Should I consider replacing my heating system?
If you’re thinking about replacing your heating system, here are some questions to ask yourself. A “yes” to any of them may warrant a call to an energy rater or heating contractor.
Have you recently upgraded the thermal envelope of your house? The thermal envelope of your house includes everything that separates the living space from the outside, including walls, doors, windows, insulation, and the roof. If you’ve been sealing leaks, eliminating drafts, replacing old windows with double-pane or triple-pane models, or adding insulation, you’ve been making your home more energy efficient.
With thermal envelope upgrades, the home will lose less heat in the winter and therefore it’s likely the heating appliance won’t need to provide as much energy. Depending on the reduction in energy use, it is entirely possible that your heating appliance could become oversized, and it may be worth investing in a smaller system.
Is your current heating appliance more than 20 years old?
Technology marches on. Appliances today are far more efficient than older models. Not only do they use less fuel, they are also safer and have more advanced controls to improve efficiency. Also, the methods to size a heating system are better and can be tailored to individual homes.
Is your house uncomfortable?
Do you have rooms that are always too hot or too cold? This can be the result of air leaks, inadequate insulation, an improperly sized heating appliance, or lack of zoning in your heating system. Start with a call to an energy rater to find out which improvements you can make to solve this problem. If you need to add insulation or seal leaks, take care of that before upgrading your heating system so that the heating system will be sized properly for your home.
Who to call?
Energy raters will examine your entire house, measuring doors and windows, checking insulation levels, assessing your heating system and testing air leakage rates. They put this data into AKWarm – a software program maintained by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation–which rates the various components of your home. The rating will give you a score as well as suggestions to improve energy performance, which may or may not include the heating system. This process helps prioritize upgrades and helps you think about the house as a system rather than a sum of its parts.
Heating contractors focus specifically on your heating system, evaluating its current efficiency and whether it is sized properly. A contractor may also be able to test the efficiency of the distribution system (depending on the type).
When it comes to a long-term investment like a heating appliance, it pays to get some advice from the experts before jumping in.