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Use These 5 Factors on How To Choose a Furnace

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cropped-graham-fwa-hwt.jpgSo you’re thinking about a new furnace. Maybe the furnace sitting in your basement is 15 years old, perhaps it’s been red-tagged and for all intents and purposes condemned… or maybe you’re simply trying to figure out a way to become more efficient.

Whatever the reason is  for look at a new furnace, this guide will show you exactly how to choose a furnace. This process is the same every single time.

There are 5 Factors that always come up when looking at a new furnace:

1. Brand – How to choose a furnace brand? Most brands these days are pretty reputable, but like all other things in this world, some are better than others. Most furnaces are manufactured in the United States, though the odd few are made in Canada… or assembled in Canada (some of these have components that are made in China). What ever you choose, do yourself a favor and ask around, check the Better Business Bureau, or talk to your neighbors. Choosing a brand is not as big a deal as choosing the right installer. In other words, if the most fantastic furnace in the world is poorly installed, it will not operate properly… you’ll be calling for service calls all the time, and you’ll be utterly frustrated… and ultimately, you will blame the furnace. Find a good installer, that does good clean work… and by the way, almost always that installer will not be the cheapest one out of all your quotes! Personally, I’m a little biased towards Lennox products, but that’s just only because of my personal experience.

Skilled Labor is not cheap… and Cheap Labor is not Skilled!

2. Efficiency – You’ll find as you do your research, hit different websites and talk to different contractors that many furnace differ in their efficiency. Some are 95% efficient… others 97.5%… some 93%… what does it all mean? The fact is that it doesn’t really mean a whole lot. Naturally we lean towards the most efficient furnace as being the most sought after right? But why? Well 97% has got to be better than 96% right? The reality is that when using natural gas to heat our house, that 1% difference accounts for about $7/year for most houses… a really big house (with a big furnace) that number may be $10/year. When using propane, perhaps $12-$15/year for that 1% difference in efficiency. What I’m getting at is to not put a lot of emphasis on the efficiency of the furnace as a major factor in how to choose a furnace. I’m not saying that a 97% furnace is not a good idea… it is… but given the cost of all the fuels we use in the course of a year, $7 – $8 /year is small potatoes.

3. Size – Size matters! When a furnace is installed that is too small, it will not operate properly. When a furnace that is installed that is too big, it will not operate properly. So how do you know when the furnace that is proposed to you is indeed the right size? There’s only one  way to know for sure. Make sure that the heating contractor you choose has done an “actual” calculation…. not just scanned over the house while walking through and determined the right size furnace. Nor should you simply assume that the furnace you have was sized correctly as well. Just because it’s sitting in your basement now, and has been for the past 15 years, it doesn’t mean it’s the right size. In fact 90% of the homes built within the past 25 years had oversized furnaces. No joke! I go into many homes for a furnace quote… often I’m the third or fourth contractor in the house… and usually I’m the first one to actually measure the house and do a real calculation. A properly sized furnace is key in how to choose a furnace.

Size Matters! It is imperative that a furnace is not too small… or not too big. Be 100% certain that when you invest in your furnace, it is sized correctly. It’s your money… spend it wisely!

4. Type of furnace – What comfort level, noise level, additional functions such as WiFi, or communicating technology may be the biggest factor in how to choose furnace. There are three major types of furnaces – and this goes throughout the brands. One brand may have a slight deviation on how it operates compared to another, but these three types of furnaces are common throughout all the brands on the market: A modulating furnace, a 2 stage furnace, and a single stage furnace. I won’t go into a lot of detail here as I there is another full article here, complete with videos that explains the difference between the technologies and why you might want to choose one over the other. Click Here to Learn about Single Stage, 2-Stage, and Modulating furnaces.

