As with most questions regarding complex systems in your home, the answer is “it depends.” But, you can rest assured that every furnace manufactured and installed today is much more energy-efficient than what you currently have in your home. Therefore, you will certainly save on your monthly energy bills. The question is, how much?
When it comes to figuring out how much money a new furnace will save on your heating bills, there are factors outside of the unit itself. For instance, how well insulated is your home? Where is your home situated relative to the sun? How long and cold is the winter season that year? All of these factors and more will influence the amount of energy your furnace consumes, which impacts how much money a new furnace will save you on your heating bills.
Typically, if you replace an 80% efficient furnace with a 95% efficient furnace, you will save about the difference in those efficiency ratings: 15% annually. Those ratings, given by the manufacturers, are roughly designed to reflect your annual energy savings in “units” of energy. In other words, because natural gas prices, for instance, fluctuate from year to year, the efficiency rating can never be in dollars. Instead, they are reflected in the units of energy that the unit consumes, which should make sense if you take a look at your heating bill which will tell you what your monthly energy units consumed is.
Even so, those ratings don’t always give you a reliable comparison because of all the factors mentioned above. In addition, if a technician installs the unit incorrectly or misses an important component of the installation, your unit will never reach its maximum potential in energy efficiency.
No matter what, using less energy means not only that you save money, but it also means that you won’t be subject to future rate increases by the energy company. Think about it: If you spend $1 per unit of energy (for example), and you save 5 units of energy, you save $5. But, if next year a unit of energy costs $1.25, you’re now saving $6.25 – but the cost of your new furnace doesn’t change! That’s a great return on your investment, and it’s the reason why many of our customers decide to upgrade their furnace before it reaches the end of its life.
If you want to know exactly how much money a new furnace will save on your heating bills, you might be disappointed that it can be difficult to pinpoint that exact amount, given all the variables involved. However, we can walk you through all the ways you’ll save money with a new furnace so that you can get an approximate sense of the value you’ll get from a new, energy-efficient furnace. Give us a call so we can walk you through that return-on-investment! 815.477.2600
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