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How to buy your new Gas Furnace

This page is designed to assist you in purchasing the right SIZE, BRAND, SEER, and ACCESSORIES.

Home Comfort Suppliers wants to be sure you get the product that is right for you, Taking out a few moments to read over this how to information will assist you in your purchase and give you some confidence that you have purchased the proper equiptment for you home. We are here to help Please feel free to CONTACT US for assistance. We will walk you through every step you need to properly fit you with the correct furnace and supplies.
Technical: This is the defintions of the common terms used in heating and cooling units.
Seer: Seasonal energy efficiency ratio, The energy efficiency of a central air conditioner is measured in a unit called SEER - seasonal energy efficiency ratio. The SEER is the cooling output divided by the power consumption, with climate and other variables factored in. The higher the SEER, the better - a rating of 10 is considered the minimum for new systems. Your older system might have a SEER of 7 or 8 - or even less. The SEER will be listed prominently on the yellow-and-black EnergyGuide.
AFUE: Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency, The AFUE is the most widely used measure of a furnace's heating efficiency. It measures the amount of heat actually delivered to your house compared to the amount of fuel that you must supply to the furnace. Thus, a furnace that has an 80% AFUE rating converts 80% of the fuel that you supply to heat -- the other 20% is lost out of the chimney.
CFM: Short for cubic feet per minute, a measurement of the velocity at which air flows into or out of a space. The CFM measurement often is used in reference to a computers cooling system, and more typically in reference to an air-cooling system that is supporting overclocking.
TON: 1 TON is equal to 12,000 BTU's, one ton is the power required to melt a ton of ice per day, or BTU per hour, where one BTU is the heat energy necessary to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one Fahrenheit degree.
BTU: British Thermal Unit, this is the measurement of heat.One Btu is equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of liquid water by 1 degree Fahrenheit at its maximum density, which occurs at a temperature of 39.1 degrees Fahrenheit. One Btu is equal to approximately 251.9 calories or 1055 joules.
DOE: The US Department of Energy, determined that all furnaces sold in the US must have a minimum AFUE of 78%, beginning January 1, 1992. Mobile home furnaces are required to have a minimum AFUE of 75%. 4 Inch vent connection all all furnaces Listed CFM is for single stage cooling only.
Biggest Mistakes: Some of the biggest mistakes in when shopping for a new furnace is oversizing, oversizing is overly expensive and not more bennificial, Causing dramatic tempture changes that do not stay even or long term. The following are some of the "quickie" methods some contractors may use to size a system. They are also somewhat useful for very rough sizing. NEVER use any of these to determine the final size. The contractor walks in the house, looks at the existing unit, and recommends that the replacement unit be the same size, or larger. This obviously does not take into account any improvements made to the house or mistakes made in sizing the original unit.
The contractor asks you how many square feet of living space there are in your house, then tells you what size unit you need. This is called "sizing by square footage" and is the most commonly used inaccurate method of sizing. A typical value used for air conditioners is one ton (12,000 Btu/hour) per 500 square feet (46 m2). This does not take into account differences among house orientation, insulation levels, design, construction, and energy efficiency or intended use of the system. You may get different answers from different contractors who use this technique. In that case, they may have a different "rule of thumb," or one of them may be using the "lowest cost" method. This involves adjusting the square footage rule so that whatever the contractor has in their warehouse becomes the right size for you. Since the "in-stock" unit costs the contractor (but not necessarily you) less to install, this becomes the "lowest cost" method.
PLEASE READ As an installation company as well some of the most common situations we come across is Cost over Effectiveness. This is a triange purchase and you can only have two out of three corners of the triangle. On corner one you have Effectiveness on Coner Two you have Quality and on corner Three YES you guessed it COST. If you have Quality and Effectiveness you have VERY high cost, skip on one and you reduce cost upfront but spend the money endlessly over time. There is no right answer on how to purchase your air comfort system, but there are suggestions. Buy the correct unit the first time, get the proper unit for you home with the best requirements that are most important to you. 2nd destroy the idea bigger is better, bigger is not better if your home can not size up to it. 3rd save the money for the correct unit, These units are not going anywhere you will be able to get one in the future. Stay away from ACT NOW advertisement schemes. They want your money and want it now, do what is right for you not for them. 4th Shop for the best installation price, and get all you can get out them for the price. Then ask for a buy it now discount. 5th Do not LIE: if you have a better estimate have it in writing and present it to the next company. If it sounds to good to be true have it all put in writing (details and price). Home Comfort Suppliers strives on honesty, make them honest to. Last Note, we have a system in place on this site called "CONTRACTOR PAGES" these are the companies that we feel are honesty and timely, we do not set there cost or pricing, we monitor there results and follow up with who they install for from us. If there SHADY, BOGUS, SCAMMING, or ETC... There off our site and we have not a problem letting people know we no longer refer that company for a negative reason. Of course we can not say why, but we do act on our name. Good luck but if you follow this none is needed, REMEMBER if you have ANY we mean ANY questions please contact us. We are not an unreachable company.
Charting for the proper size.
Home Type or Characteristics - Heat loss (Btu/hr/ft2) No insulation in walls, ceilings, or floors; no storm windows; windows and doors fit loosely - 90 to 110 BTU LOSS

