Contrary to common sense, installing a furnace that is designed for a home larger than yours is not a good idea. While it seems that an oversized furnace would give you a warm home quicker and provide energy-efficient furnace downtime, the unfortunate truth is that it delivers quite the opposite.
For starters, if your oversized furnace is quickly heating your home, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Although a too-large furnace will heat quicker, it often won’t heat all the areas of the home evenly, resulting in some rooms being too hot while others will still struggle to attain the desired temperature.
If the idea of saving energy is another reason for buying too large, that’s probably not going to happen either. The least energy-efficient part of a furnace’s running time are the starting-up warming cycle. And because an oversized furnace cycles on and off much more often than properly sized units, the majority of the running time will be spent in the least energy-efficient mode. This will result in higher energy bills compared to a correctly sized furnace heating the same home.
Also, these frequent stops and starts – also called “short cycling” – will contribute to more wear and tear on furnace components, especially the blower motor and fan, resulting in more frequent repairs. In addition the higher repair costs, short cycling can significantly shorten the service life of the furnace, resulting in having to replace it sooner than anticipated.
It’s important to have a furnace that’s been designed for your home’s size, layout and many other unique characteristics. It will run more continuously, providing even, more comfortable heating, less wear and tear on components, and improved humidity control and air filtration.
Your HVAC professional is an excellent resource for advice and guidance prior to investing in a new heating system for your Dayton area home.
For additional information about what size furnace would be best in your home, or any other HVAC or home comfort issues, please contact us at Ace Hardware Home Services, Inc. We are a family-owned and operated business, proudly serving the Dayton and Springfield areas since 1978.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Dayton, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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