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What to Look for When Considering a Gas Furnace

by | Nov 30, 2020 | Furnace Repair

What to Look for When Considering a Gas Furnace

Whether you are replacing the gas furnace in your home with a new one or buying a brand-new unit for a custom home you’re building from the ground up, knowing what to look for in your new appliance can save you a lot of money and headache in the long run. From gas furnace prices to furnace sizing to brand reputation and reliability, several important things go into selecting a new gas furnace. Here are five things to remember before you decide on which product to buy.

 

Your circumstances:

Natural gas furnaces are the best option available to most homeowners. However, your specific circumstances will dictate whether you are in this majority. Not all homes are hooked up to a natural gas line or even have access to one. If you live in a particularly remote rural area, you might not have the option for gas service. In that case, you’ll want to look at other furnace options, including electric, oil, and propane. Again, though, in most cases, natural gas will be your most viable option for a furnace.

The size:

Gas furnace prices are one of the first things anyone thinks about when they are shopping for a new furnace. However, while you should undoubtedly use price points as one of your comparisons between different units, you should not buy based on price alone. Other factors are more important, chief among them unit size and power. The heating output of all furnaces is measured in British Thermal Units (BTUs), which can, in turn, tell you whether a unit is powerful enough to heat your home adequately. Furnace sizing is arguably the single trickiest part of buying a new gas furnace, simply because most people don’t know enough about BTUs to tell whether a unit is oversized, undersized, or perfectly sized for their space. Furnace size, in turn, can impact everything from comfort to utility bills to appliance lifespan. Consulting with an HVAC contractor is an excellent way to make sure you appropriately size your new furnace to suit your home.

The brand reputation and product reception:

When in doubt, read gas furnace reviews. Once you know how big you need your gas furnace to be, do some research to find recent, popular furnace appliances with matching BTU output. Your HVAC contractor, of course, can give you some pointers on products or brands, too. However, most customers like to take some ownership of this process, and it’s good for everyone to get to know their furnace before they buy it. Reading reviews will tell you more about performance, reliability, operating cost, longevity, and more—all factors you’ll want to keep in mind when deciding which furnace to buy

The warranty:

Speaking of reliability and longevity, always make sure to check the warranty on a product before you buy it. Think of the guarantee as the manufacturer’s way of putting their money where their mouth is. A short-term warranty, many limitations or fine print, might be a sign of a less reliable appliance. A guarantee that lasts years and years, meanwhile, is akin to a warm blanket—a source of comfort and peace of mind that makes it that much easier to invest.

Energy efficiency:

One of the flaws in considering gas furnace prices as a deciding factor in your purchasing decision is that the sale price of a new furnace only tells part of the story. A furnace might cost less money upfront, but if it is also less efficient, you are going to eventually pay that savings back in the form of your monthly heating bills. A more efficient furnace, meanwhile, may carry a higher price tag, but could indeed save you money in the long run by costing less to run. The good news is that all furnaces are marked with energy efficiency ratings. Read our blog about the two common rating systems—Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) and Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER)—to learn more about how to compare the efficiency of different furnace units.

There are other factors you might consider, as well. For instance, if you’re installing a new furnace in an older home, it may be worth thinking about trading out your windows for more modern, energy-efficient alternatives, or checking the insulation around the house (especially around the ducts) to make sure you aren’t losing heat anywhere. If you are going to invest in a brand-new gas furnace, you deserve to know that it is working to the best of its ability. If you need more assistance picking out the right gas furnace for you, call your trusted HVAC contractor. They will be able to provide helpful pointers on comparing different units, picking out the most trusted brands, and much more.
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Who Invented the Gas Furnace? (Move to Archive)

by | Apr 22, 2019 | heat, Heating, HVAC

From the high-rise office tower to the tiny café on the corner, businesses of all shapes and sizes face many of the same needs. Of these, climate control is one of the most critical, especially in the winter when indoor heating is essential for occupant comfort. Across these diverse industries, the natural gas furnace is one of the most common solutions for on-demand central heating. Though we may take it for granted, commercial heating options as we know them today are the result of many centuries of innovation and the work of many. So, who invented the gas furnace that your business relies upon every winter? Let’s untangle the answer.

Tracing the Early History of Who Invented the Gas Furnace

who invented the gas furnaceThink about the typical furnace, and it doesn’t take much to see that there are many components that engineers needed to invent before the whole package could come together. The blower fan, the thermostat, the combustion chamber, and heat exchangers — no one person created all these items at once and put them together. Although a great deal of work on centralized indoor heating took place over hundreds of years, most of the advances that led to the development of the gas furnaces used by companies today took place in the 19th and 20th centuries.

One of the first systems that we would recognize as central heating, and which played an essential role in pushing the field forward, was found in the Massachusetts Medical College. A type of “gravity furnace,” air from outside was pulled into a furnace burning coal, and the warm air allowed to rise naturally through pipes into the rooms of the building. Perhaps the earliest commercial furnace, these types of installations proliferated through the 19th century. Until the advent of electricity, there was no reliable way to blow the air throughout a structure.

By the 20th century, natural gas supply lines were more widespread, and more businesses relied on gas to power furnaces. It wasn’t until groundwork laid by patents held by a woman named Alice Parker, however, that the next generation of commercial heating technology would emerge. Parker is most commonly given as the person who invented the gas furnace since her designs brought together all the main elements: an electric blower, ducting throughout the structure, and a gas-fired furnace.

This concept ultimately led to the implementation of the first blower-driven commercial furnaces in the 1930s, although they would not become widespread until the postwar economic boom. It would take some time before these technologies entered the residential market. Large-scale indoor heating was, for most of its early history, geared towards commercial operators.

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The Development of Commercial Heating as We Know It Today

The basic design of the gas furnace has not changed much in the intervening years. However, that does not mean the industry is stagnant; far from it. Commercial HVAC users face a multitude of interlinked concerns, from how to make a business more environmentally friendly to driving down expenditures on energy. Heating costs can represent a large chunk of a company’s basic expenses, and the industry continually strives to identify new ways to make existing technologies more efficient. Since the gas furnace’s invention, some of the most significant advances have included:

  • The electric pilot light. Pilot lights in older furnaces were small, ever-present flames used to ignite the main combustion chamber. They were prone to problems and required a constant flow of gas. Today, electronically-generated sparks controlled by the thermostat replace this outmoded technology.
  • Variable speed motors. With more heating zones in larger commercial buildings, the ability to vary the temperature to match different requirements is essential. Motors that can vary in speed can help to fine-tune temperatures across a large building.
  • High efficiencies. A well-maintained commercial furnace can achieve efficiencies better than 90%, ensuring a better return on your equipment investment. The generally lower cost of natural gas versus electricity makes it an especially appealing choice for businesses with consistent heating needs.

The major furnace manufacturers continue to push the technology further, too, with more advances in efficiency and operational design yet to hit the market.

Looking Towards the Future of Commercial Heating

The furnace has a storied history, from the earliest ideas about forced air heating to the development of modern, ultra-efficient units suitable for even the largest commercial buildings. It should be easy to see that the question of who invented the gas furnace has no singular answer — it is the cumulative effort of many scientists, engineers, and inventors over the years. If you think it’s time for your business to consider a furnace replacement or upgrade, choose a trusted HVAC contractor in your area and seek to take advantage of the latest developments.