My furnace is well over twenty years old.
My husband and I bought our house almost twenty years ago and the heating system wasn’t brand new.
I have been very diligent about replacing air filters every month and scheduling professional tune-ups every fall. The furnace has been wonderfully reliable. We’ve dealt with only a couple of minor repairs over the last two decades. It continues to provide dependable heating every winter. However, the system is well-past its expected lifespan. The furnace can’t last forever. Eventually it’s going to malfunction and not be worth fixing. The heating system will most likely fail when it’s working the hardest, right in the middle of the winter. I don’t want to be in a rush to get a new furnace installed during a January blizzard. When the temperature drops into the negative digits, we can’t go without heat. There’s the very real concern of water pipes freezing and bursting. I would prefer to be proactive and schedule heater installation during the summer. Plus, there are new furnaces that offer much higher efficiency levels. A new heater will certainly reduce our monthly utility bills. Those savings will help to quickly recover the initial cost. I would like to take advantage of some modern features, such as adaptable-speed technology, zone control and wifi connectivity. Our furnace is a two-stage model that is only capable of running at high or low speeds. The best models now automatically adjust output in one percent increments anywhere between forty and one hundred percent capacity. By operating at lower speeds or longer cycles, the furnace uses less energy, makes less noises and eliminates temperature fluctuations.