What Makes The Best Furnace?
Learn what makes our best furnace brands list and why.
What is the average life expectancy of a gas furnace?
In Canada, the average life expectancy of a gas furnace is about 10-15 years if properly maintained. Your furnace is a lot like a vehicle, it takes fuel, runs a motor, and needs regular care and attention to keep it going strong. Check out our blog advice on maintenance.
How much does a gas furnace cost?
In Calgary and the area, a new gas furnace usually costs upwards of $5000 these days, depending on the brand and its variable upfront cost, as well as who is installing it for you. Some HVAC companies charge more than others. In this price range, you should expect the package to include the unit and all necessary materials and labour costs to be included. Very large homes may require more than one furnace to keep things toasty.
In Alberta, most homes are run on gas furnaces, but in other parts of Canada, the main heating system is run on oil (diesel fuel). One of these would set you back just as much as its gas counterparts but are far widely less efficient, producing a “dirtier” by-product and contributing more to global warming concerns. There are higher efficiency oil furnaces out there but are rarely purchased, given they would set you back 5 figures instead of 4.
At Valley Heating and Cooling Services, we believe that a necessary expense like heating your home shouldn’t cause your finances to hemorrhage, so we offer fair and competitive prices, just ask us for a free quote!
How much does a high-efficiency furnace cost in Calgary and the area?
High-efficiency furnaces in and around Calgary will usually run you about $5000-$9000 for parts and labour, depending on which brand name you go with a who installs it. Since the furnace is selected based on factors like your home’s square footage, and its installation is customized to your exact home, it’s really difficult to give you a specific price, but we want you to know a few other things about high-efficiency furnaces in this post.
High efficiency means that about 96-98% of the energy your furnace produces to heat your home or business will stay in the building, losing only about 2-4% to the environment. In Canada, you don’t have much choice but to go with anything less efficient than that because mid-efficiency furnaces haven’t been sold in Canada since 2009, with a push for a “greener” industry.
To put it into perspective, a mid-efficiency furnace from 20 years ago, if still in your home today would lose approximately 22% of its energy. That means that for every dollar it costs you to heat your home, 22 cents is literally being lost, going up in smoke, poof! into thin air, as they say. It’s probably for the best that you can only get a high-efficiency furnace nowadays…
Perhaps the last time you looked into replacing a furnace, the price was much less. A decade ago, a furnace would have been priced at about $3000-6500, but as we all know, the cost of most things has risen since then, and furnaces are no exception. Supply demands, inflation (thanks 2022…), and wage increases are just a few things that contribute to the higher cost. But not all furnaces cost the same, so be sure to ask our expert techs which ones they would install in their homes. You can also shoot us an email at [email protected]a or read this blog post on our favourite brand.
What are the best furnace brands?
Largely speaking, furnaces are designed and built to Canada’s industry standards and have very similar specifications across brands, so don’t get too hung up on what the “best” furnace brand is (more to come). As of 2009, all furnaces sold in Canada must be high-efficiency furnaces, meaning that less of their energy is lost outside of providing warmth to your home or business, compared to the furnaces of yesteryear.
That said, we do have a favourite, and it costs less than most options popular in the area! See what we recommend and why Here
Some of the most asked-about brands include names like Lennox, Trane, Goodman and Carrier. If it’s a made-in-Canada furnace you are after, there’s only one in that market, called Napoleon, but it’s not as mainstream as the others. Generally, these companies provide a quality product that will deliver reliable heating for years to come and supply a variety of models to choose from (but let the pros help you figure that part out). Consumer report just in: what’s under the hood comes from the same few international manufacturers, but the cost of these brands can vary quite a bit, so ask our expert team at Valley Heating and Cooling about which option is best for your needs and budget. Get in touch to avoid the rush!
Furnace brands to avoid
For the most part, any Canadian-sold furnace you choose to go with for your home install should do a good job of keeping you, your family, tenants, or staff comfortable when you need it too. After all, furnaces only have two jobs – keep everyone warm and provide air circulation going year-round.
Fun fact – improved circulation, especially through a filter, is proven to reduce the person-to-person transmission of airborne viruses. Those of us in Canada know that you just can’t keep your windows open year-round, so that leaves the furnace’s blower motor to provide airflow even when the heat isn’t fired up. You can always consult with a Valley Heating and Cooling team tech to learn more about how to do this more effectively in your home, just send us a message or give us a call.
Now, I’m not going to trash any brands on this post, but there is one brand in particular that I have found since my start in the industry back in the early 2000s to have more failures, more often, than any other brand, and it’s not the “cheap” one. As you can imagine, I don’t suggest or recommend this one brand to my customers. If a customer were to ask me to install this brand or ask for my honest opinion when considering to install it, I will give it. Valley Heating and Cooling wants our customers to be happy with their purchase, and frankly, I don’t want to service a unit that I don’t have much faith in!
Otherwise, my last piece of advice on furnace brands to avoid is to watch out for promises and warranties that are too good to be true. For example, there are brands that advertise lifetime or 25-year warranty on certain parts. As an example, let’s use a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is a key part of a running furnace, think of it as the element that heats your home. The heat exchanger in a furnace unit isolates the combustion fumes so that the air flowing around and over it can be transferred and blown to the rest of the building through the duct work, providing a warm living and working environment without gas fumes filling the air. So, it is important. And while a 25-to-life warranty on a heat exchanger is really great, there are many, many more parts that make up your furnace, and sadly, they will not last that kind of time. Make no mistake, your furnace will fail at some point before its 25th birthday. The average life expectancy on a furnace is 10-15 years when well maintained. Are you likely to rebuild your furnace end to end, part by part, except for that heat exchanger, 2-3 times over? OR are you more likely to ditch the hassle of being heat-free umpteen times over 25+ years (never mind the astronomical expense of option 1) and just get a new furnace with all its improved technology and efficiency 10-15 years down the road? I think we all know the answer, so don’t let these huge warranties fool you; I never see people cash in on these top-tier warranties because the whole unit is long gone.
But this is why you hire an experienced Pro, right? At Valley Heating and Cooling, we love helping people learn and choose the right product for your home, so reach out and see how we can make your furnace installation the best possible experience now and for years to come!
