Having a furnace that’s too big for your space is extremely inefficient. There are two simple signs that indicate that your furnace is most likely oversized:
Let’s go into more detail about each of these, or you can simply give our Framingham, MA heating repair experts a call now!
Call (508) 881-1500An oversized furnace has short run times (or “short cycles”) because it’s quickly heating your home to the thermostat’s temperature setting. By short, we’re talking 10-15 minutes. Now, that seems like a good thing (especially on frigid nights), but it’s not for a few reasons:
The AFUE rating (the efficiency rating) you see on your furnace assumes your furnace is running at a “steady-state operation” (basically like a car’s mileage on the highway).
But an oversized furnace will come on and cycle off before it can reach that steady-state operation level of efficiency. So you’ve got several short, inefficient bursts wreaking havoc on your energy bill. Think of this as the furnace’s version of “city miles.”
If your furnace is properly sized, it will stay on longer, running almost constantly on the coldest days. Visit another one of our blog posts so you can understand your furnace’s AFUE rating to get big winter savings!
Short cycling wears down the mechanical parts of your furnace. It’s like if you constantly turned your car off and on every time you came to a stop light.
Do you feel a massive heat blast coming from vents in certain rooms?
Once again, the oversized furnace strikes! Its heat output is far more than your home actually needs, so you’re left with a heat hurricane in certain rooms. Ironically, an oversized furnace can cause rooms farther away from the thermostat to be too cool for comfort.
Why?
Because when the furnace cycles off your home cools down from the outside in. By the time your thermostat, which is located on an interior room wall, feels a temperature difference and turns the furnace back on, the rooms farther away have already cooled down a good 5-7 degrees.
If your furnace is properly sized, it should have longer run times, distributing heated air more evenly throughout your home. Learn more about why some rooms in your home are colder than others here!
If you’re having issues with your furnace, reach out to Nicholson! We can help with furnace repairs, installs and more!
Book OnlineNicholson Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning is the best and most reliable source for electrical service. We are proud to be Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Elite Contractors, that have gone through extensive accreditation and training in order to provide proven high-quality service. Get in touch with us whenever you need to have electrical work done in Framingham!
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