Every year, advances in furnace and heat pump efficiency means that homes with a recently installed heating system will use less energy than homes with older systems. If your heating system is more than ten years old, consider talking to a reputable HVAC contractor like Holland Heating and Cooling about whether it makes sense to replace your system with a newer, energy-efficient home heating system or whether the efficiency of your system can be improved through duct sealing, insulation, and other techniques.
According to EPA figures, new energy star heat pumps are as much as 20% more efficient than heat pumps installed as little as ten years ago. If you have a furnace, today’s Energy Star furnaces are 15% more efficient than those available fifteen years ago. If your furnace is over 20 years old and has a pilot light, it is much less efficient than today’s energy efficient electronic ignition furnaces.
Holland Heating and Cooling offers a full HVAC system efficiency analysis that can identify ways to improve the efficiency of your existing heating system, usually at a much lower cost than replacing the entire system. For many homeowners, installing an energy efficiency package is a great way to get many more years of energy efficient heating out of your existing system.
There are a lot of different things that factor into the decision to replace your HVAC system including the age of your existing system, whether you use a heat pump, gas or oil furnace, or some other heating system, the climate in your area and your local energy costs. Your HVAC contractor can help you sort out these factors so you will know whether the cost of replacing your heating system will be offset by energy savings.
