Best Gas Furnace Buying Guide.How do most people go about buying a furnace First, they call contractors and ask for estimates.To prepare this report, we did too.More than 5. 00 specialists in residential heating and air conditioning told us about their experiences in installing and maintaining heating equipment.Size Matters. The furnaces specifications should fit your needs.A furnace thats too small wont keep your house comfortable during extremely cold weather.Partly to avoid that possibility, the furnaces in most homes are larger than necessary.Initial cost is only one of the drawbacks of that strategy.Guide To Installing A Central Heating System' title='Guide To Installing A Central Heating System' />A furnace thats too large will cycle on and off more frequently.That puts more wear on its components, wastes energy, and might cause the temperature to vary uncomfortably.Also, a larger replacement furnace might require larger ducts.Without the right size ducts, airflow can be noisy.To be sure of correct sizing and a proper installation, choose a reputable contractor who will take the time to calculate your heating needs according to an industry standard such as in Manual J HVAC Residential Load Calculation of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America.Such calculations take into account the climate and the size, design, and construction of your house.Once the furnace is installed, maintain it regularly according to the manufacturers recommendations.Our survey helped to confirm this advice.When we asked about the most common reasons for service calls for furnaces, contractors cited human error, inadequate maintenance, for example, or improper installation, twice as often as defective equipment.Shopping for a central air conditioning system Read about types, features, and other mustknow topics in our central air conditioning buying guide to make an.Read our frequency of repair report for which brands or the most and least reliable.Efficiency Also Matters.Gas is currently the most common heating fuel and most new central heating systems use gas.How efficiently a furnace converts gas into heating energy is reflected in its annual fuel utilization efficiency AFUE rating, which is measured as a percentage.The higher the number, the more heat the furnace can wring from each therm of gas.Since efficient furnaces generate fewer emissions, environmental considerations might also influence your decision.Furnaces have become more energy efficient over the years.A gas furnace made in the early 1.AFUE of about 6. 5 percent.The lowest efficiency allowed by law for new gas furnaces is 7.The price of a furnace generally rises in step with its fuel efficiency.A furnace with a 9.AFUE might cost 1,0.AFUE. But you can often recoup that additional cost through lower fuel bills over the life of the furnace, especially in regions such as the Northeast and Midwest, where winters can be harsh.How quickly you recover the investment depends on more than just AFUE.The electricity to run furnaces with different AFUEs can vary significantly.The climate where you live, how well your home is insulated, and your local gas and electricity rates also affect payback times.As you decide, insist that the contractor select models in a range of efficiencies and calculate the annual estimated operating cost of each model youre considering, rather than simply estimating it.The contractor can complete those calculations by plugging information on each units AFUE and electrical consumption, local utility rates, and characteristics of your home into one of several computer programs designed to easily calculate estimates.Make sure that the quotes also include the cost of any changes to venting required by any appliances in the home.Other questions to ask the contractor Is the model youre considering fairly new, introduced, say, two years ago or less, and thus relatively untestedIf its an older model, has the contractor noticed any reliability problems with it You can make your home more energy efficient in several ways.Turn down the thermostat in winter just two degrees cooler will save you money and reduce emissions by about 6 percent.You might not even feel the difference, especially at night or when youre out of the housea programmable thermostat can help here.Draw the curtains at night to block the chill from a cold window.Keep the windows covered on sunny days during the summer, and uncover them on sunny days during the winter to benefit from some free solar heating.Reduce heat loss from ducts by sealing leaks and, where feasible, insulating ducts.Repair or ReplaceIf your gas furnace falters or fails, a few simple procedures may save you the cost and trouble of seeking professional help If youre getting low airflow, check the air filter on the furnace a clogged filter could cut airflow to a trickle.See if there are loose wires or a malfunction in the thermostat.For an electronic thermostat that runs on batteries, try changing them.Are fuses burned out or circuit breakers tripped If so, power may have been cut to the fan or circuit board.If those steps dont work, call a heating contractor.Despite the improved efficiency of most new furnaces, its generally more cost effective to repair a furnace than to replace it.However, if a key component such as the heat exchanger or control module fails, youre probably better off replacing the furnace, especially if the unit is more than about 1.Guide To Installing A Central Heating System' title='Guide To Installing A Central Heating System' />Furnaces typically last an average of 1.Most and Least Reliable.If you have to replace your furnace, youll be glad to hear that todays more efficient gas furnaces can save you up to 4.They are also, on average, less likely to need repairs, according to 2.Reliability is especially important because when a furnace failed, 7.A majority of those broke down completely, with nearly a third producing no heat for more than a day.For 4. 0 percent, the repair cost 1.Central heating systems.Thinking about a new central heating system, or just want more information on the one you have Read this guide.Your central heating system plays an important role in your home keeping you supplied with the heat and hot water that make life so much more comfortable.But what systems are available and how do they work What types of central heating systems are availableCentral heating is a way of providing warmth in your home from, as the name suggests, one central source.Central heating systems broadly fall into one of the following types wet systems involving a boilerheat exchanger and radiators warm air systemstorage heaters.How does a wet central heating system work With a wet system hot water circulates through a system of pipes that connect to the radiators throughout a house.At the centre of the system, a boiler burns a fuel or sometimes there is a heat exchanger and this heats the water that feeds the network of pipes.Wet systems are the most popular form of heating system in the UK.Radiators, despite their name, do not just give off radiant heat, in fact they deliver most of their heat through convection air warmed by the radiator naturally rises, and cool air falls relative to it, as a result the