What Is A Gas Furnace?

Are Gas Furnaces Efficient? Read on!

Most appliances that are in our home are taken for granted. They exist. They do their jobs. We think little about them until they break down and our lives are inconvenienced.

Your furnace is at the top of that list. It sits in your basement or crawlspace, hidden behind a door, working flawlessly every day throughout the coldest months of the year. Until it doesn’t. That’s when you start to appreciate the technology that goes behind today’s modern furnace.

A gas furnace is exactly as it sounds: a furnace powered by natural gas. It provides quick, powerful, efficient heating for a relatively low cost every month.

How does it work?

It starts when you adjust your thermostat. When you flip the switch on, you select the desired home temperature. This sends a signal to your furnace that it’s time to start the heating process.

Your gas furnace has a control board that ensures the furnace is operating safely. Because your furnace is connected to natural gas, it is important that the safety mechanisms in place operate in a safe manner. This process is continually monitored throughout the heating process.

As the system turns on, natural gas ignites in the furnace and the air is delivered throughout your home via the ductwork. There is a delay of about 30 seconds for the heating process to kick in.

If at any point during the process a safety mechanism is triggered, the natural gas furnace is cut off and the furnace will shut down automatically. This process is in place to keep you, your family, and your home safe.

If everything proceeds normally, the temperature reading in your home eventually matches what was requested on your thermostat and the furnace shuts down.

Whenever your thermostat detects a reading below your set temperature, it will send a signal to start the process all over again.

Of course, this is a natural gas furnace at its simplest format. You can add all kinds of technology and automation to the process to make it more efficient. A programmable thermostat, for instance, can help you establish different temperatures for different parts of the day, depending on your home/work schedules. But the basic premise stays the same.

While it might seem like an easy process, keeping your furnace operating in top shape is a detailed process. And if you listen closely, you can tell when it’s not working as effectively as it should. Not turning on, short cycling, clicks and bangs, blowing cold air – these are all signs something isn’t working as it should. These are signs it’s time to call in a certified technician to get your equipment working properly once again.