{"id":1774,"date":"2021-01-25T11:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/blog\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2021-01-25T11:00:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T16:00:38","slug":"explaining-electric-furnace-efficiency-rating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/?p=1774","title":{"rendered":"Explaining the Electric Furnace Efficiency Rating"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"money-saving-house\"Installing an <\/span>electric furnace in Macclenny, FL<\/span><\/a> is a good choice for home heating. Electric furnaces can handle the heating requirements of the mild Florida winters without much trouble, and they\u2019re good for homes without a connection to a gas main.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We want to address something that\u2019s often misunderstood about electric furnaces in this post, which is their energy efficiency, or specifically their energy efficiency rating. This can help you understand the benefits and disadvantages of using an electric furnace, as well as assist in the future when you\u2019re making decisions about HVAC installations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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AFUE Is a Furnace\u2019s Energy Efficiency Rating<\/b><\/h2>\n

Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency is the standardized rating for the efficiency of furnaces of any type: gas, electric, propane, oil, etc. AFUE is expressed as a percentage, which is the amount of the furnace\u2019s energy source that is converted into heat energy, with the remaining lost to exhaust. So a natural gas furnace with an AFUE rating of 85% would on average turn 85% of the natural gas sent to it into heat, while 15% would be lost to exhaust.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The US Department of Energy has set AFUE standards that furnaces must meet in order to receive the ENERGY STAR label. For example, natural gas furnaces must have at least 95% AFUE. Condensing gas furnaces can score even higher than this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Energy Efficiency of Electric Furnaces<\/b><\/h2>\n

Now you know how AFUE works. How do electric furnaces measure up? What\u2019s the standard you can expect from an electric furnace model?<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer is simple: all electric furnaces have AFUE ratings of 100%.<\/span><\/p>\n

That sounds great, right? Why pick any other furnace model if electric furnaces have a <\/span>perfect <\/span><\/i>AFUE rating? It almost sounds too good to be true.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s because it is. Electric furnaces have an AFUE rating of 100% just by the nature of how they work. Electric furnaces don\u2019t have exhaust; they don\u2019t lose electric energy in the process of heating up the coils in the heating elements. All the electric energy transfers directly to the air.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The important factor to include here that we haven\u2019t discussed is the <\/span>cost<\/span><\/i> of energy. Efficiency isn\u2019t the only criteria to consider when purchasing a heating system. In general, natural gas is a less expensive form of energy than electricity, so gas furnaces often cost less to run than electric furnaces regardless of their efficiency rating. Efficiency is not a guarantee of savings, but a guideline. And in the case of an electric furnace, you don\u2019t even need to think about the efficiency rating.<\/span><\/p>\n

An Electric Furnace May Be the Right Choice<\/b><\/h2>\n

Given all that we\u2019ve said above, installing an electric furnace may end up a less expensive option for you: they cost less to install than gas furnaces, and in the Florida weather you won\u2019t end up running yours too often. The best way to ensure you end up with the best heating system for your home is to work with our experienced pros. They\u2019ll balance out all the vital factors so you have comfort without extraordinary costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Call Touchstone Heating and Air Inc 24\/7 for exceptional customer service!<\/b><\/a> Serving the Communities of North Central Florida since 1998.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do electric furnaces measure up? What\u2019s the standard you can expect from an electric furnace model?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[161,152,25],"class_list":["post-1774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heating-service","tag-electric-furnaces","tag-heating-system-installation","tag-macclenny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstoneheatingonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}