When you settle in for a night of camping by the fire at Babler State park, it’s pretty easy to throw another log in the fire when things start to get too cold. After all, a bigger fire (within reason) is better, right? Unfortunately, the same process is not true when it comes to the furnace you rely on to keep your Webster Groves, University City, Kirkwood, Ladue, Richmond Heights, or Creve Coeur home comfortable throughout the winter.
A furnace or boiler that is not properly sized for the square footage and heating load of your home will greatly reduce the efficiency of your heating system, resulting in lower comfort and higher heating costs. Here are the signs you can look out for that will indicate your furnace might be too large or too small for your home.
For many Missourians, 2020 has been the year of learning to work from home, teach from home, and do just about everything else from home. Has this extra time in your house led to gaining a deeper understanding of how your furnace operates daily? If you have noticed your furnace seems to turn on and then off again at a rapid pace, your heating system (and your energy bills) are suffering from what is called short cycling.
A furnace or boiler that is too big will send a large volume of warm air all at once, quickly heating up the rooms in your home. Once the desired temperature on your thermostat has been reached, the furnace shuts off again, until enough heat escapes your living space (usually through poor insulation in the attic). The process will repeat itself, causing wear and tear on the furnace starting mechanisms which can lead to unexpected heating emergencies, and an increased need for furnace repair.
If your heating system is too small, it will undoubtedly struggle to keep up with the heating load of your home. This will result in rooms that won’t seem to warm up, as well as high heating costs that last throughout the entire heating season as your furnace cannot produce enough heat to reach the temperature on the thermostat.
If you haven’t noticed any of these signs of an improperly sized furnace, take a look at your heating costs. Are they much higher than they were last year, or in years past? Even if your furnace is able to keep up with your heating needs, sizing issues could be costing you more than necessary!
As the heating and cooling contractor St. Louis homeowners trust to get the job done right the first time, we utilize the best in building science processes to properly size the HVAC systems our customers need to stay warm, and spend less on their heating bills. Using a Manual J load calculation, we will determine the exact heating load of your home, and then size your furnace replacement accordingly! Plus, through other home performance upgrades like insulation and air sealing, we can ensure your home is not undermining the efficiency of your new heating equipment.
