“Many homes built before 1990 still have a standard-efficiency furnace. These are as little as 60 per cent efficient. That means, even if it was installed correctly and well-maintained, it will return only 60 units of heat for every unit of energy it uses. That also means 40 cents of every dollar spent heating your home may be lost through the exhaust. Crazy, right?
It’s like buying a bag of 10 apples and then tossing out four of them (even more if the bag has a hole, but more on that later), or paying for 10 apples and only getting six.
Mid-efficiency furnaces are common in homes built between 1990 and 2010. These are significantly better at 78 to 82 per cent efficiency, but that still leaves at least two of your 10 good apples tossed into the compost heap.
In contrast, high-efficiency furnaces are 95 to 98 per cent efficient and now mandated for new construction and furnace replacements.”
Read more on gas furnace efficiency here.
It’s ridiculous to think that 30 years ago 60% was labeled as standard-efficiency. That means nearly half of the money and energy used for heating your home is pretty much wasted. We’d hardly call that efficient at any level. The best thing a person could do is to invest in a new high-efficiency gas furnace which will cost more upfront but will save a lot of money in the long run.
At Temperature Control Specialties we are a proud partner of Trane Products including their line of gas furnaces. Many of which have an efficiency of up to 96% AFUE. Call us at (317) 247-7663 or visit our furnaces page for more information.