Your Guide to Buying a Furnace in Indianapolis
Revised: Fall 2023
While it’s technically still summer, the fall weather is here. And while it may not feel cold like the winter yet, you know those days are coming — they always do in the Indianapolis area. If you know you’ll be in the market for replacing your furnace this year — or if you’re reading this after your old furnace just gave out— here are five things to keep in mind during your furnace shopping experience.
1. Efficiency
When it gets cold in Indianapolis, it can get downright frigid. And to keep warm, we can run our furnaces a lot during the fall and winter seasons. If you’re considering a high-efficiency furnace, here’s an insider tip: dig into your gas bills and ask your HVAC design technician to calculate your annual savings before making the purchase. This information will help you know if it’s in your best interest to make such an investment.
Most calculations show that a high efficiency furnace will save hundreds of dollars each year, when compared to standard efficiency furnaces. Standard efficiency furnaces are 80% efficient in their consumption of natural gas, while high efficiency furnaces being at 90% efficiency. When you add the rebates and tax credits often available for high efficiency furnaces, the payback time is even shorter.
2. Blower Motor
Your furnace blower motor moves the air around your home throughout the year. To make it more comfortable inside your home — especially in two story homes — you could invest in a variable speed blower. Of course, if you don’t have a comfort problem, then this investment probably isn’t for you.
A variable speed blower works how it sounds – giving your furnace multiple speeds of airflow. Why that matters is that not every day is created equal from a comfort standpoint. For example, a 40 degree day outside might not require the full blast of warm air that your furnace can produce and therefore should demand a lower blower speed to maximize the comfort. These types of blower modulations keep a more consistent temperature throughout homes, especially multi-story homes.
3. Thermostat
If you don’t have a programmable thermostat or smart phone compatible thermostat, you are missing out on the most useful feature available in the HVAC industry. Many installing companies will add these types of thermostats to the job with little markup, and you can see a significant reduction in your operating costs as a result. Consumer Reports estimates it pays for itself within a year.
In addition to the experiential benefits of a smart thermostat, most utilities over rebates for their purchase.
4. Expected Move
The value of efficiency comes into play once you’ve done the math. If you’re not planning on being in your home for more than 3 years, it’s not likely you’ll get the return on investment in a high-efficiency furnace. Obviously, it’s tough to predict when a home will sell, but we recommend against a high-efficiency spend if you’re not going to be around to enjoy the lower gas bills. At the same time, more home buyers are expecting appliances like furnaces to be environmentally friendly, so you should weigh that option when buying a new furnace.
5. Quality Control of Installers
More than anything else, the quality of the furnace installation will determine your long-term happiness with your new furnace. Once you’ve decided on the efficiency, blower, and thermostat, demand to know what sort of people, process, and follow-up goes into the installation of your new furnace. Overlooking this step can cost you money and headaches.
At Homesense, all of our team are w2 employees, provided unique benefits like Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, retirement plans, and most importantly continuing education opportunities. Why that all matters is that technicians that are committed from the long run, provide a quality installation built for the long run.
If we can be of more service during your search for buying a furnace, just give Homesense a call at 317-203-8149.