You may benefit from a gas furnace retrofit if your current system is too large for your Southwest Arizona home, your furnace uses a continually burning pilot light and/or you’ve improved the energy efficiency of your home.
A furnace that’s too large for your home’s heating load raises your energy bills and won’t keep you as comfortable. A
n oversized furnace will short cycle, running in short spurts more frequently. More frequent starts and stops increase the wear and tear on your system. Your home may not be as comfortable, either, since the furnace won’t run long enough to warm solid objects and properly circulate the air.
A pilot light that burns continually raises your gas bill, and it can be difficult to extinguish in the spring and hard to light in the fall. Leaving it on during the summer may not raise the temperature in your home by much, but every heat source indoors raises your cooling bills.
If your furnace isn’t old enough to consider replacing and you don’t plan to sell your home in the near future, you have two options for a gas furnace retrofit:
- Installing an intermittent ignition device to replace the pilot light will cut down on fuel consumption. However, you’ll still need to have an HVAC contractor perform annual maintenance to increase efficiency and safety.
- Derating makes your furnace effectively smaller, so it won’t short cycle. When it runs more continuously, the warm air will be more evenly distributed through your home. HVAC contractors derate furnaces by replacing the gas burner orifice with one that’s smaller. This cuts down on the amount of fuel the furnace burns when it runs and warms your home more thoroughly.
Both of these projects require a trusted HVAC contractor to execute. If you would like more information about a gas furnace retrofit, please contact us at Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Company. We’ve provided superior HVAC services for the Yuma area since 1952.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about gas furnace retrofits and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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