R-11 insulation in walls and ceilings; no insulation in floors over crawl spaces; no storm windows; doors and windows fit fairly tight. - 50 to 70 BTU LOSS

R-19 insulation in walls, R-30 in ceilings, and R-11 in floors; tight-fitting storm windows or double pane windows. - 29 to 35 BTU LOSS

"Superinsulated" house with R-24 wall insulation, R-40 in ceilings, and R-19 in floor; tight-fitting storm windows or double pane windows; vapor barrier sealed carefully during construction. - 21 to 25 BTU LOSS

Earth-sheltered house with little exposure; well insulated. - 10 to 13 BTU LOSS

For example, if a home's energy-saving features are best described by #2, and the home has a heated space of 1,500 square feet, then 1,500' 50 and 1,500' 70 is the heating load range. Roughly 75,000 to 105,000 Btu/hour (18,900 to 26,460 kilocalories/hour.) Although a chart like this looks official, not all houses fit the profile given. There is also no accounting for the other factors mentioned above. To save some time the above methods are often used for a first "guess" or rough estimate. If so, then it should be plainly stated to you that this is the case. The final bid should be based on the results of the use of a procedure such as Manual J or those listed below.
Be Sure to Consider
* The local climate
* Size, shape, and orientation of the house
* Insulation levels
* Window area, location, and type
* Air infiltration rates
* The number and ages of occupants
* Occupant comfort preferences
* The types and efficiencies of lights and major home appliances (which give off heat). That would be a bit extreme, unless you have a nursery in your home that survive on non-fluorescent lighting.
Improving the Indoor Air Quality
Properly size your unit by the methods suggested above. Try to stay away from the common mistakes made by short cut contractors. An experienced contractor will know how to use SQFT to add support to the sizing estimate but, that is not all that is to be considered when sizing your furnace. With the amount of money it cost to obtain a new gas furnace, get the best results you can get, don't short yourself and skip out on the accessories that make the unit fuction to it's best. Consider adding a Humidifier, Air Cleaner, (Media Filter System) and a U.V. Light. You do not have to purchase these items from us, were suggesting for maximum performance and bacteria free comfort these items are very important.

Last but not least:
When purchasing your Gas Furnace, Take note there are parts and accessories needed to complete your unit. You may find yourself in need of DUCT WORK, (For your supply and return mounting) Gas PIPE, (Most Common is 1/2 Black Pipe) Upgrade Electrical, New or rebuild your Flue Pipe, Changing your FLUE pipe to the new PVC design, Up Grading to the proper THERMOSTAT. If you are at all uncertain on any of these, you may want to contact us. We will be happy to assist you on this. Be Sure to Check out our CONTRACTOR PAGES, We have Contractors standing by that will come out and install your unit for you. Please take note Contactor Pages is a referral service, we do not collect any billing nor set any prices for a contractor you select.

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