The Condensing Furnace Vs. The Conventional Furnace

A new furnace can be a pricey purchase, and while you might be tempted to go with the cheapest furnace you can find, you will get more savings in the long run if you choose a condensing furnace instead of a conventional furnace. When you compare the design of a conventional furnace to a condensing furnace, you will see that the condensing furnace is designed to use fuel more efficiently and thus to help you save money. 

The Design of the Conventional Furnace

If you have a furnace in your home that is twenty or more years old, chances are that it uses a pilot light to ignite the fuel flowing into your burner. This pilot light is a constantly burning flame, and while a pilot light is small, it will consume fuel throughout the heating season. Modern conventional furnaces will trade the pilot light for an electronic ignition system, but even then, they will not be as efficient as they could be. The problem is that a conventional furnace uses a vent pipe to allow exhaust gases to escape from your home. In order for these gases to rise out of your home, your furnace has to leave heat in the gases. Thus, a conventional furnace will top out at an efficiency rating of around 80%.

The Design of a Condensing Furnace

Recognizing that a conventional furnace wastes fuel and contributes to higher costs for a homeowner, furnace designers have come up with a way to to extract more heat from exhaust gases while still keeping your home safe. A condensing furnace will employ a second heat exchanger to extract even more heat from the exhaust gases created when you burn fuel. In fact, so much heat is extracted that the gases convert to a liquid and must escape your furnace through a drain pipe. Thus, when you use a condensing furnace, you don't have a vent pipe, and you can reach efficiency levels of up to 98%. This means that as compared to a conventional furnace, a condensing furnace can save you up to $180 for every $1,000 that you spend on heating your home. 

If your furnace is nearing the end of its life, or you are building a new home, you need to make a careful choice about your new furnace. A condensing furnace will cost more initially than a conventional furnace, but you will end up saving more money if you go with the condensing furnace. 

To learn more, contact a furnace company like Comfy Cave Heating and Air.