Getting The Most Out Of Your Furnace
A furnace is only as efficient as the duct system and home that it is connected to. You can buy a highly efficient condensing furnace for your home. Such a furnace will top out at about 98% efficient. Connecting an efficient furnace to an inefficient duct system can vastly decrease the overall performance of your system. Furthermore, if your home does not retain heat as well as it should, the performance of your heating system can be further compromised. In order to get the most from your furnace, you will need to maintain your ducts and the insulation in your home.
Problem Ducts
The pressure of the air rushing through ducts can put strain on the joints and seams of the ducts. These seams can fail, and the ducts will start to leak. Leaky ducts can reduce the efficiency of an HVAC system by up to 40%. Thus, if you start with a furnace that is 98% efficient, a leaky duct system can reduce your efficiency to 58%. If your furnace is already inefficient, your HVAC system can have an expensively low efficiency rating. Professional duct repair technicians can easily find and repair leaks to get your system back on track.
Windows Are a Weak Spot
Double-pane windows have an R-value of around 2. This is vastly lower than the R-value of insulation in the walls of your home. During the day, windows can allow in UV rays of the sun, which will help to heat up a home, but at night, windows can allow cold air from outside to seep in. In order to protect your home from low night-time temperatures, you can use thermal curtains. These curtains are designed with insulating properties, which will help to keep the cold out. Proper use of thermal curtains can reduce heat loss through windows by 46%. Thus, they can help to keep heating costs lower.
By maintaining your ducts, you can make sure that the heat from your furnace makes it to your home as efficiently as possible. While leaky ducts can have a devastating effect on your furnace's efficiency, even if heated air efficiently reaches your home, you can still have problems. As heat leaks out of your windows, your home cools, and your furnace has to work more often just to keep your home warm. In order to keep heating costs down, homeowners need to do their part to maintain the energy efficiency of your home. For more information, contact a local heating company, like Kook & Son Inc.