You might be thinking that buying a furnace is a matter of picking out the most affordable option that will heat your home. But without first gauging the individual size of your rooms, you won’t have a clear picture of how much heat needs to be distributed. Plus, if you underestimate the space, it could cost you heavily in energy bills down the line.
Even more, you need to compare the size of your old heater to modern equivalent models. Did you get new windows? Because of the change in materials, you could have less insulation (more heat loss), which means you’ll need to scale up. The same would apply to additions or renovations, especially if you added on to the square footage of the home.
Efficiency of Ducts and Other Leaks
The ducts leading to a furnace have been insulated in a variety of materials over the years. However, there are modern advances that have significantly changed their chemical composition. Older insulation foams like spray polyurethane tend to lose their moisture over time, so you’ll want to have a new spraying done every couple of years.
But even before that, make sure to have the home’s seals checked. You can usually tell by standing in the corners of each room of your home when the heater is on full blast, then feeling out the colder areas. Chances are, if they are by a window, corner, or seam, you could be experiencing higher energy bills than you ought to be.
Software Recheck
Finally, it’s important to run everything by an expert who has two types of software: modeling and simulation. This rechecking phase is essential because it allows you to see potential issues in extreme detail. Modeling is all about constructing each aspect of the project, and making sure it fits the scale and thermal barrier type of your home. You’ll want to do some research, but once you’ve narrowed down the right thermal options, you have to measure operating lengths, times of operation, and how weather and seasons will affect this over time. It can take a bit of fine-tuning.
If you simulate the heat distribution with a processing engine as well, you’ll have a clear picture of what you might have in anomalous scenarios, like if you used a specific type of glass that was thinner than normal in certain areas (think stained glass), you’d lose a significant amount of heat in these large areas. This means you might have to relocate the ducts, or add more.
The Whole Package
In a nutshell, it’s important to gauge your necessities first and get precise numbers. This can help you save thousands on energy bills down the line, and if you purchase an Energy-Star certified furnace, you’ll experience the added bonus of tax credits. Make sure to investigate whether certain models qualify and contact your accountant to ensure that you’ll get every aspect of the bonus. This, coupled with your energy savings, could add up to thousands in the long run.