Is It Time to Replace Your Heating System?

ENERGY STAR recommends replacing a furnace or boiler that’s more than 15 years old (or a heat pump that’s more than 10 years old) with a new, high-efficiency unit.

Here are some other clues that it’s time to look for a new heating system:

• Your heating bills are going up because the system is using more energy than in past years.
• The equipment needs to be repaired frequently – often for a different reason each time.
• Some of the rooms in your house are too hot or too cold, no matter how you adjust the ducts.
• The system just doesn’t seem to be working properly, even after a recent service call.
• The air in your home is exceptionally dry during the heating months.

Unfortunately, often you can’t see what causes a heating system to waste energy. Beyond obvious clues such as a sagging duct that blows heated air into the basement, a noisy fan motor in a furnace or a leaking water line on a boiler, most of the energy-wasting problems will be hidden from view.

MAKE A RESPONSIBLE, LONG-TERM CHOICE

A new heating system is one of the largest investments you’ll make in your home, and it’s one of the few that actually could pay for itself over a period of several years. In fact, now may be the perfect time to significantly reduce your family’s reliance on conventional energy sources by installing a more efficient heating (and cooling) system.

• Air-to-air heat pump can deliver up to three units of heating (or cooling energy) for every unit of electric energy it consumes – except in very cold weather, when a backup resistance heating system must supplement the heat pump’s output.
• Geothermal heat pump (sometimes referred to as a “ground-source” heat pump), can give you up to four units of heating (or cooling) energy for every unit of electrical energy spent.
• Passive solar sunspace significantly can reduce annual heating costs (compared to a similar house without passive solar heat) – as well as allowing you to install a smaller conventional heating system as a backup for overcast days.

It’s worth your time to research all the possibilities and “run the numbers” to determine what equipment makes the most sense for your situation today – and many years into the future.