warmed air circulates and the space in a room is warmed.The pipework may also be connected to a hot water cylinder tank, which will provide a supply of hot water for bathing and washing.What type of fuel is used in a boiler The most common fuel used in boilers is natural gas, followed by heating oil, and occasionally liquid petroleum gas LPG.Although rare, some boilers burn coal usually in the form of coal pellets or biomass usually in the form of wood chips.Electric central heating boilers are also available.New gas and oil boilers have to be of around 9.A or B energy efficiency rating and generally use condensing technology to achieve this.If your boiler is more than fifteen years old, you may want to consider replacing it with a new energy efficient one.What is the difference between a combi boiler and a conventional boilerAs well as taking care of your heating needs, combi boilers provide instant hot water.They have the advantage of freeing up space in a home, because theres no need for a hot water cylinder tank like there is with a conventional boiler.In most cases, heating water instantly is more energy efficient than stored hot water systems.However, the flow of hot water is slower than if it was coming from a cylinder, so a bath will take longer to run.Some combi boilers can in any case also heat water in a cylinder.Modern boilers generally no longer have tanks in the loft to pressurise the system through gravity.Instead they are sealed systems, and typically only require manual topping up from the mains water supply when the internal pressure has dropped usually because of tiny leaks.This is a simple operation that takes a few seconds, and involves opening a valve on a pipe below the boiler.My home is heated via a district heating system, how does this work In some areas, notably Nottingham, a centralised district heating source will deliver hot water via a series of underground pipes to a number of homes simultaneously, removing the need for a domestic boiler.This mains hot water then circulates around the pipes within the home to provide heating and hot water.The attraction of this type of system is its energy efficiency and low carbon footprint, and for the consumer it means lower energy bills.Ive heard that ground source heat pumps are environmentally friendly, but will they lower my energy billsA ground source heat pump works on the same principle that fridges and air conditioning systems work on making one place cooler while making another place warmer or the other way around.If you consider how warm the back of a fridge gets, while the inside of it gets cold, then you begin to get an idea of how this system works.Ground source heat pumps, fuelled by electricity, work by making the earth outside a home colder, by running a refrigerant fluid through pipes that are buried in a trench or a borehole, while delivering warmth at the heat exchanger indoors.That heat is transferred to the water running through the pipes inside a house to warm radiators and provide hot water.Ground source heat pumps typically reach temperatures of around 5.C, which is significantly lower than with a boiler, which can reach a temperature as high 9.C although its recommended that you set the temperature lower than this.So, you will need to run a heat pump for longer to achieve the same level of comfort, and it tends to work better with underfloor heating, rather than radiators.Although much more expensive to install, they can be as cheap to run as gas central heating.How does a warm air system work Warm air systems were sometimes installed in the sixties and seventies in the UK, but continue to be popular in North America.Air is heated by a boiler, typically fuelled with natural gas, and fed via ducts to rooms around the home.The warm air enters the room via a floor or wall vent.In commercial buildings, variations on warm air systems are still in widespread use, although they typically also serve as a cooling air conditioning system.In most homes, warm air systems have been replaced with wet systems, which are generally more comfortable and efficient.How does a storage heating system work The principle of a storage heater is that it contains bricks capable of storing large amounts of heat.These are heated overnight using the off peak electricity on Economy 7 and, on Economy 1.This heat is then gradually released the following day.Storage heating systems, although consisting primarily of individual storage heaters, typically rely on a separate wiring system within the home for cheaper off peak Economy 7 or Economy 1.The same wiring typically will also be used to heat a hot water cistern tank.A storage heater normally has at least two controls, one for controlling how much electricity is used, which will determine how much heat is generated for storage, and another for controlling how much heat is released.This means that if youre out during the day, you can delay the release of the heat until you return in the evening.More advanced storage heaters also have thermostatic controls.Unlike older storage heaters, which took up a lot of space, modern ones use bricks with much greater heat storage capability, and are far more streamlined.In some cases, storage heaters can also serve as direct electric heaters, providing heat directly from electricity without going through the storage stage.Typically they will use peak rate electricity for this.Often homes that rely on storage heaters will also have separate electric heating systems to supplement heating needs again peak rate electricity will be used to top up in this way.Electric central heating vs.Which of the two should you opt for We take a quick look at the pros and cons.Electric central heating.The main benefit of installing electric central heating is that it is available to homes not on the gas grid.In addition, electric night storage heaters are easier to install than gas central heating apparatus, as far as central heating installation goes, mainly because they require fewer parts.In terms of cons, it is worth noting that electric central heating is often more expensive as electricity unit prices are up to four times more costly than gas prices.On top of this, electric central heating storage heaters do not provide instant control.This means you will have to plan your heating needs ahead as switching the heating on at night means it will heat up for the next morning.Gas central heating.The main advantage of gas central heating is that it is cheaper, per unit, than electricity.On top of this, gas boilers are getting more and more efficient.Replacing an old boiler with a new energy efficient one is pretty straightforward in terms of the installation process.You can look into getting a new boiler here.However, gas central heating is not without its problems. Ultra Video Splitter Crack Download . Gas prices continue to rise, and although they remain lower per unit than electricity costs, they are far from cheap.Another problem which faces some homes is that they are not connected to the gas grid.Getting connected can prove lengthy and costly.Gas central heating boilers should also be serviced regularly to ensure they are in good working order.
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