December 10, 2020
When it comes time to choose a new furnace for your home, you’re likely going to consider factors such as brand, efficiency, and cost; but did you know there’s one other major factor you may be forgetting about?
We’re talking about the size of your furnace. Choosing a properly sized furnace for your home is essential if you want to heat your home efficiently and get the most from your heating investment. Today we’ll answer some of the most common questions we get here at Anchor about furnacing sizing, like:
Is a higher BTU furnace better?
Can a furnace be too big for a house?
How do you know what size furnace is best for your Atlanta home?
Understanding Furnace Sizing
Furnaces are sized according to their heating capacity or output, measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units). The average furnace has a heating output ranging from 80,000 to 100,000 BTUs, but you’ll see furnaces on the market ranging anywhere from 40,000 to 200,000 BTUs.
As you may have guessed, generally the larger your home is, the larger size furnace you’ll need, and a high BTU furnace will be able to produce more heat. However, it’s important to remember that the biggest furnace isn’t always the right one for your house, and square footage isn’t the only factor that dictates furnace sizing. Other factors that come into play include:
Climate
Home design
Orientation of house
Window size & efficiency
House air leakage
Insulation levels
What Happens If My Furnace Is Undersized or Oversized?
Having an improperly sized heating system — whether your furnace is too small for your house or too large — can decrease the energy efficiency of your furnace and even shorten its lifespan.
Undersized furnace
Undersized HVAC systems run constantly without ever delivering the ideal level of comfort. This causes a furnace to wear down rapidly, shortening its lifespan, and consume more energy than necessary. If you’ve recently built a new addition onto your home, there’s a chance that your furnace is now undersized.
Oversized furnace
Oversized furnaces heat homes quickly, but not evenly or efficiently. They tend to “short cycle,” turning on and off quickly and often, incurring excess wear and tear. Oversized furnaces are especially common, as some HVAC contractors “size up” the furnace to make more money instead of taking the time to perform the necessary load calculations. If you’re looking for ways to fix an oversized furnace, reach out to our team at Anchor — you can count on us to give you honest, trustworthy advice about the best long-term solution for your home.
Ensure Proper Furnace Sizing with Anchor
Think it may be time to upgrade your heating system? Talk to the team at Anchor Heating and Air Co, serving homeowners with top quality furnace installation in Atlanta and the surrounding areas, from Peachtree City to Marietta and Dallas to Buckhead. In addition to helping you choose the right model Trane furnace for your home, we’ll help you size it correctly by performing a Manual J calculation — which takes important factors from home square footage and design to air leakage and insulation levels into account.