What Is a Fully Modulating Furnace?

The winter lows in Brevard, NC can drop below freezing. Therefore, your home needs a furnace that can handle the frigid days and nights while ensuring your family’s comfort. Are you looking to upgrade your furnace system? If so, you might want to consider installing a fully modulating furnace.

So What Is It?

Also called a variable-speed furnace, a fully modulating furnace has an electronic motor that runs at different speeds depending on your heating needs. The blower motor monitors the data coming from your furnace and automatically adjusts its settings to vary the amount of circulated air it puts out, compensating for potential issues like dirty filters or blocked vents by increasing the fan’s speed.

A Look at Single-Speed Furnaces

You might be more used to a single-speed furnace, which has a single, fixed gas valve paired with a single-speed blower motor. When a single-speed furnace is turned on, it’s always running at full blast — no matter what season it is. This means your furnace is using more power and experiencing more wear and tear.

What About Dual-Speed?

Dual-speed or two-stage furnaces are more efficient than single-speed units, as they have two levels of heat output: high and low. Usually, a dual-speed system’s blower motor runs on the low setting and only kicks into high speeds when it gets really cold out and it needs the extra boost to heat your space. This type of furnace typically runs for longer periods of time because it’s running on the low setting most often.

Go With Fully Modulating

Meanwhile, a fully modulating furnace will gradually build up to full speed, eliminating that sudden noisy blast of air you might be used to from your old furnace. By being able to progressively work up to its full speed, your furnace’s mounting hardware gets less stress put on it as it powers up, saving you on repair costs.

As you bundle up this winter, remember that you have options when it comes to upgrading to a new furnace. When you’re ready for that upgrade, call Mountain Air Mechanical Contractors at (828) 522-5943 . Our service technicians can help you stay warm all season.

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