Finally turned on the furnace a few days ago - it was in the mid 30s overnight - I can never make it to November 1st without turning it on.
Our old furnance stopped working between Christmas and New Years two years ago. The weather was well below zero and it was difficult to get someone to replace our furnace because of the holiday and weather. They were also dealing with burst pipes. Oh how I remember that time. We bought several infer-red heaters to try and survive, quite literally. Businesses were telling us they were dealing with emergencies. How we were not an emergency, I do not know!!
So our new furnace is high efficient ( 95%?) in our over 100 year old house. We use much less fuel now and it is also, obviously, costing less. However, it is much noisier and the blower is stronger. We had to replace fire detectors to more modern ones because our new furnace caused the old ones to go off. Always in the middle of the nigh!!
We replaced all the old windows on our second floor years ago. Now we have replaced our furnace. And we replaced all old light bulbs. It has all made quite a difference to our usage and our wallet!
It depends where you live. Gas is very cheap these days, but I would expect prices to rise over time. The low efficiecy unit will cost about 18% less to run. Run the numbers against your current bill to see if it makes sense (be sure to subtract your gas usage from warm months average x 12 which indicate your monthly stove and water heater use). Try to get a model from one of the name brands (Bryant, Carrier, Trane, etc) with a variable speed DC fan for best reliability and comfort.
Unless you live in an extremely cold environment or have a leaky house it is unlikely that you will save enough to make a 95%+ unit payback at current rates for 10 or more years.
@Madison85, I hope you also bump up the heat past 63 when you have company. I’d be shivering in your house! I grew up in a home where the thermostat was always at 72 (and oil was cheap, I guess) and feel like I’ve made a huge adjustment by keeping our house at 68 degrees (the generally recommended temperature) all winter. I’m really uncomfortable when I’m visiting someone who likes a colder house. I think we get acclimated to our own environments and don’t realize when someone else might be too hot or too cold. (We have central air conditioning, and I vividly recall one very hot and humid day when we visited friends who had no air conditioning at all. They were used to it and were perfectly at ease, while the sweat just poured off us as we desperately gulped cold drinks the whole time.) For guests, I think being flexible on the thermostat is part of being hospitable.
We don’t have A/C and the best we can (and do) offer is open windows and screen doors throughout the house (which work pretty well as long as our trade winds are blowing as usual), a vorando electric fan and cold beverages. If they need A/C, sorry, we simply don’t have it but are comfortable. Our home tends to be 70s-80s mist of the year.
Yes, I do bump it up for family gatherings @mommaj . Though I have also visited friends who have central air but who don’t turn it on unless it’s over 85 degrees inside. I can’t stand hot humid days and splurge on setting my air conditioning at 75 in summer.
We just accepted a proposal on replacing our 39 year old gas forced air heater and 14 year old central AC. We ended up going with an 80% efficiency heater and 14 Seer AC (our existing heater is functionally about 60% and the AC is 10 Seer). After speaking to several contractors, we decided to keep things simple including a 1 stage burner and single speed fan. Our reasons for going this route instead of high efficiency units eith 2 stage burners and a varisble speed fan were as follows.
First, there was the issue of our ductwork. Given its dimensions and configuration, a dual stage burner with a variable speed fan would be of little practical effect. The primary purpose of this technology is to allow the system to start delivering warm air before full operating temperature is reached. It was explained us, however, that because of our ductwork, the system would not be able to effectively deliver warm air upon initial start up relying upon the first stage of the burner operation and at the lower fan speed. We would not get sufficient delivery of warm air to various areas of our house until the second stage and higher fan speeds kicked in. Then there was the question of repairs down the road. It was explained to us that there are many more controls and parts to break and replace with the high efficiency units and that the prices are ususlly higher than with the 80% units. In particular, the cost of a variable speed fan motor alone is about $500-600 before labor costs. Then there was the question of the routing of the through the wall venting which raised some concerns since our basement, where the heater room is located, is used as a fitness training studio and running the venting along the ceiling could encroach on headroom when tall clients were on certain machines.
So, before shelling out additional dollars for a high efficiency unit, make sure your house will really benefit from it given the capacities and routing of your ductwork.
“39 year old gas forced air heater…” RIP, Grandpa Heater. 