We’re fast approaching home heating season here in the Edwardsville area. If your house never seems to get warm or your heating bills seem too high, it may be time to consider a furnace upgrade. New furnaces carry a high upfront cost, but when you replace an old model with a new, high efficiency (HE) model, you’ll see immediate savings on your heating bills. In fact, since Ameren Energy of Illinois provides rebates for HE furnaces, even the initial cost of a furnace upgrade may be lower than you think.
How do you know when it’s time to upgrade your furnace? According to the American Council for Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), you should replace your furnace if it:
- Is older than 20 years old.
- Was originally coal burning, and was later modified to burn oil or gas.
- Does not have vent dampers or induced draft fans.
If your furnace is between 10 and 20 years old and your energy bills seem too high, hire a qualified HVAC contractor to inspect your house. Adding insulation, repairing ducts and tuning up your existing heater may be more cost-effective than a furnace upgrade. On the other hand, if your middle-aged furnace has major mechanical problems, an upgrade is often more cost-effective than a repair.
Choosing the Correct Furnace Upgrade
The Edwardsville area is considered a cold climate for home-heating purposes. Since our overnight lows regularly dip below freezing, you should buy the most efficient furnace that fits within your budget. Most new furnaces are between 80 percent and 98 percent efficient, while older furnaces run at 50 to 75 percent efficiency. This means that if you replace a very inefficient outdated furnace with one of the most efficient modern furnaces, you could halve your home-heating bills.
If you live in the Edwardsville area and wonder whether a furnace upgrade is right for you, contact us at Ernst Heating &Cooling. Our trained HVAC technicians can help you find ways to save on your home-heating bills.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about furnace upgrades and other HVAC topics, visit our blog.
Ernst Heating & Cooling services Hamel, Illinois and the surrounding areas.
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