Do you need to install a new furnace in your home or business and not sure which location is best? The location of a furnace matters more than you may think, as it can have a direct impact on how well the furnace works and how high your heating costs are. In this article, we’ll explain all you need to know when it comes to choosing the location of your new furnace to help ensure you make the right choice.
Why Foundation Type Matters for Furnace Location
When choosing where to install a furnace, one factor that often comes into play is what type of foundation your home or commercial building has. Most homes in Eastern Wyoming have either a basement or crawl space, and either of these places is generally the best place to put a furnace in our area. If you have a home or business with a concrete slab foundation, the only options for where you can put your furnace are typically either in a utility closet on the ground floor or in the attic if the building has one.
Pros and Cons of Different Furnace Locations
The location of your furnace determines whether you need an upflow unit or a downflow unit. The difference between the two is where the cool air comes into the furnace and where the hot air exits it. In an upflow furnace, the cool air is drawn into the bottom of the furnace and then flows over the heat exchanger. The hot air then flows out through the top of the furnace where it connects to the supply ductwork. In a downflow furnace, the cool air enters through the top and the hot air flows out through the bottom.
Downflow furnaces are common in much warmer climates where the main concern is having effective enough air conditioning and you don’t need to worry all that much about heating. In our area, it’s quite rare for a building to have a downflow furnace except if it doesn’t have a basement or crawl space. The reason we mention air conditioning is that a central AC system and a furnace both rely on the same blower. That means the air handler always has to be directly above or below the furnace or, in some cases, right beside it.
The issue with using a downflow furnace in our area is that it also means most of your supply and return ductwork is in the attic or runs along the ceiling. This is useful for the AC system since it allows it to draw in all of the hot air that collects at the ceiling. However, it makes the heating system much less effective since all of the vents are located in the ceiling.
With an upflow furnace in the basement or crawl space, the system is set up so that the vents are instead on the floor. Even though the hot air from the vents eventually rises, having the vents on the floor allows the system to heat the entire space much more effectively. If the vents are on the ceiling, the heating system has to run much longer before the lower parts of the room get sufficiently warm. This issue is why having an upflow furnace in the basement, crawl space or main floor is generally always going to be the most effective choice in our area.
Is It Worth It to Change the Location of a Furnace?
If you’re building a new house or commercial building, you can generally choose to put the furnace and air handler wherever you want as long as the area is big enough that the furnace has sufficient clearance around it. If you’re just replacing the furnace in an existing building, it rarely ever makes sense or is practical to install the new unit in a different location. The reason is that you also need to completely redo and move the air handler along with much of the ductwork. For a gas furnace, you’d also need to abandon the old gas line and have a new line installed wherever the new furnace is going. Similarly, you’d need to completely redo and move all of the wiring if it’s an electric furnace. All of the additional work that moving a furnace to a different location requires means that the installation will be far more costly and you’ll likely have to do extensive renovations as well in order to move all of the air ducts.
The one situation where it may pay off to install the new furnace in a different location is if you’re already performing an almost total renovation and your existing furnace is in the attic. In this case, moving it to the ground floor, basement or crawl space can eventually pay off since it will allow the furnace to work more effectively and reduce how much you pay for heating your home or business.
For more than 20 years, Advanced Comfort Solutions has been providing reliable residential and commercial HVAC services in Cheyenne, Laramie and the surrounding areas in Eastern Wyoming and Northern Colorado. As a locally-owned and operated company, we’re dedicated to helping our neighbors with their year-round comfort needs. Whether you need to install a new furnace or AC, or your HVAC system requires maintenance or repairs, give us a call to ensure you get the best service available.
