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Furnace Reviews and Buying Guide:Comparing furnaces (home heating systems) is hard to do since so many factors effect how they will perform including insulation, home size, climate, and window condition. The most important thing is to buy a furnace that will be able to handle your home size and make sure it is a high efficiency furnace (often there are rebates or cash back offers from local energy companies for buying an energy efficient appliance like a furnace). Another factor to take into account is whether you want to buy a gas furnace, electric furnace, or oil furnace. Much of that will probably be decided for you depending on what the contractor or builder set the house up for. I know that back East most furnaces are run on oil while the Northwest (where I live) is run on gas. There are electric furnaces which may not be as efficient as a gas or oil models, but the cost to run them does't fluctuate with the price of gas/oil like the others will. The price for natural gas recently doubled during the winter of 2005 with price speculation being the culprit, so natural gas furnaces will be a gamble as energy prices move higher. Consumers and experts alike say that getting the proper size furnace, a well know contractor and a long warranty are probably more important than choosing the best brand name.
Replace Furnace Filters - How often do I need to replace them?:
Furnace Ductwork - Furnace Cleaning and Repairing:Having your furnace and furnace ducts cleaned once every few years is what you should be doing. It costs about $30 per duct plus another $100-$200 to clean the actual furnace. Dust build-up, pollen and animal hair/dander can slowly clog up your heating/air system in your house and make for poor air quality. Look in your local newspaper or yellow pages to find a reputable company that will do the work. Often they try to sell you on high end filters or furnace parts, so be careful and do some research on pricing to know what is likely. I've had my furnace cleaned multiple times in the 5 years I've live in my house and both times the company wanted me to spend an additional $200 for things I didn't need. Keeping your furnace serviced and cleaned every few years should keep down the repair costs. For those of you who are DIY, then go to Ductmonkey.net for some hands on instructions on how to do furnace ductwork and heating ductwork.Furnace Parts:If you know that your furnace needs a particular part, you are better off ordering it yourself than letting a furnace technician buy it and charge you for it (they tend to mark up costs of parts at least 25%). Heatcoolparts.com is the perfect furnace parts site with thermostats, ignitors, ignition controls, motors, relays, gas valves, fan timers, contactors, conversions kits, electric heat controls, burners, pilots, flame sensors, fan center, and filters. My electric heat sequence went out on my Honeywell furnace and the part cost me $160 (the furnace repairman wanted $200 for it). .
Replacing a Furnace
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(they carry Whirlpool, Honeywell, 3M, Endust, etc.). Furnacefilterwarehouse.com is a great site to start with for "micro allergy" pleated filters that offer a MERV-11 rating. The "Micro Allergy" filter is the perfect upgrade from regular pleated filters, poly ring panels or standard disposable panel filters. Costs range from $29 for a 4 pack to $73 for a 4 pack. Other top furnace air filter brands are Honeywell, Aprilaire, Bryant, Carrier, Trion, Skuttle, General, and Cimatec. The top selling Cimatec is the Aircleen 1500 - an electronic filter that fits almost any 1" filter slot ($199). Aprilaire air cleaner media filters are about $40. Thefilterstore.com has over 4000 furnace air filters with popular products like the AirDemon, AmAir 1100, PerfectPleat ultra, PerfectPleat, Dirt Demon Dust Shield, StrataDensity. I prefer the AmAir 1100 Allergen Reduction Air Filter for my family since we have allergies to dust and pollens and we have seen great results with these.