Upgrades for your Home’s Heating System

When it comes time to replace your home’s heating system there are a multitude of upgrades that are available. Which upgrades should you choose? It mostly depends on your home’s heating needs and your desired comforts. A few of these upgrades will provide the most benefit as they relate to energy savings and comfort.

The first upgrade to consider is efficiency. It is now possible to choose heating systems that are very efficient at heating your home. Upgrading to a high efficient furnace can provide huge energy savings over the life of the system. For example, a 92% furnace will utilize 92% of the heat that is produced by your furnace. This means that only 8% of the fuel burned to produce heat will be wasted out of the exhaust system of the furnace. Compare that to the 20% waste of a standard efficient furnace and you can quickly see how the savings will add up. Choosing a 92% efficient furnace is actually choosing not to waste 12% of every heating dollar you spend. To put this into perspective, if your monthly heating bill is $200 dollars, choosing a standard efficient furnace means choosing to waste or throw away $24 every month. Add this waste up over the average 20-year life of the furnace and it would cost you $5, 760 more to choose the standard efficient furnace.

The second upgrade to consider is a variable speed fan motor. A variable speed motor works much more efficiently than a standard speed furnace. A standard furnace speed has only low, medium and high speeds. Traditionally the unit will work in low speed for heating and high speed for cooling. Newer variable speed fan motors have literally an unlimited speed range. This variable speed option allows the furnace to precisely regulate airflow to provide better control of temperature, humidity and air distribution. The variable speed fan motor is also much more efficient. A variable speed motor uses about 1/3 the electricity of a standard speed furnace. The variable speed motor also allows you to set the fan to the “on” position on the thermostat and run at a very low speed to keep the air temperatures in the house more constant and the air circulated through your filter without the typical “drafty” feeling of a conventional motor. A variable speed motor also starts and slowly speeds up eliminating the traditional “kick” or “thump” that occurs when a standard speed motor kicks on.

The third upgrade to consider is heating stages. A standard furnace only has one stage heating. This means that the furnace is either all on or all off. A two stage heating system has two different levels of heating. The first stage is usually 60% of the total heating capacity of the furnace. This two-stage option allows the lower stage to heat the home during milder temperatures such as the spring and fall. This results in less furnace cycling, which means the unit will last longer from less wear and tear and increased energy savings. During the colder winter days, the two-stage unit simply kicks in the higher stage and 100% of the heating capacity of the furnace is utilized.

You can also customize a system to your needs. Options include:

There are a lot of upgrade options to consider when replacing your home’s heating system. Each of these upgrades is well worth the investment either for increased energy savings or improved home comfort. Once you have a high efficient comfort system installed with the added comfort upgrades in your home, you will never be without it again. The small investment required upgrading these options pays back years of savings and comfort. To discuss any of the upgrade options or other upgrade options on your home’s comfort system, give Empire HVAC a call at 404-294-0900. One of our technicians will look at our current system and recommend an efficiency and comfort system combination that meets your budget.

Empire HVAC’s special offer includes saving up to $1, 950 on select new systems. Savings include federal energy tax credits, manufacturers’ rebates, instant savings and Georgia Power incentives. Conditions and restrictions apply. Call 404-294-0900 for details.

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