AN UPDATE ON "WHAT KIND OF FURNACE TO BUY"
Actually I don't think I addressed this issue in a previous posting. Here is a summary of what that posting might have looked like - IF YOU LIVE IN ANY OF THE 29 NORTHERN STATES, AS OF MAY 2013 THE DEPT. OF ENERGY (FEDERAL GOVT.) WILL DICTATE TO YOU THE TYPE OF FURNACE YOU MAY PUT IN YOUR HOME!!!
Here is the follow up - after being sued by the American Public Gas Association the feds have backed off this ruling. The APGA maintained in their suit that such a ruling would force low income homeowners to swap their gas furnaces for electric and kerosene space heaters. I would like to know how they arrived at that conclusion.
It's worthy to note that the ruling does not apply to boilers or hot water heating systems; just gas forced air furnaces. Also, it looks like these rules will be remanded to a commenting process so look for them to return in some form or another in the future.
Here are some interesting points! The DOE claims that these new rules, if they go into effect, will cut our country's residential energy use by 20% between 2013 and 2045. If this is true this would be quite significant and certainly something to consider. It also claims that a high efficiency furnace can save the average home owner about $100.00 a year in energy costs - again, something significant.
Those who are supposed to be "in the know" claim that the higher cost of installing a high efficiency furnace will force some to abandon their gas furnace for other options - don't know if that's a reasonable statement or not.
No matter what, the bottom line here seems to be that the DOE at some point in time is going to finalize some rules on furnace replacement so if you think you may not want to pay the extra $ to have a high efficiency furnace installed you may want to give some thought to replacing your furnace now or at best start putting a little $ away for when the time comes and your furnace takes a nose dive -GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT!
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