Home Furnaces — Is Bigger Better?

Home Furnaces are hard working appliances. A great furnace from a reputable manufacturer can serve your home for 20, 30, even 40 years. But even the longest lived furnace will eventually need to be replaced, and when that time comes, you may be wondering whether it’s better to “upgrade” your furnace to a more powerful unit. It’s not.

Uneven Heating.

One of the most common issues Canadians have with their furnace is uneven heating. This occurs when some areas of the house heat up very quickly, while other areas are left frigid. An oversized furnace that’s too big for the space it’s heating can exacerbate this issue.

The furnace produces so much heat so quickly that some parts of the house are flooded with warmth. The thermostat senses the jump in temperature and tells the furnace to shut off after only a few minutes. Because of this, the areas of your home that are typically heated over time by the diffusion of heat throughout the house never get the chance to warm up.

Worse Efficiency.

Like vehicles, home furnaces run best when they’ve had a little time to warm up. Your furnace doesn’t hit peak efficiency until it’s already been heating several minutes, so while we don’t recommend buying a furnace that’s too small for your space, you also don’t want one that will blast your home with heat in two minutes flat and then shut back off.

To make matters worse, because the heating is so uneven, even the hot rooms will cool again quickly as heat diffuses to the colder parts of your house. The thermostat will sense the drop in temperature, and the furnace will start up again for two minutes, and then shut off again. Your too-large furnace is in a perpetual cycle of kicking in and shutting off without ever leaving the warming-up stage.

Shorter Lifespan.

All that cycling on and off is bad for the furnace. It wears out the components, over heats the system, and strains the unit, so your new furnace will require more frequent repairs and likely will need to be replaced sooner than it ought to be.

We don’t need to tell you that all this adds up to a worse experience. Nobody goes out shopping for a new furnace with the intention of bringing home a unit that will unevenly heat their house, cost more money, and need to be replaced sooner. While your instinct may suggest a bigger, more powerful unit will be better, that’s just not how home furnaces are designed. It’s the goldilocks protocol. You need a furnace that’s not too big, not too small, but juuust right.

Struggling to find the best new furnace before winter settles in for good? Why not call one of our trusted Calgary furnace experts? Our team members can answer any questions you have about the latest units on the market, suggest models that have exceptional efficiency, and help you find the furnace that’s the perfect size for you home. Call us today.