5. Blower Fan Motor – A high efficient blower fan motor may be the biggest bang for your buck regarding how to choose a furnace. At 2015 electricity prices in Ontario, using a variable speed ECM blower fan motor in your furnace will save you about $450/year (over your older 10-20 year old furnace) if you only use your furnace during the heating season. If you run your circulation fan all the time, which is recommended in most cases, add another $100/year in savings… and if you’re like me and you both heat and cool your house… and run the fan pretty much all the time, then figure on over $600/year in savings… or $50/month discount on your hydro bill. Here’s a video that I did a few years ago that explains the difference between a DC (ECM) blower fan motor and a standard AC (PSC) blower fan motor. Blower Fan Motors.

Hope fully I have given you some food for thought, and perhaps given you a better path, or more direction, on to to choose a furnace. If you live in the Greater Ottawa Area, feel free to contact me for your furnace quote or to share your thoughts.

Leave your comment below and I will be certain to reply promptly. Cheers!

Heating and Cooling Services in Ottawa

A Small Furnace for a Small Heat Load – There is a Solution

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So one issue that I had been dealing with for the last few years is that fact that I needed a small furnace for a small heat load…

In other words, there has been nothing on the market for a long time that would satisfy the need for a small furnace.

Heat loads are getting smaller. We’re building houses tighter and tighter… we’re putting in more and more insulation. We’re replacing our old leaky windows with new Energy Star high efficient ‘tight’ windows. We’re wrapping our houses with house wrap (which makes them super air-tight) and we’re putting insulation in places that we didn’t in the past.

Did you know that approximately 40% of the heat loss in a house happens in the basement?

As we “tighten” up our houses and make them more efficient, naturally they need less heat in the winter. And, as we start to build smaller, super high efficient homes, then even the smallest furnaces on the market are way too big for the house.

A furnace must be sized to the house. A BIG house needs a BIG furnace…. a small house needs a small furnace….

It is absolutely imperative to NOT oversize a furnace. It will not run properly, will wear out sooner than later, and you will wind up spending a lot of hard earned cash just keeping it going.

One of the biggest challenges has been that even the smallest furnaces in each respective manufacturer is too big. Most manufacturer’s smallest furnace is a 40 to a 45,000 btuh furnace. In the past , when houses were less efficient, these 45k furnaces worked well in the smaller houses. But when we are building 600 sqft apartments with their own independent heating and cooling systems, then the heat loads are only 10,000 to 20,000 btu’s. That 45k furnace is more than double the size allowed.

I was lucky to come across Dettson furnaces while playing around on Google one day. Dettson is a Canadian company that manufacturers a small furnace. Now… not only is it just a small furnace, but it is a modulating furnace with a variable speed ECM (DC) blower fan motor, the best technology available in forced air gas furnaces. Dettson offers a 15,000 btuh and a 30,000 btuh modulating furnace among others as well.

A 15,000 btuh is the smallest furnace on the market that I am aware of… and to top it off, it is a Modulating Furnace with a Variable Speed DC Blower Fan Motor. Wow!

About a  year ago, we installed two of these furnaces in a new build duplex. There were two self-sufficient apartments. The main floor unit was approx. 600 sqft but the basement was included in the heat load, so we’ll call it about 1200 sqft. It had a heat load of just over 16,000 btu’s. The second floor apartment (just 600 sqft) had a heat load just over 9,000 btu’s. As a result, we installed a 30,000 btuh and a 15,000 btuh furnace to satisfy the heat requirements without over-sizing.

They have been installed for a year now, and have worked great! No issues, no call backs, no late night service calls.

small furnaceHere’s photo of the newest addition to the Dettson line-up. This is the new furnace cabinet for the 15,000 btuh furnace. You will see that it looks like an old desktop computer tower… and honestly it’s not much bigger than that. It is designed this way to fit into small closets, possibly over top of a washer and dryer, and still have room for an air conditioner coil and duct work.

A small furnace does exist, and it is welcomed with open arms.

Thank you Dettson for creating a great product that meets the needs of so many homes these days, and will be needed more than ever as we progress with more efficient, tighter homes in the future.

For more information on this small furnace, or other heating, cooling and indoor air quality demands, please contact me at 613-292-9573 or leave me a comment and I will get back to you…. or to have an email sent to you every time I write a new post, sign up to my newsletter at the right hand side of this page. I will not be pitching you, or selling anything. This site is for you, and to help you with making your home a little more comfortable for you and your family.

