Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing - Advice, Discussion and Tips from ARS®/Rescue Rooter®. Welcome to the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect, your online resource center for information, answers and interactive advice about air conditioning, heating, plumbing and drain maintenance. As part of our commitment to providing exceptional service, we created the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect to be a useful tool with many helpful ways to find what you need.
My natural gas fired furnace heat exchanger is rusty, it leaks, and I need a new furnace. I want a good reliable unit, but I do not want to spend a fortune on it. The existing heating unit is an upflow type with return air coming in through the bottom and discharging out the top. What are the best brands that are affordable and reliable?
For your area, I would recommend a furnace with an 80% Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) rating. Higher efficiency furnaces are in wide use in other areas, but the payback in your location from the energy saved versus energy used would be many years. In a large portion of the country, the best choice will be a furnace that has in excess of 90% AFUE. They have the advantage of bringing air from the outdoors directly to the furnace to supply the air needed for gas combustion. The installing contractor is equally as important as the manufacturer of the furnace. Modern furnaces are very safe, efficient and reliable, but they also require more attention to detail by the installer than previous furnaces. With all of the recent improvements in design and control, a new furnace gives a very high level of safety and security. The best known brands are the leading innovators with the highest level of technological advances designed into their furnaces, giving you maximum efficiency, performance and safety. I suggest you contact a professional HVAC contractor, like the ARS/Rescue Rooter branch in San Diego, CA at (800) 424-3416, to assist you with assessing your needs for a new furnace.
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