Insulation Services - High Efficiency Replacement Oil Furnace

When it came time to upgrade a 10-year-old oil furnace with a cracked heat exchanger, Dr. Energy Saver and the homeowner opted for installing a replacement oil furnace that operates at 87% efficiency - the highest efficiency rate available from an oil furnace. Although propane heating systems are more energy efficient (up to 96% efficiency) than oil furnaces, it was best to install a cost-effective High Efficiency Oil Furnace for this home, as there would be a higher cost involved in converting the existing system to propane. Dr. Energy Saver's commitment to responsible energy conservation practices guarantees that we will always carefully evaluate each case, and only suggest the best energy efficient solutions to fit your budget and your home. Dr. Energy Saver offers free estimates on all heating replacements.

Oil Furnace Replacement Overview

The old oil furnace was only 75% efficient so only 75% of your oil is being used for heat and the other 25% is going out your chimney in the form of combustion gases. However the new furnace is the highest efficiency you can get when it comes to an oil furnace is 87% but it you have propane or natural gas equipment you can get up to 96% efficient.

Barometric Dampers

There are 2-zone valves one upstairs and one downstairs now since this oil furnace uses a lot of air for combustion and through these barometric dampers, one for the furnace and one for the water heater and they draw air from the basement into this barometric damper for delusion air to go up the chimney.

"Fan In A Can"

Now this particular piece of equipment is sometimes referred to as a "fan in a can". Basically its made up air and there's a fan inside here with a duct that goes to the outside and only when the burner is running does this fan run to bring in makeup air into the basement so that we know where the conditioned air makeup is coming from.

High Efficiency Air Filter

We have a high efficiency air filter, it is four inches thick and it's a MERV 11 air filter which is a very good air filter that will suck out 90% of particles over two microns in size. All multi-pores are greater than two microns so they'll be caught in this filter and certainly all the household dust and so forth.

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Larry Janesky of Dr. Energy Saver came out to change a cracked heat exchanger on a 10 year old furnace. In the heat exchanger combustion gases pass through, the air from the house then goes around it and the heat from the combustion gases heat the air that was sent to the home. Now when you have a cracked heat exchanger combustion gases can get into the air stream through the ducts and carbon monoxide can get into the house and so forth, which isn't a good situation. So we upgraded this oil furnace and we're pretty much committed to oil in this case although we did consider changing over to propane but it would have been a lot of work to install the tank and remove the old oil tank so we just stayed with the oil equipment. The old oil furnace was only 75% efficient so only 75% of your oil is being used for heat and the other 25% is going out your chimney in the form of combustion gases. However the new furnace is the highest efficiency you can get when it comes to an oil furnace is 87% but it you have propane or natural gas equipment you can get up to 96% efficient which means only 4% of your heat that you paid for goes up the chimney.

There are 2-zone valves one upstairs and one downstairs now since this oil furnace uses a lot of air for combustion and through these barometric dampers, one for the furnace and one for the water heater and they draw air from the basement into this barometric damper for delusion air to go up the chimney. For every one part of combustion air it may draw 8 or 10 parts of delusion air to go up the chimney. This air comes from inside the house, now where does the makeup air come from? In other words if we're drawing air from inside the house to put up the chimney where we're depressurizing the basement as a result and the new air replace that air, comes from outside because we created a vacuum in the basement, we're sucking air in through the rim joists, through the basement windows, through the cracks and gaps on the top of the foundation and the building assembly and so that air has to be heated, cooled and dehumidified to be made comfortable.

High efficiency equipment would have a dedicated air supply right to the combustion chamber and a sealed pipe to the exhaust so it doesn't draw any air from the conditioned space and cause this depressurization which sucks unconditioned air from the outside into the building. Now this particular piece of equipment is sometimes referred to as a "fan in a can". Basically its made up air and there's a fan inside here with a duct that goes to the outside and only when the burner is running does this fan run to bring in makeup air into the basement so that we know where the conditioned air makeup is coming from. It's coming from the outside through this duct which is not necessary a good thing; we're basically sucking in outside air and blowing it into the basement. Now that we know there's going to be enough air for combustion and for makeup air while the oil furnace is running and it's not going to cause any for combustion problems because the basement is too depressurized.

So this is a goof thing for the atmospherically vented oil appliance but not nearly as good as high efficiency equipment that has sealed combustion and direct vent from the outside to the appliance and from the appliance back to the outside with no effect on interior air at all. We have a high efficiency air filter, it is four inches thick and it's a MERV 11 air filter which is a very good air filter that will suck out 90% of particles over two microns in size. All multi-pores are greater than two microns so they'll be caught in this filter and certainly all the household dust and so forth. So that's our oil furnace replacement from Dr. Energy Saver and there are various kinds of equipment and efficiencies that you would choose, of course Dr. Energy Saver always wants to replace your equipment with the highest efficiency equipment available for your situation and in this case with an oil furnace this was it. If you would like to have your heating system, air conditioning system or water heater replaced with high efficiency equipment or make your home more comfortable and more efficient, lower your cost of homeownership by reducing your fuel bills call Dr. Energy Saver, we'd love to help you.