Saturday, June 2, 2012

Selecting an Air Conditioner

Central Air Conditioners: Central air systems circulate cool air through a system of ducts. They are available in two different kinds of system: Split-system and packaged systems. Slit-system units are those central air systems in which an outdoor metal cabinet contains the condenser and compressor, while an indoor cabinet contains the evaporator. The indoor cabinet typically contains a furnace or the indoor part of a heat pump, so this system is the most economical to install in homes that already have furnaces but do not have air conditioners. In a packaged central air conditioner evaporator, condenser and compressor are located in one cabinet. Some include electric heating coils or natural gas furnaces which eliminate the need for separate furnaces.

Size Considerations

As you might suspect, larger air conditioners use more energy than smaller ones, so selecting a system that is sized appropriately for your home will keep your energy costs in check. Before deciding how large your air conditioner should be, assess the following considerations:
  • How large a home do you have and how many windows does it have?
  • Are your windows, walls and ceiling well insulated?
  • How much shade cover your home?
  • How much heat do your appliances generate?
Truly evaluating your energy needs will help you make an informed decision at purchase time.

Consider Air Conditioner Energy-Efficiency Ratings (EERs):

Each air conditioner has an EER, which, as you might have guessed, will give you some idea of how efficient your air conditioner is in comparison with similar systems. Choosing a system with a high EER rating, particularly one with an Energy Star label, will mean a lower energy bill down the line.

Be sure to give us a call 231-943-1000!!!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Water Heating Tips

Tips: Water Heating

Water heating is the second largest energy expense in your home. It typically accounts for about 18% of your utility bill.
There are four ways to cut your water heating bills: use less hot water, turn down the thermostat on your water heater, insulate your water heater, or buy a new, more efficient model.

Water Heating Tips

  • Install aerating, low-flow faucets and showerheads.
  • Repair leaky faucets promptly; a leaky faucet wastes gallons of water in a short period of time.
  • Set the thermostat on your water heater to 120°F to get comfortable hot water for most uses.
  • Insulate your electric hot-water storage tank but be careful not to cover the thermostat. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations.
  • Insulate your natural gas or oil hot-water storage tank but be careful not to cover the water heater's top, bottom, thermostat, or burner compartment. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations; when in doubt, get professional help.
  • Insulate the first 6 feet of the hot and cold water pipes connected to the water heater.
  • If you are in the market for a new dishwasher or clothes washer, consider buying an efficient, water-saving ENERGY STAR® model to reduce hot water use. See the Appliances section for more information.
  • Install heat traps on the hot and cold pipes at the water heater to prevent heat loss. Most new water heaters have built-in heat traps.
  • Drain a quart of water from your water tank every 3 months to remove sediment that impedes heat transfer and lowers the efficiency of your heater. Follow the manufacturer's directions.
Although most water heaters last 10-15 years, it's best to start shopping now for a new one if yours is more than 7 years old. Doing some research before your heater fails will enable you to select one that most appropriately meets your needs.
Illustration showing a water heater tank and an on-demand water heater, both with yellow EnergyGuide labels.
Keep Your Energy Bills Out of Hot Water. Insulate your water heater to save energy and money, or choose an on-demand hot water heater to save even more.

Long-Term Savings Tips

Buy a new energy-efficient water heater. While it may cost more initially than a standard water heater, the energy savings will continue during the lifetime of the appliance. Look for the ENERGY STAR® and EnergyGuide labels. You can find the ENERGY STAR label on efficient water heaters in the following categories: high efficiency gas non-condensing, gas condensing, electric heat pump, gas tankless, and solar.
Consider natural gas on-demand or tankless water heaters, which heat water directly without using a storage tank. Researchers have found energy savings can be up to 30% compared with a standard natural gas storage tank water heater.
Consider installing a drain-water waste heat recovery system. Drain-water, or greywater, heat recovery systems capture the energy from waste hot water—such as showers and dishwashers—to preheat cold water entering the water heater or going to other water fixtures. Energy savings vary depending on individual household usage.
Heat pump water heaters can be very cost effective in some areas. They typically use 50% less electricity to heat water than conventional electric water heaters. If your water heater is located in your basement, it will also provide dehumidification in the summer months. However, this technology can pose some installation challenges, so you should consult with an installer before you purchase one.

Average Hot Water Usage

Faucets and appliances can use a lot of hot water, which costs you money. Look for ways to heat your water more efficiently and use less.
ActivityGallons per Use
Clothes washer7
Shower10
Automatic dishwasher6
Kitchen faucet flow2 per minute
Bathroom faucet flow.05 per minute
Total daily average64
Source: Federal Energy Management Program Energy Cost Calculator, March 2010

Solar Water Heaters

If you heat water with electricity, have high electric rates, and have an unshaded, south-facing location (such as a roof) on your property, consider installing a solar water heater. The solar units are environmentally friendly and you can have them installed on your roof to blend with the architecture of your house.
Solar water heating systems are also good for the environment. Solar water heaters avoid the greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity production. When shopping for a solar water heater, look for the ENERGY STAR label and for systems certified by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation or the Florida Solar Energy Center.

