If properly sized, installed, and maintained, the furnace in your Lincoln, IL home could last 25 years or longer. Taking good care of your heating equipment is always the best way to get optimum returns on this investment. However, after more than two decades of service, it’s important to swap these appliances out. With enough time, all furnaces develop safety risks and create indoor air quality (IAQ) issues. They cost more to run and they’re plagued by increasingly frequent problems.
Your Furnace’s Original Efficiency Rating No Longer Applies
Inspired by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 and implemented by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) ratings determine how much of the energy that furnaces use is converted into heat.
If your furnace is 25 years old, it probably came with an AFUE rating of just 85% or lower. This means that when it was first installed, your furnace was converting 85% of the fuel that it used into heat energy. Unfortunately, furnaces naturally lose efficiency over time. In fact, by some estimates, these appliances have already lost half of their efficiency after just 10 years of service.
Trapped Particulates and Their Impact on Your Health and Comfort
Changing your furnace filter and scheduling routine maintenance can go a long way toward extending the lifespan of your furnace. However, these efforts don’t eliminate all trapped debris. After 25 years of service, your furnace is likely harboring a fair amount of dirt, hair, carpet fibers, and other particulates in hard-to-reach areas. Worse still, this same matter is likely having a constant impact on your IAQ.
The Heat Exchanger in Your Furnace Could Fail
New furnaces come with limited, 10-year warranties on select parts. They also have 10 to 20-year warranties on their heat exchangers. After 20 years of service, this all-important component often has cracks and other structural damage that makes continued use a major health risk. After all, this is where exhaust gases go after combustion to have their heat extracted. If you don’t replace your 25-year-old furnace now, you’ll likely have to replace its heat exchanger within the coming months or years.
You’re Missing Out on Important Innovations
Replacing your furnace every 15 to 20 years will keep you on par with all of the latest industry innovations. Furnaces have improved quite a bit over the past few decades, with high-efficiency models boasting AFUE ratings as high as 98.5%. Updating your furnace could mean doing away with an inefficient and potentially dangerous pilot light in favor of a low-maintenance, electric ignition switch.
Residents of Lincoln, IL can count on us for first-rate furnace, heat pump, and air conditioner installation, maintenance, and repairs. We also provide duct cleaning, thermostats, and cutting-edge IAQ solutions. If you’re ready to replace your 25-year-old furnace, give Quick Comfort a call now.
