Furnaces with efficiency ratings of 90% or more are considered high efficiency, and you should strive to make yours as energy efficient as possible. Are you wondering what would make your furnace efficient? Well, there are plenty of factors, with the common ones being:
Regular maintenance
Like your car, there is no way your furnace will function efficiently if you don’t properly maintain it. At least once a year, hire an experienced professional to inspect the unit and fix any faulty areas that might be present.
When hiring a furnace service professional, ensure that the professional is experienced and knows what they are doing. Remember that many inexperienced contractors are posing as experts, and they will most likely damage your appliance if you let them maintain them for you.
Always take your time when hiring them to stay on the safe side. Many homeowners rush to hire the first contractors they come across, but you shouldn’t do this. Take your time to interview several contractors and only hire the most experienced.
The professional should go through all parts of the appliance and fix even the smallest problem that might be present.
Upgrade to a higher efficient model
Sometimes you will fail to achieve higher energy efficiency ratings because your appliance is old. If your unit is more than 10 years old, there is no way you are going to keep it running efficiently.
To save money, get a high-efficiency furnace. Newer furnaces have higher AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) ratings, meaning that they use less fuel to produce the same heat.
Get a high-efficiency furnace and strategically place it in your home.
When buying the furnace, ensure that it’s of the right size for your home. Many homeowners have bought appliances that are either too big or small for their homes and fail to deliver the results they are after. Don’t be one of them.
Even if you already have a furnace, work with an experienced professional who will help you tell the right size of appliance to install in your home.
There are plenty of brands in the market, but it’s good to stick with the well-known and already-proven brands as they give you peace of mind that they will get the work done.
Keep your house airtight.
You might have the latest furnace, but there is no way it will function efficiently if all the heat it produces gets lost through cracks and holes in the house.
To make your unit efficient, seal any leaks in the house. You can do the sealing by yourself or hire a professional to help with that.
While at it, insulate your house to keep all the heat inside and reduce the amount of work the furnace has to do.
Use a programmable thermostat.
You must be wondering how a programmable thermostat will make your furnace more energy efficient, right? To understand how it will achieve this, you need to understand how it works.
A programmable thermostat allows you to set a lower temperature when you are sleeping or out of the house, which comes in handy to save you energy.
Since you set the furnace at a lower temperature when you don’t need it, you get it working more efficiently, saving you money and giving your appliance a longer life.
Invest in a good air filter
The air filters in your appliance determine the quality of air in the house and how well the furnace functions.
You should inspect the filters in your appliance at least once every three months, and if they are dirty, clean or replace them.
When replacing them, go with high-quality ones that will not only trap most air particles but also last for a long time.
Invest in a heat recovery ventilator
A heat recovery ventilator or energy recovery ventilator helps you improve indoor air quality while also helping you recover some of the heat from the exhaust air and preheat the fresh air coming in.
Like the other appliances, go with high-quality units that will give you a great experience.
Parting shot
These are some ways to make your furnace run more efficiently. For peace of mind that your unit is in top working condition, have it regularly inspected by a qualified heating service repair Long Island professional.