Signs Your Furnace Is Too Big

When it comes to choosing a furnace, bigger does not necessarily mean better. Many homeowners have this misconception that if they buy a big heating system that they will decrease their home heating costs.

However, an oversized heater will have a negative impact on your entire HVAC system.

In particular, it will cause your HVAC system to degrade, leading to a wide range of HVAC problems before its complete breakdown. Furthermore, you will not be able to create a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. In addition, homeowners with oversized heating systems usually experience poor indoor air quality and high operational costs. Also, because the HVAC system is too big, it creates an abundance of repairs that a properly sized system would not.

Overall, buying an oversized system is a costly mistake that is made far too often.

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Middletown Furnace Replacement Service: How To Tell If Your Heating System Is Too Big

Fortunately, certain signs can tell you whether your furnace is the right size or not. By knowing what to look for, you can determine the best course of action. These signs include:

Heater Installation: Fuel & Ductwork

If you purchase an oversized furnace, you’ll likely need to hire additional labor to adjust or move your fuel connections to accommodate the furnace. Additionally, if the furnace is not compatible with your existing ductwork, you may have to modify or replace your ductwork.

Do Your Humidity Levels Fluctuate?

To achieve indoor comfort, the humidity levels in your home should be consistent throughout your house. Unfortunately, if your furnace is too big, it will likely cause the humidity levels in your home to fluctuate regularly, leading to humidity problems. More specifically, it will increase the chance of mold growth. Humidity issues will also create a less comfortable indoor environment, and trigger respiratory problems, such as nasal congestion and asthma, due to the presence of allergens in the water vapor.

Short Cycling Is Common With Oversized Furnaces

Short cycling is probably the most common sign of an oversized heater. In essence, if your furnace is too big, it will heat your home too quickly. However, because the rest of your HVAC system is not designed to handle the amount of heat generated by your oversized furnace, your unit’s thermostat will shut off the furnace prematurely to prevent it from overheating, leading to short cycling. Unfortunately, short cycling will increase the wear and tear on your furnace, causing it to break down frequently, which means it will have a shorter lifespan. At the same time, short cycling will increase your heating costs significantly.

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Temperature Imbalances In Your Home: Hot & Cold Spots

If your furnace is too big, it will cause temperature imbalances throughout your home. More specifically, the areas closest to your heater will be disproportionally warmer than the areas further away from your heater. At this point, it is important to note that temperature imbalance can cause your furnace to malfunction. If you notice temperature imbalances in your home, your furnace is likely oversized.

Higher HVAC Operating Costs Than Normal

As mentioned above, short cycling is one of the signs of an oversized furnace. Additionally, short cycling causes a furnace to consume more energy/fuel, leading to higher heating bills. Therefore, if your furnace is too big, you should get a qualified HVAC technician to replace it with a more suitable alternative.

Do You Have An Overly Noisy Heating System?

If your furnace is too big, it will likely be noticeably loud because your existing duct system will be unable to support it fully. While a noisy furnace can be a sign of other problems with your HVAC system, it’s likely to be a nuisance.

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Unrealistic Heating System Efficiency Ratings

In general, high-performance furnaces have a high AFUE rating and BTU capacity rating. However, this is not necessarily true for oversized high-performance heaters. To put it another way, if your high-performance furnace is too big, it will never attain its highest AFUE and BTU capacity ratings, which means you will never enjoy its energy efficiency benefits.

Conclusion

Signs your furnace is too big to include, among others, unrealistic efficiency ratings, overly noisy, higher operating costs, temperature imbalances, short cycling, humidity problems, and installation challenges. To avoid these problems, work with a professional HVAC professional to determine the proper furnace size for your home. In particular, an experienced HVAC contractor will perform a load calculation on your home, allowing you to choose the right size furnace for your home.

Lawes Company is an HVAC company that you can trust to service your heating system correctly. We have NATE certified technicians on staff who can do an excellent job for you.

At Lawes Company, we offer top class HVAC repairs, installations, tune-ups, and replacements. Our experts have the skills and expertise to give you the best practical and most affordable services. Get in touch with us today, and we will be happy to serve you. We offer free, in-home estimates.

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Some of the areas that we service include Belford, Keansburg, Middletown, Port Monmouth, and these zip codes 07718, 07734, 07748, 07758 as well as all surrounding areas in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

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