When considering a furnace replacement, your natural inclination might be to think that bigger is better. When it’s cold outside, you probably want it to be warm inside, right now! And there is no doubt that oversizing a furnace will do just that. The problem here is, by oversizing a furnace, you may get instant heat, but you’ll also be putting unneeded wear and tear on the furnace itself, and that will lead to a shorter service life and a higher energy bill. Here’s why.
- Less Efficient. Oversizing a furnace means a less efficient furnace. A furnace is at its least efficient when it first comes on. The longer it runs, the more efficient it becomes. An oversized furnace will come on, run for a few minutes and shut off. It will do this again and again in what is known as “short cycling,” always running in it’s most inefficient phase every time it runs.
- Wear and Tear. Not only is short cycling inefficient, but it puts a large amount of unneeded wear and tear on a furnace. Think of this as constant stop and go city driving in your car, which will seriously shorten your automobile’s life over the long run. That same wear and tear applies to short cycling too.
- Too Much Heat. Oversizing a furnace means that as soon as it comes on, it will start blasting heat. It won’t stop until the thermostat setting is satisfied, which means that other rooms may become saunas or they may remain chilly, especially if the first heating vent off the furnace is near the thermostat itself. A properly sized furnace will slowly heat the home, allowing air circulation through each room and keeping a more uniform temperature throughout.
Oversizing a furnace may sound like a good idea at first, but when you know how a heating system works and what is expected of it, it isn’t a very good idea at all.
For more information about the right furnace for your home, contact Arpis Industries.We’ve been serving the Calgary area for more than 50 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Calgary, Alberta about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about furnaces and other HVAC topics, downloadour free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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