There are many different types of furnaces on the market, and they can vary greatly in how effectively and efficiently they heat your home. One great example of this is variable speed furnaces, which offer some great performance improvements over conventional furnaces. Today we’re going to talk about how a variable speed furnace differs from a conventional furnace and how variable speed furnaces can improve your home’s indoor environment during winter!
How is a variable speed furnace different than a conventional furnace?
The difference between a variable speed furnace and a conventional furnace comes down to the blower motor that’s installed in each system. A conventional furnace has a blower motor with a single speed: high. When the fan is running, it is running at full power. When the fan is off, it is completely shut off.
A variable speed furnace, on the other hand, has a blower motor with multiple difference speeds. The speed that is in use depends on the heating demands of your home at any given time. When more heat is required, the fan uses a faster speed. When little or no heat is required, the fan runs at a slower speed.
How does a variable speed furnace improve your indoor environment during winter?
- Your home will be more comfortable. When a conventional furnace enters a heating cycle, its fan runs at a high speed and delivers a large amount of warm air in a relatively short amount of time. This can sometimes make your home feel too warm when your furnace is running, because your rooms are suddenly overwhelmed with a huge supply of warm air and there can be a drastic change in temperature levels. A variable speed furnace heats your home incrementally, so there is much less of a fluctuation of temperatures in your home. Instead, your home remains consistently comfortable and warm air is constantly being circulated to every room.
- Your furnace will consume less energy. The blower motor in a variable speed furnace only runs as fast as it needs to at any given time. When there is a high demand for heat, the blower can run at a high speed. When there is a moderate to low demand for heat, the blower can use a slower fan speed. This allows variable speed furnaces to consume less energy than their conventional counterparts, because the high speed (which uses the most energy) is only used when it’s needed and the lower speeds (which are used most often) will conserve energy the rest of the time. This is a great advantage during winter when heating bills are at their highest.
- Your home will have better air quality. When it’s cold outside, we tend to keep our home’s tightly shut and sealed. This helps keep cold air out and warm air in, but it also traps indoor contaminants in our home’s air. Because a variable speed furnace’s fan is constantly running, air is consistently sent through your home’s filter or air cleaner. This allows a variable speed furnace to remove more particles from your home’s air, which improves its overall air quality. This is especially important during winter when colds, flus and other viruses are most commonly spread throughout a home.
- Your furnace will run quieter. The fans in some furnaces can be relatively loud when they operate, especially if they are located within earshot of one of your home’s living spaces. With a variable speed furnace, the fan runs at slower speeds (which are quieter) and you won’t hear the sound of your fan turning on and off over and over again throughout the day.
If you have any questions about a variable speed furnace, or if you’d like a heating system serviced or installed in your home, contact Hydes, your Coachella Valley furnace installation and repair contractor.
