Efficiency... who cares ??
A large percentage of a home’s energy bills are attributed to the central heating and cooling costs. One way most people never consider to save money on their energy bills is the efficiency of their central heating and cooling system. Energy-efficient equipment can lower your energy bills far more than most customers think. Taking a few minutes to understand efficiency ratings for your furnace and air conditioner can help you make wise decisions and potentially put some cash back in your pocket.
We’ll start on furnaces. AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) measures a gas furnace's efficiency in converting fuel to heat. A furnace that has an 85% AFUE rating turns 85 percent of the energy it uses into heat. The other 15% is “lost” during the heating process. A higher AFUE rating obviously means a more efficient system.
The minimum AFUE for newer furnaces is 78%. A middle of the road furnace usually has an AFUE rating between 80 and 85 percent. A high-efficiency unit has a rating between 90 and 97 percent.
Next we’ll cover Air Conditioners. SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating is the ratio of the cooling output of an air conditioner over a summer, divided by the energy it used in Watt-Hours.
Modern air conditioners have a SEER value ranging from 13 -25 SEER. The higher the SEER, the less electricity your air conditioner or heat pump needs to cool your home. Here is a link to a calculator that you can customize to get an idea of the savings you can expect by moving to a more efficient system. https://www.lennox.com/buyers-guide/tools/energy-savings-calculator
Upgrading to high-efficiency units requires an initial investment, the investment will pay itself off multiple times over the life of your unit.
For assistance in choosing your next central heating and cooling system or to schedule a service appointment for your current system please contact our office at Alpine Heating & Cooling via one of the below methods.
