Why Your Gas Bill is So High: The Hidden Cost of Skipping Furnace Maintenance

After receiving last month’s utility bill, you might be wondering, “Why is my gas bill so much higher this year than last?” The cold of winter naturally causes the furnace to run, so the bill is expected to be higher than the other three seasons. But when the wintertime gas bill is unusually high, there are usually underlying issues to blame. However, the underlying issues are quite common, so take a look at these causes of furnaces inefficiencies.

Lower Your Winter Utility Bills with These Simple Furnace Maintenance Tips

A Clogged Filter

Ignoring the most basic furnace maintenance task, changing the air filter, can be the cause of many repair calls to Dr. Cool technicians. Indoor air seems very clean, but in reality, a lot of dust, dander, and other contaminants are evident in every home. The air filter effectively captures these contaminants, and rather quickly, the filter is completely covered. If the filter is not changed frequently, about every three months, the collection of dust begins to clog the filter and block the air from passing through the filter.

In the short term, this

• reduces the heating capacity of the furnace,
• makes the home cooler than desired, and
• raises the gas bill.

In the long run, a clogged filter

• forces the furnace to work harder, especially the blower motor, and
• shortens the useful life of the furnace system.

Check your air filter and change it regularly.

Old Age

Many homeowners are unaware of the age of their furnace system and, without relevant information, assume that the furnace will last forever. The average useful life for a furnace system ranges between 15 and 20 years. As time passes, efficiency also wanes. Any mechanical system that must work harder to accomplish the required task will require more energy to fulfill the task. More energy will cost more money, so age can be a sure cause of a higher gas bill.

Leaking Insulation or Ductwork

During construction, builders create a building envelope that keeps the weather outside and comfort inside. The envelope includes a thermal barrier that prevents air movement between the inside air and the outside air. It also reduces the amount of heat that passes through solid structures as radiant heat. Wherever gaps occur in this envelope, heat is allowed to move outside, and cold moves inside to replace it. The furnace must warm all of the great outdoors as well as the home, a losing proposition.

Leaking ductwork magnifies this problem, since the warm air inside a duct is under pressure. Any gap or leak that develops in either supply or return vents is forced into the unconditioned spaces around a home, with a dramatic loss of heat. Restoring the building envelope by re-caulking gaps around windows and doors, increasing attic insulation as needed, and repairing gaps in the ducts that pass through attics and crawlspaces.

Forgetting Furnace Maintenance

If your gas bill is high, check your records for the last scheduled furnace maintenance. Your heating and air conditioning system is a complex mechanical system that requires regular system and furnace maintenance. This is especially true for natural-gas furnaces.

• The ignition system of gas furnaces are delicate and easily fouled by soot, a normal product of the combustion of natural gas. Carbon soot can coat the surfaces of sensors and prevent efficient ignition.
• The burner assembly is made of cast iron. When natural gas is burned, another product is water vapor. Cast iron is susceptible to rust from the water and from soot.
• The heat that results from burning natural gas runs through a series of baffles before exhausting to the outside of the home; this component is called a heat exchanger. Air moves around the baffles and is moved throughout the home, producing the warmth everyone desires. However, if the heat exchanger is allowed to corrode with rust, the exhaust will move into the home with disastrous results.

If you discover that your HVAC system needs a furnace maintenance appointment, give Doctor Cool & Professor Heat a call at 281-516-5966 to schedule a maintenance visit.