Installing A New Furnace Requires Professional Expertise
Installing a new furnace in accordance with the U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergyStar guidelines is the best way to ensure you get your money’s worth in both efficiency and comfort. Furnace manufacturers make precise claims about performance. Some of these may have figured prominently into your decision to purchase a particular make and model. However, manufacturer’s performance and efficiency specs rely heavily on proper installation by HVAC professionals with the training and expertise to do the job right. If this crucial first step isn’t completed properly, efficiency losses of up to 30 percent may persist until the problem’s identified and corrected.
Here are three basic tenets of installing a new furnace right from the very start.
- Correct sizing – Your HVAC contractor will match the furnace capacity to your home’s heating requirements using Manual J, the accepted standard for precision sizing. A unit that’s too small will fail to deliver sufficient heat and run excessively to meet thermostat settings. An oversized furnace will cycle on and off frequently, accelerating wear and tear on furnace components and heating inconsistently.
- Duct sealing – Connecting a new high-efficiency furnace to aging, deteriorated ductwork is false economy. Ductwork in homes more than 10 years old has likely begun to leak at joints and seams, losing as much as 20 percent of conditioned air. An HVAC professional will perform a duct pressurization test to determine the amount of leakage in relation to total system airflow. If leakage exceeds specifications, the contractor will pinpoint the leaks and seal the ducts using mastic paste, mechanical fasteners and an aerosol sealant to coat the ductwork interior.
- Proper airflow and balance – The contractor will measure airflow in all rooms to verify that the volume of heated air entering the room is appropriate to the square footage. He or she will also determine that the air balance in rooms is neutral for optimum heating results. Sobieski Services maintains strict EnergyStar standards for installing a new furnace in your home.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC & plumbing systems).
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