Minnesota winters are nothing to take lightly. That’s something you certainly know if you’ve already spent at least one winter living here. You probably think that you take the winters as seriously as you should—but if you’ve been ignoring indications that the furnace that warms your home through to spring is no longer up to the task, it’s time to get serious about arranging for a furnace replacement in St. Louis Park, MN.
The furnace at the end of the road
Let’s first look at the signs that you have a furnace that’s “had it.” You may already have suspicions, but check for these warnings that will tell you gas furnace replacement is something to consider during fall.
- It’s 15 or more years old: The average age range for a gas furnace is around 15 years. Some may fade around 10 years, and a few may last to 20. However, we recommend caution with any furnace that’s over 15 years in service. This is the point when a furnace is likely to start to decline, suffer breakdowns, and become an energy waster. Ask your maintenance technician about whether it’s time to retire the furnace.
- Noisy operation: Last winter, was the furnace creating a racket when it was on, enough that people noticed it? That’s never a good sign. In a furnace that’s still less than 10 years old, this might just mean the system needs to be repaired. But for an older furnace, this kind of loud din usually means wear and tear have caught up the system.
- Climbing heating bills: If you have a predictable and steady use of heating in your home each winter, you should expect the cost to run the furnace to remain steady as well. There might be rises from the cost of natural gas or because you have family staying over during the holidays. But if costs are rising steadily over the past two years without any discernable explanation, the furnace is losing its efficiency. If the problem cannot be repaired, it’s more cost-effective to have a new furnace put in.
- Corrosion or any safety concerns: Corrosion on a furnace is bad news and can make it hazardous because of cracked heat exchangers. If you have any other worries that your furnace is becoming unsafe (such as your CO detectors going off), let technicians look it over and tell you if you need a new model to maintain safe conditions.
Furnace replacement
Now that you’ve decided it’s time for a new gas furnace, what do you do next? It’s simple: you contact our installation professionals. Only a licensed professional can work on an appliance hooked to a gas main. But you’ll need us for more reasons than that. We will see that you have the right type of furnace, with an efficiency rating that matches your needs. We’ll carefully size it so it delivers the heat your home needs without turning into an energy waster.
Freedom Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. serves Minneapolis-St. Paul and the surrounding areas with heating repair, replacement, and maintenance.