Why A Modulating Furnace Should Be At The Top Of Your List

Furnace technology has come a long way, and homeowners now have a lot of choice when it comes to selecting a furnace. At the top of your list of furnaces to explore, include the modulating furnace, which combines the best-of-the-best technologies so that you get premium comfort and energy savings.

In effect, a modulating gas furnace combines two ultra-efficient technologies, the variable-speed blower and a modulating gas valve, to produce a finely-tuned heating machine. At the heart of these technologies is more efficient use of electricity, and a valve that can moderate or adjust the capacity of how much fuel is consumed.

When a modulating furnace starts up, it will generally turn on at 100 percent capacity for a brief time to generate heat, with an initial zero percent capacity for the blower fan. Then, the fuel gradually reduces while the fan gradually increases. Once these two components have done their work to reach the desired temperature, the fan capacity is modulated with minor adjustments to keep the indoor climate at the pre-set temperature point. So, essentially, a modulating furnace distributes smaller amounts of heated air, but they do it more often.

Here’s a look at some of the benefits of a modulating furnace system:

• Modulation of fuel consumption leads to increased energy efficiency, and these systems are able to reach a peak efficiency of 98 percent Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE).
• Energy savings increase further because the modulating valve and the blower hardly ever operate at full capacity for a long period of time.
• Comfort is greatly enhanced because of the ability to modulate fuel and blower capacity. In fact, these systems are able to adjust fuel consumption to within one or two degrees from the preset temperature.
• With near-continuous fan operation, comfort levels are consistent. With single-stage furnaces, comfort fluctuates from full-speed heating to no heating at all, but modulating furnaces avoid this altogether.

Modulating furnaces reach peak efficiency, are ultra-comfortable, and provide significant energy savings. While investing in them will require more money initially, their comfort and efficiency more than return the investment. For more information, contact the experts at Air-Tro.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about modulating furnaces and other HVAC topics, visit our website.

Air-Tro Inc. services the greater Los Angeles area as well as the metro areas of Riverside and San Bernardino County.