What Size Oil Furnace Do I Need

Pipes of a heating system

Autumn is fully underway and well-nigh homes have had the oestrus turned on at least in one case. Checklists are being printed out and homeowners are starting to winterize their homes as the weather cools. If y'all oasis't already, now is a good time to make sure your furnace is working—you don't want to go defenseless out in the cold!

For a detailed overview on how a furnace heats your dwelling house, check out this folio – How Does a Furnace Piece of work?

Whether you're building a home or replacing an outdated furnace, it's important to find one that provides enough rut for your dwelling house. Of course, the furnace size depends on the size—or square footage—of your home, too as the quality of insulation. Working with an experienced HVAC contractor is one way to make certain your dwelling house gets the correct size furnace installed. If you're interested in doing it yourself, you can calculate how much free energy your home needs to stay warm and then buy the appropriate furnace for your needs.

Table of Contents

What is BTU?
Factors That Affect Furnace Size
What Size Furnace Does My Home Demand?
Will I Need a Furnace Contractor?

What is BTU?

When information technology comes to determining what size furnace your home needs, you first need to find out how much energy information technology will take to warm your home. That's where BTU comes in. BTU stands for British Thermal Unit, and is a measurement that determines the thermal energy output of various devices. To put information technology more scientifically, BTU measures the free energy it takes to warm ane pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. For this post, we'll apply BTUs to home furnaces, but just be aware that they can also be used when determining the energy it will accept to absurd your habitation.

Factors That Affect Furnace Size

Determining the size of your furnace requires a little more choosing small, medium or large, merely information technology doesn't accept to exist very complicated. A basic rule of thumb is that information technology takes 30 BTUs for every 1,000 square feet. At the virtually basic level, if you have a 1,000 foursquare pes house, y'all'll wait for a furnace that has thirty,000 BTU output. However, there are several factors to take into consideration:

The age of your abode. Typically, older homes are less energy efficient and may crave more than BTUs to stay warm.
Quality of insulation. Similarly, if your habitation has poor insulation you may demand a larger furnace.
The quality and number of windows in your dwelling house. If y'all have one-time windows, the window frames may be drafty and allow heat to escape. Newer windows will have meliorate insulation. Windows facing the south will also passively oestrus your home, as they let for sunlight to enter the home and retain the warmth.
Size of your dwelling. The larger your domicile, the more free energy it volition require to heat.
Location of your home. The energy your furnace requires definitely depends on where you live in the The states. A home in Minnesota will depend on their furnace much more than a home in Louisiana. If you live in Minnesota, yous'll want a furnace with a higher BTU output, mayhap double what the average Louisians resident installs in their home.
Energy efficiency rating of the furnace. Newer furnaces will have a tag that shows their free energy efficiency ranking. Information technology'southward all-time to choose a furnace with the highest ranking within your toll point. Even if your home isn't especially energy efficient, having an efficient furnace will go along your bills as depression every bit possible while you lot stay warm.

What Size Furnace Does My Home Demand?

If yous don't know the foursquare footage of your home, it'due south fairly easy to calculate it. To measure out the square footage for your home, multiply the length and width of each room that yous wish to estrus. Add the measurements for each room together and y'all will come up up with the square footage of your firm. Then multiply the square footage by BTU—and remember, if yous live in a moderate climate your BTU measurement will be closer to thirty. If you alive in a colder climate, or have less-than-stellar insulation, your BTU could be closer to fourscore. And so this would mean that if your one,000 square foot home was in Minnesota, your adding would wait like this:

80 X i,000 foursquare feet = eighty,000 BTUs.

Technician looking over a gas furnace with a flashlight before cleaning it.

Will I Need a Furnace Contractor?

A trusted HVAC contractor volition know nearly the latest engineering science and energy efficient furnaces on the market. They can besides decide if your furnace merely needs to be repaired or replaced completely. Working with an HVAC contractor will too help to guarantee you get the best furnace for you and your family's needs. In add-on to making sure information technology is properly installed, a contractor will present a few furnace options and explain the pros and cons of each type. If yous've never replaced a furnace before, I suggest consulting with an HVAC contractor before you undertake a furnace replacement projection, by and large for prophylactic reasons. They can assist show yous what to practice and and then propose basic maintenance tips for prolonging your furnace's life.