Don’t Get “Burned” by Your New Furnace: What to Consider When Choosing and Installing a New Furnace in Your Vacaville Home

new furnaceIt’s been a chilly and wet winter so far–and it seems that’s the trend for January as well!  We may not often need them, but we’re always glad to have the furnace running when the weather gets like it has lately. But it’s frustrating when an old furnace costs more and more to repair and run every year. Those costs add up, and as a result many homeowners opt to upgrade to a new furnace. Upgrading to a new furnace can be a great decision, but there are a few key things to keep in mind to ensure your new unit brings you comfort for many winters to come.

Finding the Right New Furnace for You

Most new furnaces are more efficient in terms of energy than those of decades past, and if you’ve been living with an older model prepare yourself for a much better experience! New furnaces work better, cost less to operate, and give cleaner emissions than almost anything from a few years ago–and that’s just the basic models.

If your old model was a gas furnace, you’ll want to make a decision–electric or gas–when choosing the new one. The current trend in the country is towards giving up gas for electric, but gas is almost always cheaper to operate–especially here in our region. The trade-off is emissions, leaving you with a tough call and benefits on both sides. It’s good to get the right contractor involved at this stage–they’ll help you make an informed decision.

You may be tempted to go with a bigger furnace than needed out of fear of being stuck with an undersized furnace that doesn’t perform well. But that can cause problems too–lost energy efficiency and too-small ducts being two common ones. And in the end it’s also not necessary–it’s better to work with a good HVAC contractor to size the right furnace for your home.

Cost can be an issue, and we’ll not beat around the bush–furnaces of all kinds tend not to be cheap. There will be a real urge on your part to end up with a system that’s more affordable than others, and there will always be something more or less expensive than the model you end up with. It’s important to listen to your gut and watch your pocketbook. That said, beware of going too cheap: sub-par furnaces require more maintenance and repair, cost more to run, and have shorter lifespans than quality options. If you have a contractor you trust and you both can come to an agreement on a system that you’re happy with and they’re happy installing, then that’s the system for you!

Installation–The Most Important Step

Buying the system is the prelude to the most important step in a furnace’s life: the installation. A good installation will be done right and problem-free; a bad installation sets you and your furnace up for failure for years to come. If there’s one place in your HVAC budget that you decide to skimp, don’t make it the installation! If you do, you’ll be paying for it (literally) for a decade or more.

In addition to putting everything in the right place and fitting the furnace into the grand scheme of the HVAC plan, the job of the installer is to make sure that the manufacturer’s warranty isn’t violated when the system is put in. As we’ve recently discussed, the manufacturer of a furnace will almost never honor their warranty if the equipment wasn’t put in by a licensed, insured HVAC contractor.

Such a contractor will also have a good installer’s warranty–which covers the installation itself and makes sure you’re not paying if they put anything together wrong or made any mistakes. We at Bell Brothers have a seriously good warranty when it comes to installs, although we fortunately very rarely see it used! If your furnace install is done right, you’ll be comfortable and warm this winter. And that’s how we like our clients: comfy in their own homes. So find out how we can help you find and install the right furnace for you!