Breaking Down How High Efficiency Furnaces Work

Breaking Down How High Efficiency Furnaces Work

Martino HVAC has been designing, installing and repairing heating and cooling systems in the GTA and Quinte Regions for 30 years. We have seen the evolution of home comfort systems and the way technology has improved performance, especially through high efficiency furnaces and their positive impact on our customers’ home comfort.

Furnaces are manufactured to last over a decade, which means that many of our customers haven’t been looking for a heating system replacement in the last 10 years. These customers are used to traditionally large, noisy and inefficient heating systems and are often unaware of the advancements high efficiency furnaces have made in the Heating Repair Service in Brighton (HVAC) industry.

Your furnace’s Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) rating is used to calculate the efficiency of heating equipment. Older units have an average AFUE rating between 50% – 70%. This means that as much as half of the fuel consumed by a furnace is exhausted as waste.

The Canadian government has mandated gas residential furnaces manufactured after 2009 have a minimum 90% AFUE rating. That increase in efficiency has been achieved through two improvements:

Secondary Heat Exchanger

The heat exchanger is the part of a furnace that actually heats the air. Burning gas passes through the exchanger heating up the metal, which warms the air blown throughout your home. Byproducts of the combustion and heating process are safely vented out of the home.

In high efficiency furnaces, there is a secondary heat exchanger. Gasses that were previously vented as waste are now run through an additional condensing process that creates usable heat.

Sealed Combustion

Another contributing factor to high efficiency furnaces is sealed combustion. In traditional heating systems, air that is to be warmed by the furnace is pulled from the house and is then replaced by cold outside air. With sealed combustion, there is a dedicated air intake pipe that draws outside air for the combustion process. This increases efficiency because it avoids using indoor air that you are already paying to heat for the combustion process.

Martino HVAC carries furnaces with a 98% AFUE rating that utilize these advancements. By replacing your outdated heating system with a new high efficiency furnace, you will drastically cut down on your monthly energy bills.

Contact us today to learn about the different furnaces we carry and to answer any questions you may have about your home comfort system.