When you’re shopping for a new heating system, it can feel like you’ve got a little angel on one shoulder whispering in your ear, and a little devil on the other shoulder, whispering in your other ear. But how can you tell which advice is from the angel and which is from the devil? For example, it can be really tempting to go with the lowest bid. A voice whispers, “All furnaces are the same, you might as well save some money!” But is this true?
No, it’s not true.
Very often, the contractor giving the low bid is cutting corners to get the business…and that can leave you stuck in a corner!
For example, some contractors don’t take time to do a thorough analysis of your home before they put together a recommendation. And, unless you’re very lucky, this can lead to all kinds of problems.
This is why the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) states that you should “only hire a contractor who asks questions, measures windows, doors, floors, ceilings, checks insulation, calculates a heating load, and fixes system problems that may compromise comfort and cost you money.”
Your contractor should never recommend a heating system without first doing a complete analysis of your home and checking a long list of factors such as the size and style of your house, insulation, passive solar energy, how much heat comes from lights and appliances, the condition of your ducts and pipes, and more.
Your contractor should also do a computer load calculation–measuring all the rooms, checking the insulation and doors, and inputting all this data into special industry software to calculate the heat loss/gain.
Finally, your contractor should do static pressure, temperature and flow tests to help determine exactly how your heating system’s current distribution system is working within your home. When you are interviewing contractors, ask them to describe the methods they’ll use for doing an analysis of your home. Then work with a contractor who does his homework.
