In Colorado, we experience the full range of weather, from freezing cold to blazing heat. This can make it challenging to properly heat a large home. The right furnace will play a major role in your ability to maintain comfortable temperatures year-round. Here are some considerations to take into account when deciding on the best furnace system for your large home.
Installer Matters More Than Brand
One important factor to get straight before starting is that the installer of your furnace system will make more difference for your overall performance than the brand of the system. There are many manufacturers out there making great furnace systems, and while there might be good reasons to choose one over the other in certain situations, it is most important to work with a qualified furnace installer.
First, there’s the question of choosing the right unit for your home. If you get a furnace system that isn’t right for your home, you will be unhappy with its performance. An undersized unit won’t deliver the heat you need, and an oversized unit will be inefficient. It may struggle to keep your house at the right temperature, and that struggle can lead to excessive service issues. A skilled installer will know how to size a unit for your home to get the most from your furnace.
Second, furnace installation will significantly impact the performance of any furnace unit. The placement of the unit, how it’s attached to ducts, how those ducts are run, and whether there even are ducts will all make a big impact on how well your furnace functions.
Finally, there’s the issue of designing a system. A skilled installer can give input into how the system is set up to help you get the most out of your furnace system. If you’re doing new construction, involve your furnace installer early in the process. If you’re doing furnace replacement in an older home, make sure you listen to their advice about what is likely to work best in your home.
Whenever you are considering a new furnace system for your home, talk to several potential installers to make sure you are comfortable with the one you choose.
New Installation vs. Replacement Systems
The best furnace system for your home depends on whether you’re doing furnace installation in a new home or furnace replacement in an old home. When replacing the furnace in an old home, you might be limited by the presence or absence of ductwork, for example. Sometimes it’s possible to run new ducts through or in place of the old ducts. In other cases, you might be stuck with the limitations of your old ducts. This might make it hard to get adequate air distribution to all parts of a large house.
The old house might have limited electrical capacity. Installing new electrical wiring and systems might be as limiting or as expensive as running new ducts. Other systems might be generally prohibitively expensive for installing into an existing construction.
Don’t commit mentally to one type of system for furnace replacement until you’ve talked to a few different installers about how it will fit with your existing construction.
Tolerance of Uneven Heating
One of the biggest challenges for a furnace system in a large home is maintaining even heating. Furnace systems often have difficulty keeping the heat consistent throughout the entirety of a large building.
You have to be aware of how much this matters to you. If you don’t mind some areas of the house being warmer or cooler than other parts, you might not need to be as picky about the furnace system for your home.
Ducted vs. Ductless Systems
In central heating systems, the furnace usually uses ducts to deliver warm air to different parts of the house. The exception is radiant heating systems that use pipes to deliver heat via hot water to different parts of the building. Although these systems don’t use ducts, they’re not usually what we are talking about when we talk about ductless heating.
Instead, ductless heating typically refers to systems where there are multiple separate heating systems located in multiple rooms. This creates numerous heating zones where you can control the heat (and often cooling) in individual rooms or regions of the house. These systems can be highly efficient, but they can also underperform if you’re not careful in choosing the size of system for each zone.
Choose Major Heating and Air Conditioning for Large Home Heating Systems
Whether you need a furnace replacement or new furnace installation, Major Heating and Air Conditioning is your local Colorado expert. Since 1970, we’ve been helping people in Denver and along the Front Range to enjoy perfect comfort in their homes and businesses. We have an A+ rating with the BBB and we offer free estimates on new equipment. Our technicians are certified by EPA, LEED, and NATE so you know you are getting HVAC experts who understand how to deliver comfort, efficiency, and durability.
You have invested a lot in your large home in Colorado. Your furnace will have a big impact on how much you enjoy that investment. Let Major Heating and Air Conditioning help you decide on the best furnace for your large home. Please contact us today so we can look at your project in detail.
