We’re looking at a house with a 1,500sq/ft area. The current furnace is a 80% efficient design. Monthly estimates from Columbia Gas was $219/month. This seemed alittle high. Would a change to a 95% efficient furnace and a programmable thermostat yeild a drastic change in montly heating bills? I don’t know much about furnace/house heating in general, so any help would be appreciated.
The house is all brick, double pane windows, good insulation, if this helps out.
Does it have a fireplace? That will def. help in the winter time.
That’s fairly high… The house has got to be leaking somewhere, possibly the ductwork
During my bath remodel, when I pulled the tub I found a 12x12 hole in the return duct work, where they were originally going to add a duct and then decided to leave it wide open…
but they could also leave the heat on high. I have a tenant who leaves the heat set for 80-85 degrees all winter, she actually heats the entryway to the building, and the tenants above her barely use the heat due to her…
Either way that’s a steep gas bill!
Decorative fireplace.
I was figuring it was high as hell too. I’m going to have to double check the duct work. A little old lady lived there previously, and has a ancient thermostat that was set on 80 when we went to look at the home. Anyone else on the furnace portion?
I ahve a big place and heating fuel has been killing me the last couple years and it hasn’t been that cold. I’m putting in a outdoor bood burner now, but you have to check zoning because some places don’t allow them
60 degrees in the winter and wear a sweater. Thats what I tell the wife 
If you want someone to come out and take a look at it, please let me know. I’ll be glad to come out and see how the ductwork looks, see if you have any obvious flaws, and if your looking for an idea on a 95% furnace, I can do that for you as well.
You said the existing furnace is an 80%, but how old is it? These things lose some of their efficiency over time. Also, the most important thing in keeping heat in the house are windows. How old are they?
1500 sq ft, one story or two? Finished basement? Attic with adequate insulation (do you know the “R” rating?)
Feel free to PM me if you’d like some more information.
Windows and furnace are ten years old. The 1,500 sq ft is in three stories not including the basement. The basement is not finished and I’m not sure about the insulation in the attic.
Same thing I tell maggie… we have a similar sized house with a newer design furnace… we had some high gas bills, but they even out thru the rest of the year. I had one bill that was that high this winter when we moved in, but I use electic space heaters in smaller rooms to keep from having to use the gas. I havent had a gas bill over 35 dollars since like april or so.
You have to remember they do also have economic plans where you pay a similar price all year round. Stil sounds like something isnt efficent in the house, how new are the windows?
edit* just saw the post above.
Would have the inspector check duct work that he can visibly see as well as check over the furnace.
Terrible idea. 98% of inspectors don’t know dick about newer furnaces (made within the past 15 years). I had a guy tell a customer of mine one time he couldn’t figure out why their furnace had two heat exchangers (all 90%+ do) and also that there were definitely no cracks in either of them (there was one about the thickness of a dime, which in the HVAC world is gigantic).
If push comes to shove Sean and you need the furnace legitmately checked out, let me know and I’ll send a service tech over for half price ($35) and do a full diagnostic on the system. Otherwise like I said above if you just want a simple look over and price workup, let me know and I’ll do it for nothing whenever you have some tme.
R rating is a bogus #… the R rating insulation gets is in labratory conditions and not in any type of moist environment. R-19 is great but this is just the initial measurement. if you take insulation out of a wall it has bene in for about a year, that R-19 is down to about an R-3. believe me i have done tons of thermal insolation calculations for insulation, windows, glass block, roofs, etc… if some one wants to take the time and figure out what a furnace change will do, look up Res check. this is short for residential check. i used this a good bit when i was designgin the buildings i was doing at my previous employer. http://www.energycodes.gov/rescheck/
get a wood burning furnace.
let me fill it with dead junkies.
/problem
lol, all depends on the inspector… I had an inspector walk through with a buyer (I was on the selling side) and tell us that the furnace was bad, wouldn’t lite… the furnace had only been used when it was installed 2 years prior, it was for the lower part of a duplex that he lived in and refused to rent once his kids were born. We brought a specialist in who showed the buyer that it had a safety cover that once removed it wouldn’t lite… the inspector removed the cover and then tried to start it … cost the seller $75 just to prove that the home inspector was an idiot!
I had an incompetent (crooked) “home inspector” ruin a sale for my house. I have a pretty bad opinion of the whole “home inspection” industry based on that and other things i have heard.
Bravada, when you get a minute, PM me your number, i would like to talk to you about a few things.
I’m not sure about what efficiency our furnace is, but it is 20 years old and over the last two years, the highest our gas bill has been in any given month was about $120. Our house is about 1,250 sq feet if I remember correctly, but we have a new front door, new back door, and all new windows. We also have a programmable thermostat that we set for low 60’s when we are not home and then my wife has it up to about 68-70 when we are home. Then it goes down to low 60’s at night and we just use a lot of blankets. And it also helps that it is a townhouse with units on either side of us that help in the insulation.