The freezing Colorado winters make it essential that you have a furnace that can heat your home effectively. They also mean that you’re usually looking at spending around $1,000 at the very least to heat your home each winter. That’s part of the reason why you should always focus on energy-efficiency ratings when deciding which furnace to install in your home.

Conventional vs. High-efficiency Furnaces

Conventional furnaces are considered medium-efficiency units and waste around 15% to 20% of the energy that they consume because the furnace’s heat exchanger can’t capture all of the heat contained in the combustion fumes that are produced by the gas burners.

High-efficiency condensing furnaces also waste some energy but can effectively use at least 90% of the energy that they use. The very best units are up to 98.5% efficient, meaning that they only waste 1.5% of the energy they use.

Condensing furnaces are more efficient and waste less energy because they have a secondary heat exchanger in addition to the primary exchanger. The primary heat exchanger in a condensing furnace typically doesn’t capture all that much more heat than the exchanger in a conventional furnace. However, the combustion fumes then flow through the secondary heat exchanger, which captures most of the remaining heat before the fumes are finally vented outside through the exhaust flue.

In fact, the secondary heat exchanger captures so much of the remaining heat that the fumes are essentially cold when they flow outside. This is why condensing furnaces have a PVC exhaust pipe. Conventional furnaces must always have a metal exhaust pipe since the fumes remain hot enough that they would cause a PVC pipe to melt.

The combustion fumes produced by a gas furnace only consist of carbon dioxide and water vapor. Carbon monoxide can sometimes also be produced if any issues with the furnace result in the gas not fully combusting. The term “condensing furnace” refers to the fact that so much heat is captured from the fumes that most of the water vapor ends up condensing into liquid before the fumes flow into the flue.

This is why condensing furnaces have a drain pan and PVC drain pipes that collect all of the water and allow it to drain away from the furnace. The drain pipes normally lead directly to a floor drain near the furnace, but some furnaces are instead set up so that the water drains directly outside. This is especially common in buildings without a basement or crawl space where the furnace is usually installed in the attic.

The other difference between conventional and condensing furnaces is how they draw in the air needed to supply the burner flames with oxygen. Both units have a draft inducer fan that creates negative pressure in the exhaust flue so that the combustion fumes always get drawn outside.

The negative pressure in the flue results in positive pressure in the combustion chamber that pulls air in to supply oxygen to the flames. In a conventional furnace, the inducer simply draws air in from the house. Condensing furnaces instead have a PVC air intake pipe that runs from the furnace outside so that the inducer draws in outdoor air.

How Much Can You Save With a High-Efficiency Furnace?

There is no doubt that any high-efficiency condensing furnace will allow you to heat your home for less than you’d pay if you had a conventional furnace. Exactly how much you can save per year with a high-efficiency furnace depends on where you live as well as the size of the furnace and how energy efficient it is.

In the Littleton area, you’ll typically save somewhere between $150 and $300 a year if you have a 90% efficient condensing furnace compared to an 80% efficient conventional furnace. If you instead choose a 98% efficient condensing furnace, you’re potentially looking at savings of $300 to $500 per year. If you calculate the total savings over the average 15-year lifespan of a furnace, a high-efficiency unit can save you so much that it basically ends up paying for itself.

Part of the reason a condensing furnace can save you money is obviously just that it wastes less energy. They also make better use of the heat that they produce.

How a High-Efficiency Furnace Can Prevent Your Home From Being As Dry

The air in winter is generally always quite a bit drier than the air in summer, and this is simply because colder air can’t hold nearly as much moisture as warmer air.

Many people also believe that their home always feels so dry during the winter because their furnace essentially saps moisture out of the air as it runs, but this is mostly a myth. The only way to remove moisture from air is to cool the air until it reaches its dew point so that the moisture condenses into water. Simply heating air has no effect on its moisture content no matter how hot the air gets.

However, conventional furnaces do tend to contribute to issues with dry indoor air, just not for the reason you might think. The real reason a conventional furnace can cause the air inside a house to dry out is because its inducer continually draws indoor air into the combustion chamber. As the inducer draws air in, it creates an air pressure imbalance between the inside of the outside., so you end up with negative air pressure inside, which causes air from outside to get pulled into the house through gaps in the building’s exterior.

The result is that you end up with the moister indoor air getting drawn outside through the flue and being replaced with air from outside that is much drier, causing the humidity level inside the house to continually drop whenever the furnace is running. Condensing furnaces overcome this issue by pulling outdoor air into the furnace and then venting it straight back outside. As a result, the furnace doesn’t create negative air pressure, and you don’t end up with cold, dry outdoor air getting pulled into your living spaces.

The team at Simply Mechanical is dedicated to providing reliable, trustworthy heating and air conditioning services to customers in Littleton and the surrounding areas. Our NATE-certified technicians have years of experience in furnace installation and will work with you to make sure that you get the best heating option for your home.

As an American Standard Customer Care Dealer, we offer a range of options that are sure to suit every home and every budget. If you’re having any issues with your furnace or AC, you can also turn to us for your repair and maintenance needs no matter what make and model your unit is. For more information on the benefits of high-efficiency furnaces or to get help with choosing which new furnace to install, contact us today. Ask us about our club membership for benefits like appointments within 48 hours, complementary precision tune-ups, and discounts on services!

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