergency and you don’t have time to shop; your family is cold.
That’s why you should do it now. You can take your time and find the best one for your needs. Old furnaces eat up money in the form of poor fuel efficiency. A 20-year-old furnace can have an AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) of only 70. Many new ones are 90 or above. That means your present furnace only utilizes 70 percent of your fuel. The other 30 percent goes out the flue as waste. With a 90 rating, only 10 percent is waste.
Shopping for furnaces now allows you the luxury of time — time for installation, time for the right model, and time to be prepared for next winter. You can start the winter knowing your fuel bills will be less, that your new unit is warranted, and that it will have a long, efficient life ahead of it.
At Ernst Heating and Cooling, we can help you with the correct sizing and fuel efficiency for your needs. Our staff knows the latest ratings, features and efficiencies of new furnaces. Contact us; be prepared now for next winter. We’re always ready to help you stay warm for less.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Ernst Heating & Cooling services Hamel, Illinois and Metro East.