Furnaces are an integral component of home comfort for homeowners throughout the Twin Cities area, and the heating efficiency of furnace systems accounts for a substantial amount of household energy bills. If it’s time to replace your old furnace, take a look at high-efficiency condensing furnaces for maximizing your home comfort, and taking a healthy bite out of your energy budget.
Condensing Furnaces: Not Your Typical Furnace
Conventional furnaces are workhorse heating systems, providing ample heating through the frigid winters in the Twin Cities area. Advanced features of new conventional furnaces boost efficiency and comfort, but even these new conventional furnaces have a ceiling of around 80 percent AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency), meaning that 80 cents of the energy dollar is converted to usable heating for the home. Old furnaces deliver around 65 to 70 percent AFUE.
With advanced ignition and heat-exchange components, condensing furnaces provide up to 98 percent AFUE, and save even more energy dollars for homeowners by utilizing high-efficiency electricity-driven components, such as variable-speed blowers. These are the features that separate condensing and conventional furnaces:
- Dual heat exchangers – In a conventional furnace, a single heat exchanger transfers heat energy to ducted airflow. A portion of heat energy is lost up the chimney or flue. A condensing furnace employs a second heat exchanger that condenses the hot gases. As the hot exhaust gases are cooled and condensed to acidic liquid, nearly every BTU is squeezed out and utilized for home heating.
- Gas valves – Condensing furnaces utilize two-stage or variable-stage gas valves, rather than fixed-stage gas valves of conventional furnaces. This allows the condensing furnace to heat a home more smoothly and evenly for longer cycles. When paired with a multi- or variable-speed blower, heating output precisely matches the heating load at any given time for maximum comfort and fuel efficiency.
- Installation – Professional installation is key for leveraging maximum furnace efficiency. A condensing furnace requires different installation specifications from conventional furnaces. Make sure your HVAC professional is knowledgeable and reputable.
For more details outlining the advantages of condensing furnaces versus conventional models, please contact us at Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about condensing furnaces and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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