Heating / Furnaces Installation

Here are some signs that it’s time to replace your furnace.

Your furnace has reached “retirement age”

Furnaces live an average of 10-20 years, depending on if you had it professionally maintained or not. Age isn’t everything, though. The cost to keep the furnace running will give you more concrete reasons to replace or not.

Increased cost and frequency of furnace repairs

Like an old car, an old furnace that starts to have costly breakdowns is signaling that it’s near the end of its usable life and needs to be replaced soon (within the next 2 years or so). The question then becomes, “How expensive does a furnace repair need to be before it’s not worth it?” It depends on how old your furnace is and the cost to get a new furnace. A good rule of thumb is, no matter the age of the furnace, if the cost to repair is 40-50% of the cost of a new furnace, you should replace it. But for less expensive repairs, you should be less resistant to replacing the furnace the older it is. So if the furnace is 15-20 years old, and the cost to repair the furnace is only 10% of the cost of a new furnace, you should probably replace it (because it’s more likely to break down again soon).

Your heating bills have risen dramatically over the years

Even if your furnace has a few years left in it, it may not be cost efficient to keep it if your energy bills during the heating season are high due to the furnace’s horrible efficiency. With that in mind, you need to assess how much it’s costing you just to keep the current furnace you have versus how much you’ll save with a new furnace. Use this AFUE chart to do just that.

AFUE is a gas furnace’s efficiency rating, represented in a percentage. It stands for how much of the gas it uses to heat your home. So an 80% AFUE furnace uses 80% of the fuel to heat your home, the rest goes up the flue pipe—wasted. That means for every dollar you use to heat your home, 20 cents is wasted. This chart will show you how much you’ll save for every $100 you normally spend on heating by upgrading to a higher efficiency furnace. So if you’re upgrading from a 60% AFUE furnace to a super efficient 90% AFUE furnace, you’re saving $33.33 for every $100 you normally spend on heating. Find your last year’s heating bills and do the math. It’ll be crystal see how much you’ll save each year. The savings from a higher energy efficiency furnace may motivate you to replace your current furnace earlier than you expect.

The rooms throughout your home are different temperatures.

As a furnace gets older, it can become more and more inefficient until it loses the ability to distribute heat evenly throughout the house. As a result, some rooms can be colder than others.

Your home has soot around the registers.

A furnace register is a ventilation duct cover that can be opened and closed. Although the terms “register” and “grille” are used interchangeably, registers differ from furnace grilles due to possessing dampers which allow them to control the airflow within a duct. If you find soot (or dust/rust) around these areas within your home, then it means that your furnace has too much CO2. Difficulty keeping a clean house aside, this can cause excessive dryness which can damage furniture, flooring and plants. It can also cause itchy throats, dry eyes, as well as respiratory issues when inhaled. If you ever see a build-up of soot near your registers, it’s probably time to get a replacement.

Your furnace is extra noisy.

Furnaces can be kind of noisy, but if that noise gets louder over time, then you may want to consider a replacement. Possible telltale signs can come in the form of:

• Rattling: This can indicate unsecured ductwork, loose screws, sheet metal, or even the lower furnace motor not being properly balanced.

• Popping: This happens when parts inside of your furnace heat and cool in response to temperature changes.

• Humming: Your fan motor is probably going to make a bit of noise, but if it’s to the point of disruption, you might need a furnace blower motor replacement.

• Screeching/Squealing: If you hear these noises, you should probably assume your blower motor or inducer is damaged or worn out. It could also be caused by a loose bearing, deteriorating belt, or an issue with the pulley holding the belt.

Weigh the factors together

As you can see, none of these factors (age, cost to repair, energy efficiency) alone can tell you if you need to replace your furnace. They should be weighed together. To help you make the best choice possible, we encourage you to contact us and PHD Heating & Cooling will help you.

Call us today at (312) 409-33-26 or contact us online to schedule a visit with one of our specialist.