High Efficiency Furnace - a good investment

You need a high efficiency furnace if you're still making do with an old relic from 20 or 30 years. That's the conclusion that I came to with my house.

One of the first major upgrades for my home was a new furnace. At about $3,000 it was a major investment, but one I knew was going to pay off in the long run. If your furnace is in the 50% to 65% efficiency range, you should seriously consider replacing it with a 86%, 92% or 96% efficient furnace.

Depending on your gas consumption and the price of gas, you could easily save many hundreds of dollars each year. That makes your break even point somewhere between 5 and 10 years, but there are other more immediate benefits:

• The value of your home will be increased with a more efficient furnace, so you have upped the resale value.

• If you have two older furnaces for a larger house, a new furnace gives you an opportunity to combine ductwork and reclaim the space consumed by the second furnace.

• New features can be added to a modern furnace that might not be available with your current unit. Features like special air filters and humidifiers.

The only other big choice will be whether you're interested in air conditioning with that new furnace. With our mild summers and dry climate here in Wyoming, I opted to go without air conditioning. There are other ways to stay cool.

Done with High Efficiency Furnace, back to Ways to Save Energy