Electric Furnace Vs Gas Furnace Which is Easier To Repair?
When January rolls around, even Alabama starts to feel a bit chilly. While Birmingham is known for its mild winters, nighttime temperatures can still get cold. To avoid shivering your way through the holiday season, it’s essential to get your gas or electric furnace repaired. Timely repairs are integral to avoiding unexpected breakdowns during the coldest days of the year.
Are electric furnaces or gas furnaces more affordable to repair? Can homeowners handle gas-related repairs on their own? To learn more about these and other questions, read on.
How Electric Furnaces Work
An electric furnace and a gas furnace are fundamentally different because of the type of energy they use. Because electric furnaces rely on electricity, they have to make heat through resistance heating. Electric furnaces are able to use resistance heating and their heating coils to warm up a space instead of relying on combustion.
Basically, electric furnaces work like convection ovens to heat up air and move it through your home. Initially, air is pulled into the heat exchanger. At this point, the heating coils switch on and begin to warm up. When the furnace detects that the air has reached the appropriate temperature, the coils turn off. Then, the furnace’s fan sends the air into your home.
How Gas Furnaces Work
In comparison, gas furnaces require gas valves, combustion chambers, pilot lights, and burners to function. They heat homes through combustion heat.
At its heart, combustion heat involves the burning of gas. The furnace pulls natural gas through the gas valve and into the combustion chamber. At this stage in the process, the pilot light and burners are used to ignite the gas and create heat. Then, the heated air can be pumped into your home. Combustion byproducts are safely vented into the outdoor air, ensuring your family doesn’t breathe them in.
Are Electric Furnaces Easier To Repair Than Gas Furnaces?
The answer to this question is yes, but there is an important caveat. While repairs are typically cheaper and easier on an electric furnace, it really depends on which repairs are being done. Cleaning a burner is much easier than replacing a sequencer.
In addition to the type of repair, it’s also important to consider installation and replacement costs. An electric furnace tends to be much cheaper to install in a new home because you don’t have to set up any gas lines. On top of that, your likelihood of needing a replacement in the near future decreases drastically. While furnace lifespans can vary significantly based on how well they are maintained, electric ones tend to last much longer than gas units.
Electric Versus Gas Furnaces: A Quick Comparison
Besides the cost and ease of repairs, it is also important to consider a range of other factors when deciding on the best furnace for your home. Below, we’ve gone through some of the major distinctions between both types of furnaces. For a more extensive analysis, you can reach out to our team for a free evaluation and consultation.
- Installation Costs: As a general rule of thumb, you are going to spend less on an electric furnace installation than you will need to spend for a gas installation. However, the costs may be more comparable if you already have gas lines set up in your home.
- Energy Efficiency: With electric furnaces, almost all of the electricity is converted into heat. Gas furnaces can’t convert 100% of gas into heat because some is lost through the exhaust.
- Repair Costs: Electric units tend to be much easier and cheaper to repair than gas options, although this really depends on what kind of repair you need performed.
- Comfort and Performance: Electric furnaces provide even heating and operate with minimal noise. In contrast, gas units are louder. However, gas furnaces also provide a high level of heating performance, making them ideal for extremely cold climates. Birmingham has mild winters, so you can use either furnace option.
- Maintenance Needs: Because of its burners and specialized components, a gas furnace will need more complex, frequent maintenance than an electric furnace. However, we recommend getting a tune-up for both types of systems each fall to ensure your home is prepared for the arrival of winter.
- Environmental Impact: A gas furnace uses fossil fuels, so it has a worse impact on the environment than electric units.
- Lifespan: Your run-of-the-mill electric furnace is likely going to last for 20 to 30 years before it needs a replacement. In comparison, a standard gas furnace will need a replacement after 15 to 20 years.
How To Prevent Costly Furnace Repairs
Rather than worry about the cost of furnace repairs, the best option is to prevent repairs from becoming necessary in the first place. At One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating, we can help you avoid expensive repairs through our routine heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) maintenance. By getting your system cleaned and inspected each fall, you can prevent malfunctions and spot minor problems before they start to escalate.
As a homeowner, you can also prevent repairs by being diligent about changing your air filter. While each manufacturer has different recommendations, you will generally need to change or clean the filter every one to three months. If you notice unusual noises, unexplained odors, or performance problems, make sure to schedule professional repairs right away.
Get Professional Help Updating Your Home’s Heating System
At One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating, we’re committed to helping Birmingham residents solve complex heating and cooling problems. We’re on time, or you don’t pay a dime! No matter how complex the issue is, we will show up with our fully stocked trucks and immediately get to work. From licensed staff members to extensive local experience, we strive to deliver the best results possible. Find out more about gas and electric furnace repairs by giving us a call today.