And yes… in case you are wondering… there are small modulating air conditioners that match these furnaces. Look for a post in the near future… or sign up!

Getting Your Air Conditioner Ready For Summer

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5 Things you need to keep in mind when getting your air conditioner ready for summer:

So the snow is FINALLY gone! The weather is getting warmer… heck you can even go outside without a coat on for the first time in months! You’ve almost stopped using the furnace altogether and you’re opening the windows at every opportunity you can. Wow… I love this time of year.
20141023_124951Soon enough though we’ll be getting that super hot, sticky, uncomfortable heat of June and July and we’ll be closing our windows and opting for that good old trusty air conditioner.

Now that air conditioner’s been sitting outside in the cold, snow, ice, and misery all winter long… and chances are that you did little to your air conditioner the last time you turned it off in the fall… let alone stick a cover over top of it!

So what is involved in getting your air conditioner ready for summer?

1. Well the first thing is… remember to go outside and take the cover off. You’d be surprised how many people forget to do that…. an wind up damaging the air conditioner condenser.

dirty filter2. Make sure your furnace filter is clean… Better yet replace you filter. You see, your furnace
blower fan is responsible for blowing air over an evaporator coil. That evaporator coil then removes the heat from the warm, humid air.  If the filter is blocked… usually caked on with dust, dirt, and all the crap that ran through your duct work over the course of the winter, then you will restrict air flow and ultimately have little to no cooling at all. You may even start to build up ice over the coil. (The coil is located inside the ducting that is just above the furnace cabinet).

3. Be sure to check that there are no leaves, debris, among other things that are stuck to the air conditioner. Over the winter leaves, dirt, etc. will blow and often get stuck to the grilles, coils on the air conditioner.

4. Make sure that the breaker is turned on to your air conditioner. Every fall I go downstairs to 20150416_111239my basement and flip the breaker (fuse) for my air conditioner just to be sure that it does not come on for any reason over the winter.

5. Over the course of the summer, grass grows, shrubs grow, trees and bushes grow and often those branches, leaves and foliage migrate toward the air conditioner. Be sure to trim any hedges, branches, etc. away from the air conditioner so that it can “breathe”. The air conditioner needs space around the perimeter (rule of thumb, leave at least 18″ around the air conditioner) so that it can actively remove heat.

20141105_105004An air conditioner is in fact a “heat pump” that removes heat from your house. If the air conditioner has leaves and foliage around the outside of it, it in essence creates a blanket and stops the air conditioner from working properly… and sometimes altogether.

Ever wondered why you can’t cool your second floor in the summer, but the basement is absolutely freezing? Click Here to find out why.

Or… Did you know that a 2 Stage air conditioner is not only more efficient but can remove humidity on moderately warm days far more effectively than a traditional single stage air conditioner? Click Here to find out how a 2 stage air conditioner works.

What is a 2 Stage Air Conditioner

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If you’re shopping for a new air conditioner this year… and you’ve been fortunate enough to find a good salesperson, who is passionate about their products, you will inevitably be asking “What is a 2 stage air conditioner?”

2 stage air conditioner

2 stage air conditioner

First of all, 2 stage air conditioners are not exactly new technology. The reality is that they’ve been around for years, though many people simply did not know they existed… or that they’ve been missing out all these years.

You see… a 2 stage air conditioner is in fact the “middle of the road” system these days. When people tell me they don’t want the lowest end, nor are they interested in the premium air conditioners… then I point them to the 2 stage air conditioner.

There are 3 types of air conditioners available (this goes for furnaces too but that’s another topic altogether): The single stage air conditioner, the 2 stage air conditioner, and the modulating (or multi-stage) air conditioner.

