Why The Power Levels Of Your Heater Are Important

Autumn is the best time to replace your old heating system with a new one. Temperatures are dropping fast, and another winter will soon be here. If the warranty on your old system has expired and you’re worried about its ability to keep your home warm during the next few months, you should get it replaced now. Doing so means you can take advantage of the improved efficiency of a new heater. Also the improved reliability means that you don’t need to worry about a catastrophic breakdown when it’s freezing out.

If you’ve decided to get a new heater installed, your first priority is to select the right make and model for your home. The most important consideration or calculation is the power level of the heater compared to the size of the house. It’s a tougher equation than you may think.

Shouldn’t I Just Get the Most Powerful System I Can?

Most people understand that an underpowered heating system presents a lot of problems. It will run, and run all day – raising your bills unnecessarily – and in most cases, will not adequately heat your house. It’s much harder to understand that overpowered heating systems can also cause just as much trouble as underpowered ones. That doesn’t make sense on the surface. Don’t you want the heater to warm your house as quickly as possible? Actually, you don’t, and an overpowered heater can end up costing you far more than you think.

Short Cycling

Your heating system tends to use far more energy turning on and turning off than it does simply running. Once the system is “up to speed,” it uses far less energy than it does when it’s just getting started. Ideally, your heating system should run for at least fifteen minutes at a time in order to be as energy efficient as possible.

When that doesn’t happen – when the heater does its job too quickly – the system engages in a process known as short cycling. It will turn off, only to very quickly turn on again as the cold winter air cools your house down. It will run for a brief time and then turn off again, only to turn on soon thereafter, and so on and so on. This is incredibly hard on the system: increasing the amount of fuel it consumes, and putting a huge amount of strain on individual components. As a result, you’ll pay more than you need to for proper heating, and the system is apt to suffer serious breakdowns far sooner than it should.

That’s why you need a trained technician to assess your home – including square footage, sunlight exposure, the amount of insulation in your walls and similar factors – in order to make the final calculation. That puts your new heater in what we call the Goldilocks Zone, not too big or too small:  just right.

If your Columbus, OH home could use a new heating system, call on the friendly pros at Quality Air Heating and Air Conditioning to get it installed the right way!