Furnace Efficiency Standards to Rise in May 2013

[Published Jan. 3, 2013, in the Denver Post and in four Jeffco weekly newspapers]

A “standard” forced air furnace nowadays is 80% efficient, but next May “standard” will mean 90% because that’s when no furnace lower than 90% may be sold in “northern tier” states like Colorado. (You can buy a house with an 80% efficient furnace after May, but when that furnace needs replacing, you must replace it with a minimum 90% efficient furnace.)

You can recognize a 90% or higher efficiency furnace because it has a PVC flue that goes laterally outside the house instead of a metal flue going vertically through the roof. These furnaces also have PVC air intake pipes to bring combustion air directly from outdoors.

 

This picture shows a 90% efficient furnace installed in one of my listings. The white PVC pipe on the left brings fresh outside air into the combustion chamber. The bigger PVC pipe on the right is the exhaust flue. It’s because the furnace extracts so much heat from the heat source that the flue can be plastic instead of metal.

Currently, 90% efficient furnaces cost more than “standard” furnaces, but once these furnaces are mass produced as the new standard, we can expect that the cost will be reduced substantially.