As you may have guessed, the single stage is the most basic of the three types. It is the type of air conditioner that most of us have had in our homes, if we’ve gad an air conditioner. I don’t want to take anything away from a single stage air conditioner, because they are very good in their own right… it’s just that they are limited in their ability to provide chilled, dehumidified air for all the days in our hot and sticky summer. The reason for this is that a single stage air conditioner only has one stage of operation… in other words, it can only run at one speed – Full Speed. So when it turns on, it runs at full speed, pulling heat out of the air at the fastest rate it can. this is great on +33C days with 95% humidity…. not so great on days when it’s +27C… not overly hot, but usually very humid, sticky, and darn right uncomfortable.

Dehumidifying happens as a byproduct of cooling. Warmer air can hold more vapor than colder air. So as the air cools, the vapor falls out of the air and the air is more dry.

On those +27C days, that single stage air conditioner is working at full speed when it only needs to work at 50% speed… What it does then, is that it removes heat at such a fast rate that… well here’s what happens: It’s hot and sticky in the house, so you decide to turn on the air conditioner. After about an hour the air conditioner turns off. It has cooled the house to the +23C on the thermostat. But it doesn’t feel like it’s +23C. It feels sticky and humid still… so you turn on the AC again by setting the inside temperature down to +21C. The air conditioner cycles on for another 45 minutes or so and then turns off. It has reached the +21C in the house. The issue is that +21C in the summer is god awful cold! Miserable!

So how do you fix that? With a 2 stage air conditioner of course.

A 2 stage air conditioner has a half speed that it can run… surprise, surprise! When the inside temperature is +27C, the air conditioner will run at half speed. It will cycle a lot of warm humid air through the system. It will remove the humidity from the air, but will not remove the heat at a fast rate. The end result is that you have cooled the air, dehumidified the air, but not made the inside of the house like the inside of a deep freezer! That 2 stage air conditioner still has full speed for the hot +33C days and can handle everything you throw at it (when sized correctly).

I hope you have learned a little about 2 stage air conditioners and that the next time you are shopping for a new system, you’ll consider the benefits of a 2 stage air conditioner.

By the way… Ever wondered why the top floor of your house is warm and uncomfortable while your air conditioner is running? And why you simply can’t keep the basement from freezing?

I have the answer. Click Here and Listen to my Radio Interview where I explain. 

Is Duct Cleaning Worth The Cost?

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Is it really worth getting your ducts cleaned? Is duct cleaning worth the cost?

Have you ever wondered what really happens when you get your forced air duct work cleaned? Some people just show up with a shop vac and a dust pan… and other will do a better job.

Watch this video… then draw your own conclusions:

I often overhear people saying that cleaning your duct work is a waste of money. So… do those same people ever vacuum the carpets or rugs in their homes? Ever wash the bathroom floor? Ever clean the tub and toilet?

If you find that your dining room table is covered in dust just a few days after you cleaned it, chances are you need a serious duct cleaning.

Duct cleaning is just like any other cleaning we do in our homes. Airborne particles, dust, mold, and pollutants are “sucked” into out duct work every day. Many of the pollutants just sit along the inside our duct work. When we heat or cool our house, air moves through the duct work and picks up that debris. Some of it is filtered though our furnace filter and some of it gets re-distributed throughout the house.

 

 

What is a Modulating Furnace and Why On Earth Would I Want One?

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What is a modulating furnace?

I answer that question just about every day and I have been for the past four years or so…

I believe I am pretty good at “painting a picture” with my words, but there is nothing better than actually showing people. Given that it’s simply not practical to install a single stage furnace in someone’s house, a week later come back and change it for a 2 stage, then another week later, change it out for a modulating furnace… all to show people the difference between them and how your house would actually feel… well you get what I’m saying.

Myth: “I don’t need a modulating furnace because my house is not very big.” I hear this all the time. The fact that it modulates provides better temperature distribution, and the best comfort level and efficiency you can buy. “Modulating” has nothing to do with size.

About a year ago, I was running about 20 minutes early for an appointment. I had some time to kill and I had an idea. So I pulled out my phone, and started recording a video.

Using the climate control system in my car, I explained the difference between the single stage furnace, the 2 stage furnace, and the modulating furnace. Although at the time, my mind was focused on furnace (given that it was the winter time) this explanation also explains the difference between single stage, 2 stage, and modulating sir conditioners.

