Efficiency is one of the big words in today’s consumer products. People are always looking for appliances and vehicles and other devices with improved energy efficiency. Government labels like ENERGY STAR make it easier than ever for customers to find appliances that meet the standards for efficient operation.
Because a large amount of the energy consumed in your house during the winter goes to your gas furnace, finding one with a high efficiency rating can mean a significant difference in your utility bills. Older furnaces have AFUE ratings between 60% and 80% (meaning they lose about 20% to 40% of their fuel source to exhaust). New special efficiency furnaces have AFUE ratings of more than 90%. These high-efficiency furnaces cost more than mid-efficiency models, but they often pay for themselves in a few years.
You may have heard that a natural gas furnace, although one of the most powerful and reliable ways to provide heat to a home, has a major drawback—it dries out the air in a house. Since dry air during cold weather makes low temperatures feel worse, this can be a big issue. At least it is if there’s any truth to it. So … is there?
The recent intense cold that tore through New Jersey probably has made a lot of homeowners evaluate their heating systems. What if those heating systems had broken during an intense chill?
Some day in the future, all furnaces will come equipped with precision self-diagnosing computer systems that will immediately diagnose operational issues and alert their owners to the exact problem and then send a request to a professional to service it. We’re not quite there yet—but your furnace does have ways to inform you when something isn’t right, such as higher heating bills, poorer comfort, or strange sounds.
It’s October, and maybe you’re having spooky thoughts about parts of your house during the evenings. If you have a gas furnace in the basement, you might be a bit startled at the sounds it makes as it comes on if you’re wandering in the depths of the house at night. But is that gas furnace an actual danger? Not just a noise in the night, but something that could turn into a combustion hazard or allow for the leak of toxic gases?
April may bring showers, but it’s also a time when the annual climate starts the ascent toward staying warm through the summer. Good news in most ways—but unfortunately one way it isn’t good is that it makes it more likely for homeowners to ignore a malfunctioning gas furnace. When people know they soon won’t need the furnace running for a long stretch, they might shrug off what looks like small malfunctions. Those can wait until the fall, can’t they?
As winter winds down, homeowners often evaluate the performance of their home heating systems. Is it time to retire that old furnace that can’t seem to keep up? If it is, what type of furnace should replace it?
Welcome to March! The month when winter officially ends. But the weather never obeys any “official” dates, and we can still expect chilly weather to come our way. You’re home 
