Green Remodel Forum

Winter is coming. I sure don't want my furnace to break down in the middle of the winter. How do I know when is time for a new furnace?

Have you had your furnace serviced lately by a qualified technician. Sometimes they can simply tune up your system so that you don't have to cough up the money for the new system. Also a programmable thermostat can not only save you money, but it can also help increase the longevity of your system!

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I have a programmable thermostat. I just haven't had a service on the furnace for a long time and it is 30 years old. I guess I can start looking so that I know what to get when my furnace dies.

If your furnace is over 10 years old and not keeping you comfortable. You should have a HVAC contractor take a look at your system. If it needs to be replaced, have an Energy Star rated high efficiency system installed. It can save you 20% of the heating and cooling costs.

Before you spend money on a new system, be sure to check and seal duct leaks first. Also seal the air leaks around the house, such as joints at the walls and ceilings, walls and crawl space, where two walls join. Also, look under the sinks in kitchen and bathrooms to see if any holes where water pipes coming through the walls are well covered. Otherwise the heat just keep leaking outside and you are burning your money. After sealing all the ducts, cracks and plugging up the holes you may only need a smaller heating system. By doing that you can save 20-35% of heating costs and your house is much more comfortable.

My house is cold most of the time. When the furnace is on the comfortable level is fine. Once the furnace stops running the house gets cold again. If I get up before the furnace turned on in the morning my house can get to 50 degree with the furnace off all night. It does not make sense my house gets so cold overnight while outside is only 32 degree.

It sounds like the heat in your house is escaping. You can go to the hardware store and get a weather-stripping kit. Follow the instructions and do it yourself. It should help. If you like the temperature more comfortable in the house, you may need to call a home performance contractor for an assessment. They may need to do some air sealing and install insulation to the house.

What is a home performance contractor? What does he do? Are home performance contractor and general contractor the same? What do you mean by "assessment"?

A home performance contractor is a home performance professional who does testing on energy efficiency in homes. he uses blower door and infrared camera going around the house to detect air leakage. After the assessment, he provides homeowners with information about the energy efficiency of their homes and provide evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of options to achieve energy efficiency. There are rebates offered by PG&E from $1000 - $4000. For Energy Upgrade California rebate the contractor needs to be BPI certified and he will do all the rebate paper work for you. For more info.https://energyupgradeca.org/statewide_tour_page0

As with all of the appliances in our home, sometimes it is often much cheaper and economical to replace the fixture than fix it. A qualified technician will be able to give you a proper assessment of your unit. One thing to note, is that the new unit will more than likely be much more efficient than your old unit.