 

For the nominal cost difference between a 2 stage furnace and a modulating furnace, would you not want the newer, better technology?

Sizing a furnace is extremely important… not too big and not too small.  If a furnace is improperly sized (too small or too big) it will have a short lifespan. CMHC, Natural Resources Canada, and HRAI all strongly recommend that a heat loss heat gain calculation is performed before installing a new heating or cooling system. They cannot mandate it though, because there are not enough certified heat loss advisors to handle the demand.

It’s amazing what you can do with a phone these days. Please tell me what you think about this video: What is a modulating furnace and why on earth would I want one? Any feedback is most appreciated!

 

Make Your Windows Last Longer

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Do this one thing and you’ll reduce (or eliminate altogether) the amount of condensation that accumulates on your windows and will make your windows last longer.

Did you know that if you remove the screens on the inside of your windows in the winter time, then your windows will last longer?

windows condensationDo you ever get condensation building on the inside of your windows? Perhaps only on the coldest of days… or maybe it’s pretty much all winter long.

You see when it’s cold outside, the windows in our homes are like a funnel for all the warm humid air that’s in our house. Windows have anywhere from 5% to 15% of the resistance to keeping in the heat as of our exterior walls. In other words, houses built with 2×6 walls have an R20 insulation in the wall cavities, and those same houses may have vinyl framed, double glazed windows with an 1/2″ air space… that window has an R-value of about R2… That’s it.

So, since the window offers far less resistance (R-value) than our walls, the heat is naturally drawn towards the windows.

Contrary to popular belief… HEAT DOES NOT RISE… 

Hot air rises.

Hot air is moving air, possibly forced through your vents when the furnace is running. When your furnace stops, then the air movement also stops. The only thing happening now is that HEAT IS MOVING TO COLD.

So heat moves to cold. That is always happening. When we sit in front of the fire, we warm up windows condensation1because we are colder than the fire… When we touch the stove element, we get a burn because we are clearly cooler than the hot element.

When heat moves through the screen and towards a cold window, the air temperature cools. When the air cools, the vapor falls out of the air… or rather in the case of a window, the vapor condenses into water and sticks to the inside of the glass.

Warmer air can hold more vapor than colder air!

When our screens are in place, the naturally occurring air currents, ventilation systems, bathroom exhaust fans, and kitchen range hood fans simply cannot get past the screens to pull the water off. As a result, it just sits there and slowly destroys the integrity of the windows… the seals, the weatherstripping and you’ll find that you have to wipe the windows often.

If you have condensation on your windows, and you have your screens on the windows, get up from wherever you’re reading this, and go take a look at the windows with screens and the windows without screens and you will have your answer.  The windows with screens are usually much worse for wear than the others without screens. 

If you’ve enjoyed this article and you’d like to get more of these in the future feel free to sign up for my newsletter. Further, if you got something out of this, and you’d like to share it with others, post it to your Facebook page or leave me a comment below. As you can see, one little trick here will make your windows last longer… even if for just a few extra years!

Cheers!

 

 

Cool The Upstairs of Your House With Duct Tape and Cardboard

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Is your upstairs hot and sticky when you’re running your air conditioner?

Ever wondered why the second floor, or simply the top floor of your house is always much hotter and stickier than the other floors? Why is your basement like the inside of a deep freezer?

duct tapeYou’ve blocked off vents… you run fans to push air around… but you still have to sleep in the basement on those hot July nights!

Well check out an interview I did on the radio last summer when I explained how you can change the way your air conditioner… moreover to cool the upstairs of your house by doing a few simple DIY homeowner things, in 15 minutes or less!

cardboardEnjoy… All these years you’ve been putting up lousy cooling… Had you only known this little trick. Now you will know how to cool the upstairs of your house!

 

 

 

Click Play now and fix your problem in the next 20 minutes

 

If you like this post please share it and “Like” us on Facebook by tapping the buttons at the bottom of this page. And please share this with as many people as you can. Everyone deserves a good night’s sleep!

