On a cold day in Kennewick, there’s nothing like curling up beneath a blanket in your warm house. The key component in maintaining a warm house is a quality furnace. If you’re thinking of replacing your furnace, you might be surprised to learn that there are multiple types of furnaces available, each well-suited to certain applications. To better understand which furnace might be right for your home, here are the types of furnaces that we install in residential applications.

Standard Gas or Electric Furnace

If you’re looking for an economical option to keep your home warm, a standard gas or electric furnace from Bruce Mechanical is the best way to go. These furnaces are modern versions of furnaces that have been used for many decades. They have a single speed to heat the air as it’s distributed throughout your home.

Although they aren’t the most efficient type of furnace, they are the least expensive. Plus, with the many advances in furnace technology through the years, new single-stage furnaces are far more efficient than their older counterparts. Therefore, if you use good temperature management, you can still achieve excellent efficiency to help keep your utility bills under control.

Two-Stage or Multi-Stage Furnace

For improved efficiency, while still maintaining most of your existing peripheral equipment, a two-stage furnace from Bruce Mechanical will provide outstanding results. Two-stage furnaces take advantage of the fact that a low level of heating is sufficient to keep your home warm on most days.

To save energy, a two-stage furnace uses its lower heat setting on warmer days when less heating is required. On especially cold days, the higher heat setting kicks in to help keep you comfortable. In addition to saving energy by creating less heat, a two-stage furnace helps improve comfort because it runs for longer to maintain the same temperature.

Air-Source Heat Pump

To move up to the next level of efficiency, you need to stop creating heat and instead transition to moving heat from one place to another. That’s exactly what an air-source heat pump does. These devices use refrigerant to absorb heat from the outdoor air and expel that heat in the indoor air.

Moving refrigerant and changing its pressure in a closed system is much more energy-efficient than using energy to create heat. Therefore, an air-source heat pump is among the most efficient ways to heat your home. Plus, the same equipment that heats your home in the winter can cool your home in the summer by reversing the flow of refrigerant.

Ground-Source Heat Pump

For the ultimate in efficiency, the pros at Bruce Mechanical recommend a ground-source heat pump. This system is based on the same principle as an air-source heat pump. Instead of absorbing heat from the air, though, a ground-source heat pump absorbs heat from the ground.

Since the ground temperature in Kennewick remains fairly constant throughout the year, it’s much easier for a ground-source heat pump to absorb the heat that’s needed to keep your home comfortable. This makes for a very efficient and quiet system that can last for a long time. As with an air-source heat pump, a ground-source heat pump can be used for both heating and cooling.

Ductless Mini-Split Systems

If you have a smaller space that you need to heat efficiently, another option, called a ductless mini-split system, is available from Bruce Mechanical. These systems are a smaller variation of air-source heat pumps, with a small unit inside and a larger condenser outside. These units are perfect for homes that don’t have central heating and for separate buildings that you can’t practically heat with a central system. These units are simple to operate, they provide both heating and cooling and they are available in many modern styles.

A Home Heating Expert

Since our founding more than 15 years ago, the pros at Bruce Mechanical have been serving this community with pride. To help keep our customers comfortable, we offer maintenance, repair and installation services for air conditioners and furnaces. If you’d prefer an alternate heat source, we can safely install a variety of fireplace options as well. We can also take on commercial heating and cooling projects to help serve your business. Our customers continually rave about our services with five-star reviews. To learn more about keeping your Kennewick home comfortable this winter, contact us at Bruce Mechanical today.