Tips for Buying a New Furnace for Your Historic Home

A historic home is a source of pride to its owner(s). Many historic homes are transformed into beautiful restaurants and inns like the Bridgetown Mill House, located in Langhorne, PA. Historical homes, while charming and stunning, need alot of TLC, and most likely will be in need of some upgrading to suite modern day needs and trends, without compromising the original design. An important factor is the heating and cooling aspects. Many historical homes use stoves or fireplaces as a source of heat in the winter. So how do you choose a furnace for your historical home that will not take away from it original charm?

HVAC Philly, who serve Langhorne, PA homes, as well as surrounding Bucks County, PA, Montgomery County, PA, and the greater Philadelphia areas with top rated heating and cooling services, suggest looking at the following to determine which furnace works best:

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is one of the top considerations when buying a furnace especially for historic homes that can be difficult to heat. Keeping your energy bills within an affordable range is important.

There are three major types of furnaces; high efficiency, mid efficiency and conventional.

High-efficiency furnaces offer up to 90% energy efficiency.

Mid-efficiency furnaces are between 80% and 90% efficiency.

Conventional furnaces run with 75% to 80% energy efficiency.

As important as energy efficiency is, it is not the only reason to buy a furnace as the percentage of efficiency only refers to the fuel combustion, hence, the intended usage and the add-on features of the furnaces usually guide choice among people rather than just the efficiency.

*Note that for residential usage, buying a high-efficiency furnace is not necessary because of the scale of usage; it is better recommended for more bulky usage like in commercial buildings.

Venting System

A historic house will likely have a chimney, but the choice to use the chimney space for venting the furnace or for any other suited use rests on the homeowners. Modern regulations mandate some treatments be done on chimneys, and these treatments can be costly. You may decide to opt for a furnace that may not necessarily require a chimney in order to save money. For instance, some mid-efficiency furnaces that use direct venting system where fans are used to drive out smoke from combustion through small vents. Other than cost, using a chimney for your furnace decides the position of the furnace, for a more flexible interior design option furnaces not requiring chimneys, can be used.

The Maintenance

Maintenance of your furnace is essential to keep it safe and working in top condition. Do not purchase a furnace without clarity of how much to maintain it. Check with your HVAC technician regarding frequency and cost of maintenance and plan accordingly. Maintenance will add longevity to your furnace.

Cost

When buying a furnace try to estimate your needs, even though you may care about efficiency and some other attractive additional features of your furnace, in reality, you may not need every single extra feature. As mentioned earlier in the case of efficiency, why buy a high-efficiency furnace when a medium efficiency furnace can rightly serve your needs?

Aesthetics

Luckily, furnaces now come in designs that can fit any interior style without sacrificing its functions. When purchasing a furnace after choosing the functions you need, ask for one that customized to aesthetically fit into your home.

For more FAQ about your HVAC system, be sure to follow HVAC Philly Blog, for helpful tips and information related to heating repair, heating maintenance and services provided to the greater Philadelphia, Bucks County, PA and Montgomery County, PA areas.

If you are in the greater Philadelphia, Montgomery County,  or Bucks County, PA areas, HVAC Philly offers affordable, professional and expert HVAC services to commercial buildings and homes throughout the area. They have over 20 years experience and rated top ten HVAC companies in Philadelphia.