Is your heating home system costing too much, or in poor condition? Are you planning on buying a new home? If you are, you are probably considering heating options. Due to Canada’s cold climate, as a homeowner, one of the most important projects you will undertake is choosing, changing or upgrading your heating systems. A smart heating decision can reduce costs and create a more comfortable environment for your home. Heating systems are used for a long length of time, therefore, it is worth taking the time to know and understand what you want for your situation. Make sure you thoroughly investigate all options.
Heating Concepts
All fuel burning systems lose heat because of transient operation, cold start-up, incomplete combustion, heat carried away in combustion gases and warm house air drawn up the chimney. The extent of these losses determines the efficiency of the furnace or boiler.
Steady-state efficiency measures the maximum efficiency the furnace achives after is has been running long enough to reach its peak level operating temperature. This is an important standardized testing procedure that is used by a service person to adjust the furnace, but the figure it gives is not the efficiency the furnace or boiler will achieve in actual use over the course of a heating season. This is much like the difference between the fuel consumption figures published for cards and the actual consumption of the car in day-to-day service.
Seasonal efficiency takes into consideration not only normal operating losses, but also the fact that most furnaces rarely run long enough to reach their steady-state efficiency temperature, particularly during milder weather at the beginning and end of the heating season. This figure, better known as Annual Fuel Utilizing Efficiency (AFUE), is useful to homeowners because it provides a good indication of how much annual heat costs will be reduced by improving existing equipment or by replacing it with a higher efficiency unit.
If you are heating with propane or natural gas or considering one, the more you understand the terminology associated with these systems, the better equipped you will be to make a good heating system choice.
ENERGY STAR® Qualified Gas Furnaces and Boilers
The international ENERGY STAR symbol is a simple way for you to identify at a glance product models that are among the most energy efficient on the market. Natural Resources Canada promotes and administers the ENERGY STAR symbol in Canada. Only gas furnaces and boilers that meet the higher energy efficiency performance levels of ENERGY STAR may carry the symbol.
For a gas furnace to meet energy star criteria, it must be a condensing unit with an AFUE of 90% of higher.
For a gas-fired boiler, the ENERGY STAR criteria is set at an AFUE of 85%. ENERGY STAR qualified boilers are not necessarily condensing models.
Replacing a 20-year-old furnace that has an AFUE of 60 to 65% can mean an annual energy savings of at least 30%.
Given that 60% of energy is required to run the average home is used for space heating, buying ENERGY STAR qualified products will not only save you money but help the environment. By improving the energy efficiency of your space heating, you reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and significantly help in achieving Canada’s climate change goals.
We have a fully licenced (BCIN) residential heating and cooling designer on staff.
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