To book a date and time with John Chapin for a consultation at your home, please call us today at 613-838-9989 or email info@climateworks.ca…

p.s. Mention this post and get a 5% discount on any new Lennox heating and cooling appliances, indoor air quality, duct cleaning, and annual maintenance and service plans.

Talk to you soon!

How a Gas Furnace Works

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There are two big parts to how a gas furnace works. First of all, there is the heat exchanger and secondly there is a blower fan motor.

What happens when the thermostat calls for heat and the furnace turns on?

Well the furnace will in fact fire itself on and begin to heat up the heat exchanger. It then draws in (vacuums) air in through the return air inlets, or commonly called the cold air returns.

The cold, unconditioned air is then vacuumed into the furnace and is passed through an air filter. The blower fan motor, which is at the bottom of the furnace then pushes the air up through a heat exchanger. Most furnaces are what is called an updraft furnace such as what I am referring to here.

For lack of a better term, the heat exchanger is a great big metal chamber, or series of chambers, that holds the fire, the combustion. Whether you’re dealing with a natural gas furnace and oil furnace, a propane furnace, as that air passes by the heat exchanger the air warms up. In the case of an electric furnace the heat exchanger is actually a series of electric tubes. These tubes heat up and glow red when activated… much like your toaster does at home.

So what actually happens is that cool air passes by that hot steel (or glowing red tubes), it warms up the air and then hot air is distributed throughout the house.

What does the blower fan motor do?

The blower fan motor is located down near the bottom of the furnace, regardless of what energy the furnace actually uses. The blower fan motor is what drives all the air in the house… or is responsible for the entire convection of air. All the air that is supplied and all the air that is returned or vacuumed in. If you think about all the air that’s coming out of the supply registers in your kitchen or your recreation room, and all the air that’s being drawn into the return air inlets in your family room and bedrooms… All of that air is being driven by the blower fan motor.

Now… Not only does the blower fan motor play an important role when heating your house, but it is equally important when cooling your house. If you have a central air conditioner in your house, then the blower fan motor is responsible for vacuuming in warm air, running it past the past the evaporator coil, and in turn removing the heat from the air.

When that heat is removed from the air, naturally the temperature of the air drops. When the temperature falls, then the humidity (or vapor) that was in the air simply falls out of the air. The air temperature has reached it’s dew point , and has been de-humidified. The end result is that nice cool, dry air is distributed throughout the house.

And if the blower fan motor is a good, powerful motor (such as a DC motor), then it will deliver the proper temperatures to our house. Whether we’re heating or whether we’re cooling, a blower fan motor is definitely an important part of a furnace. That is a how a gas furnace works.

Please leave me a comment and let me know if this video was helpful. I strive to educate people so that they can make informed decisions. I enjoy writing this stuff, and enjoy the feedback even more!

 

For more information, please visit us at www.climateworks.ca or give me a call at 613-838-9989.

Cheers!

 

Mold in a Rental Property in Canada

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Biological Contaminants and Mold in a Rental Property in Canada

About a year ago (May 2014) I was invited to speak to the Ontario Region Landlords Association’ annual dinner. I It was an honor to be able to do so, as I was recognized for being an authority in the Indoor Air Quality subject matter. The following video captures my presentation.

I have spent the past 8 years (2007-2015) doing house calls; whether it was an energy audit, a proposal for new heating/cooling system, or an indoor air quality assessment. In that time I have visited over 4,000 homes and 99% of those houses had one or more indoor air quality issues. Most of the issues are things that are obvious, and easily fixed, such as high humidity, poor filtration, or little to no ventilation. All small fixes that when left alone will lead to larger issues, that cause havoc later on.

If you have mold in a rental property in Canada, whether you are a landlord or a tenant, you must watch this video. And to put it bluntly, it could save your life.

 

 

Do not take mold growth lightly. It can cause incredible problems down the road if left untouched.

 

Please leave me a comment and let me know if this video was helpful. I strive to educate people so that they can make informed decisions. I enjoy writing this stuff, and enjoy the feedback even more!