3 Things You Should Know About Your Gas Furnace

September 09, 2024

Thinking about buying a new heating system? Well, if it’s been 15 years or so since your last such purpose, you’ll be at least mildly amazed over the wider range of choices you have today, not to mention how much technology has advanced during the intervening years.

Still, and once all factors are analyzed, the majority of home owners opt for safe, reliable, and affordable natural gas heat. If that sounded like a plug for the gas company, we didn’t mean it to. We’re simply sharing what we believe to be the best choice for your home heating dollar.

Here are three factors we share with our customers that support that view.

#1. New gas furnaces are designed for optimum safety.

While no type of home heating system is 100% fail safe, today’s gas furnaces are made to the highest standard of personal and household safety. Two such features are limit switches and gas shut-off valves. The primary role of the limit switch is to turn the blower fan on and off, but it also turns off the furnace if and when the air supply in the plenum gets too hot. That, in turn, helps prevent overheating. As for the gas shut-off valve, it’s designed to shut your furnace down if it senses even the smallest of gas leaks. And these are just two of the built-in safety features of today’s modern gas furnaces.

#2. Electricity is required to run your gas furnace.

If that’s the case, you might ask, then why not just switch from gas to electric heat? Fair question, but the amount of electricity needed to operate your gas furnace pales in comparison to the amount used by an electric heating system. The electricity needed to run a gas furnace is for components like the blower motor, which distributes heat throughout your home, and the electronic ignition system which is a safer and more energy-efficient alternative to pilot lights. All in all, you’ll pay considerably less to operate a gas vs. an electric heating system.

#3. Hire someone you know and trust to design and install your new gas furnace.

Here at Conway, when we replace one gas furnace for another, the one we’re replacing is frequently over-sized. Furnaces, by the way, can also be under-sized. But only with proper, accurate sizing can you depend on getting full value for your investment. Under-sized furnaces, for example, have to work overtime to provide all the heat needed, and that will most surely lead to a shorter-than-expected lifespan. Over-sized furnaces, on the other hand, cycle on and off much more frequently than a right-sized system, also piling up the kind of wear and tear that leads to repair problems down the road and a reduced shelf life.

Finally, and no matter what type of heating system you have or are planning to buy, it needs annual preventative maintenance by a qualified home heating professional to run as efficiently and safely as possible. If it’s been a year or more since your heating system was last professionally serviced, we invite you to contact Conway Services today for a quick response and highly dependable results.