‘Tis the season!

It’s that time of year again!… Or is it?… It’s time to start thinking about the winter and whether or not your furnace is going to make it through! I know it’s been one of the hottest summers we’ve had in a long time and most people are reading this going “are you kidding? Why would I be thinking about heat right now?”. The bottom line is; if we have as cold of a winter as they are predicting, everybody is going to be calling at the same time to get an estimate on replacing the furnace. Because, as most of you know, it never fails; your furnace will go down at the same time as everybody in Central Indiana.

Furnaces have really come a long way. They used to just be that “box inside”; but now they are so much more. What with variable speed blowers, multi-stage heating, extremely quiet operation, and so on. You’re getting much more than “box” that blow heat through your home. You are getting the “brain” of your home comfort system. The furnace controls the volume of air, heat, and dehumidification that is delivered to your home. Variable speed blowers are a no brainer when you are replacing your furnace. They are able to ramp up or ramp down depending on the temperature levels in the home. In the winter you can get “cold blasts” of air with your typical “single-speed” blowers; variable speed blower eliminate this because they are constantly circulating the air in the home and keeping a “more average” temperature. It’s kind of like cruise control for your system.

When you hear people talk about multi-stage, two-stage, and single-stage heating; they are referring to how many levels of heat the furnace has. The best way to explain this is; a single-stage furnace will put out 100% of its capacity 100% of the time. A two-stage furnace has a low setting and a high setting for heat. On mild days, a two-stage furnace runs at a lower capacity (1st stage) to take the chill off. When 1st stage can’t keep up; it goes in to 2nd stage. Multi-stage or “variable capacity” furnaces work much like the cruise control system of high-performance automobiles, automatically making adjustments as necessary to allow maximum fuel efficiency. They typically start at 35% of capacity and can ramp up or ramp down in 1% increments.

There are so many options out there. Make sure you contact the professionals at Control Tech when you are ready to make a decision. Keep in mind most estimates require 60 to 90 minutes to properly size a system for your home! We can’t make a 20 year decision in 15 minutes! When you call; please ask for me or mention this article!

-Clay Winters, Design Technician @ Control Tech, 317-873-3737, www.ControlTech.biz
Follow me on Twitter! @ControlTechClay