When you are looking at the outer panels of a furnace, each furnace looks a lot like all the others. All furnaces heat your home, right? So why should you buy a modulating, condensing furnace over a cheaper model? As a homeowner trying to live on a tight budget, it is all too easy to get hung up on initial costs. If you want to free up your budget, you need to understand what's going on underneath the panels of a condensing furnace, so you can appreciate why it is a better choice for your home.

A Second Heat Exchanger

A conventional furnace will have one heat exchanger. What is a heat exchanger? It is a bank of metal tubes that channels the exhaust gas from the burner to your vent pipe. It is also responsible for transferring the heat in the exhaust gases to the air flowing into your house. As exhaust gases flow throughout the exchanger, they warm it up; and as your furnace fan pushes air over the exchanger, it absorbs heat and cools the exchanger. If your furnace has just one exchanger, it will leave some heat in the exhaust gases; this heat is simply wasted. 

A second heat exchanger extracts so much heat from the exhaust gases that they convert to a liquid. This allows them to achieve an efficiency rating of over 90%. 

A Modulating Motor

A standard furnace will have a motor that only operates at one speed. This means that whenever your furnace comes on, it comes on at full speed. To understand how this affects the efficiency of your furnace, think of gunning your car's engine every time you stop at a stop light. Racing your engine will burn through more fuel than running your engine consistently at an even speed.

A modulating furnace will have a variable speed motor. This allows your furnace to adapt to the heating demands of your home. When it first comes on, it will operate at full speed to warm up your house quickly. It can then operate at a lower temperature to save fuel while maintaining the same temperature in your home. A modulating motor will help your furnace to reach even higher levels of efficiency. 

While every furnace might look the same from the outside, the componentry on the inside of your furnace can have a huge impact on how your furnace performs. The more efficient your motor is, the more money you stand to save. A modulating, condensing furnace is the most efficient furnace you can buy, and will, therefore, help you to save the most money on your heating bills. Talk to an HVAC contractor, like the ones at Coral Home Comfort, for more information about modulating furnaces.