Residential Furnace - What and what not to purchase?

Once upon a time, when Winters came, all that man could arrange for his warmth was a fire set up made with wood and grass. But times don't remain the same. They change and so do the ways and means. Overtime man had learned to explore better resources in order to bring for himself more ease and comfort. With respect to the heating resources, the fireplace idea improved soon after the realisation of man that he can do better. After years and years, he was able to engineer what we know today as modern-day Residential Furnace. And it had taken a long way. Romans are said to have engineer Furnaces for the first time for residential and industrial use. The technology, evidently, was not as modern as it is today but nonetheless, in these days and nights of the second millennium, the man who had once relied on a direct contact with fire for the purpose of heating is now enjoying the miracles of the latest technology making use of the same fire differently in the form of Furnaces.

When you are on your hunt to purchase a Furnace for the first time or replace the one you had, you have to go through a vexing situation of not being able to decide what would work best for your home. Of course, you try to explore models that come in your budget range but fortunately as well as unfortunately, even the ones coming in that range of budget are of several different types. With no contact to an HVAC professional, decision making becomes even more difficult when you are grabbed by every single store owner and company pamphlets to purchase their product. So let us help you explore the different types of Furnaces and an overview of what can be the absolute choice for your home.    

• Natural Gas Furnace - Why purchase and why not?

Natural Gas Furnaces are one of the most energy-efficient heating systems available in the market. Using the ductwork system, the Furnace unit blows hot air towards different sections of the home. These Furnaces could be the best investment you would make if you have a ductwork installed and the area you belong to has proper access to natural gas. One of the reasons why Canadians love Natural Gas Furnaces is that they are quiet in operation, deliver heat evenly and are easy to maintain.

But hold on! Here's a suggestion for you. If you're residing at a place for only a limited time span and there's no ductwork installed, it is better that you go for some other heating methods and not a Furnace. That is because you'll need to install a whole ductwork by spending several hundred dollars additional and of course, won't take ductwork with you when you'll leave. Not economical at all! Also, before you make the Gas Furnace your choice, get yourself aware of the Natural Gas prices in your area. By choosing to run your appliance on a costly fuel, you'll choose to spend your hard earned money on fatty energy bills every month.

• Oil Furnace - Why purchase and why not?

Oil Furnace has been quite popular in America in the late 20th century. And that was because the prices of oil weren't' meeting the skies back then. The rise in the oil prices break the fall of the rising Oil Furnace usage and people turned to Gas and Electric Furnaces. But even today, Oil Furnaces are sold, however, they are among the costliest models in the market.

Although the fuel prices for this type of Furnaces are still high, these Furnaces are nonetheless the best solution for those living in areas of Natural Gas unavailability or areas where Natural Gas rates are relatively higher.

Go for Oil Furnaces if that's the fuel you'll be getting at cheaper rates and go for it if your budget flexibly allows you to purchase it.

• Electric Furnace - Why purchase and why not?

Just like the Gas Furnaces make use of Natural Gas as fuel, the Electric Furnaces utilise Electricity as fuel. The convincing reason to go for Electric is that the Electric Furnaces are the cheapest of types to purchase and install. However, the not so convincing reason for Electric Furnaces is that they bring home fatty energy bills particularly when Electricity rates are high. This type of Furnaces best suit people that have unavailability of Gas lines or Oil supply but have access to cheap electricity and those that live in moderate climates and make only a limited use of the Furnace.

So? What do you think would best suit your home? Gas, Oil or Electric Furnace?

Have any Furnace related questions? Connect with us today or anytime and get your confusions resolved and questions answered: 905 201-1293

Optimise your Air Ducts, here's how

There are chances that what is about to be said would be a shocking revelation for you or you could yourself be among those whose mention is going to be made here: There are homeowners that never explore Air Ducts can be optimised or that they can actually close the dampers partially when less heating/cooling is required, just like some homeowners never know how to optimise the Thermostat settings and continue to use them on a default setting throughout. Air Duct Optimization can help a great deal in creating a comfortable and balanced indoor temperature throughout the house and optimisation doesn't require much of a rocket science.

Here’s what you will need

Here's what you'll need in order to perform the Air Duct Optimization:

1. Tabletop Thermometers (as many as the rooms you need to optimise)

2. Permanent Marker

Here’s how to optimise?

In order to Optimise the Air Ducts in every room, start with one room. Let's say it is Summer and you wish to make the Optimisation for the cool air of the Air Conditioner. Open all the ducts and registers of the in use rooms. Next, turn the Air Conditioner ON and set the Thermostat to somewhere between 74 to 78 Fahrenheit. Let the rooms cool. After half an hour, check the Thermometer's reading, visit every room and partially close the dampers of the rooms that are excessively cold. Proper optimisation will take some time, a few days or maybe a week. Try this Damper tweaking until the desired temperature is achieved throughout the home. And yes, why did we have that permanent marker? Use the marker in order to mark the final handle position that you finalise for each damper.

Summer Tweaking vs Winter Tweaking

There's not much difference between the Summer and Winter Air Duct Optimisation. The only difference is that in Winters, the Furnace needs to be turned on with Thermostat temperature somewhere around 68 degrees Fahrenheit. When marking the handle positions, use 'S' for Summer, and ''W'' for Winters so that you could know which position was for which season since the damper settings would be different for Summers and different for Winters.

Why do Air Duct optimisation?

Alright so here begins the question answer session. Did you ask why is it important to do Air Duct Optimization? Okay, here's the answer:

A ductwork is used in order to circulate Air (cool/hot) throughout the home. Although the Duct network reaches every room, there are times when the conditioned Air that reaches to different parts of the home is not the same. Since a single Thermostat operates the Air Conditioner, one temperature is used for the whole home but as the flow of air is different for different parts, the temperature there is different too. This is the primary reason why many homeowners suffer from temperature difference throughout the home which is sometimes very disturbing. Optimisation of the Air Ducts is a very simple way to beat this problem. Although a careful and a little tough practice is required in the beginning, once the dampers are set, you too are all set to enjoy an even temperature throughout the home no matter what the season is.

Isn't it simple? And cool too? Your turn to try out!