Long-Term Savings Tip

Visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency website to see if you qualify for tax credits or rebates for buying a solar water heater.

Energy Saving Air Conditioner Tips

Tips: Air Conditioners

Buying a bigger room air conditioner won't necessarily make you feel more comfortable during the hot summer months. In fact, a room air conditioner that's too big for the area it is supposed to cool will perform less efficiently and less effectively than a smaller, properly sized unit. Central air-conditioning systems need to be sized by professionals.
If you have a central air system in your home, set the fan to shut off at the same time as the compressor, which is usually done by setting the "auto" mode on the fan setting. In other words, don't use the system's central fan to provide air circulation—use circulating fans in individual rooms.
Instead of air-conditioning, consider installing a whole-house fan. Whole-house fans work in many climates and help cool your home by pulling cool air through the house and exhausting warm air through the attic. Use the fan most effectively to cool down your house during cooler times of the day: your home will stay cooler through the hotter times of the day without using the fan.

Cooling Tips

  • Set your thermostat at as high a temperature as comfortably possible in the summer, and ensure humidity control if needed. The smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be.
  • Avoid setting your thermostat at a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner. It will not cool your home any faster and could result in excessive cooling and, therefore, unnecessary expense.
  • Consider using an interior fan along with your window air conditioner to spread the cooled air through your home without greatly increasing your power use.
  • Avoid placing appliances that give off heat such as lamps or TVs near a thermostat.

Long-Term Savings Tips

  • If your air conditioner is old, consider buying an energy-efficient model. Look for the ENERGY STAR and EnergyGuide labels—qualified room air conditioners are 10% more efficient, and qualified central units are about 14% more efficient than standard models.
  • Consider installing a whole-house fan or evaporative cooler if appropriate for your climate.

Programmable Thermostats Tips

Tips: Programmable Thermostats

You can save as much as 10% a year on heating and cooling by simply turning your thermostat back 7°-10°F for 8 hours a day from where you would normally set. (If you have a heat pump, don't do this without a programmable thermostat). You can do this automatically by using a programmable thermostat and scheduling the times you turn on the heating or air conditioning. As a result, the equipment doesn't operate as much when you are asleep or not at home.
Programmable thermostats can store multiple daily settings (six or more temperature settings a day) that you can manually override without affecting the rest of the daily or weekly program.
Illustration showing two programmable thermostats; one shows a temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. and the other shows a temperature of 62 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday at 10:15 p.m.

Passive Solar Heating & Cooling Tips

Tips: Passive Solar Heating and Cooling

Using passive solar design to heat and cool your home can be both environmentally friendly and cost effective. In many cases, your heating costs can be reduced to less than half the cost of heating a typical home.
Passive solar design can also help lower your cooling costs. Passive solar cooling techniques include carefully designed overhangs and using reflective coatings on windows, exterior walls, and roofs. Newer techniques include placing large, insulated windows on south-facing walls and putting thermal mass, such as a concrete slab floor or a heat-absorbing wall, close to the windows.
A passive solar house requires careful design and siting, which vary by local climate conditions. If you are considering passive solar design for a new home or a major remodel, consult an architect familiar with passive solar techniques.

Passive Solar Tips

  • Keep all south-facing glass clean.
  • Make sure that objects do not block sunlight on concrete slab floors or heat-absorbing walls.

Heat Pump Tips

Tips: Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are the most efficient form of electric heating in moderate climates, providing up to three times more heat than the energy they use. A heat pump can reduce your electricity use for heating by 30%-40% compared to electric resistance heating such as furnaces and baseboard heaters.
A heat pump does double duty as a central air conditioner by collecting the heat inside your house and pumping it outside.
There are three types of heat pumps: air-to-air, water source, and geothermal. They collect heat from the air, water, or ground outside your home and concentrate it for use inside.
Geothermal (or ground source) heat pumps have some major advantages. They can reduce energy use by 30%-60%, control humidity, are sturdy and reliable, and fit in a wide variety of homes.

Heat Pump Tips

  • Do not set back the heat pump's thermostat manually if it causes the electric-resistance heating to come on. This type of heating, which is often used as a backup to the heat pump, is more expensive.
  • Install or have a professional install a programmable thermostat with multistage functions suitable for a heat pump.
  • Clean or change filters once a month or as needed, and maintain the system according to manufacturer's instructions.

Long-Term Savings Tip

  • If you heat your home with electricity and live in a moderate climate, consider an energy-efficient heat pump system to reduce your energy consumption.

Carbon Monoxide Detector IMPORTANT

Install a Carbon Monoxide Detector

Carbon monoxide (CO) detectors are required in new buildings in many states. They are highly recommended in homes with fuel-burning appliances such as natural gas furnaces, stoves, ovens, water heaters, and space heaters. An alarm signals if CO reaches potentially dangerous levels.

Call Geo Furnace today 231-943-1000 and make sure you have one! It can save your life!

Air Duct Tips & Minor Repairs

Tips: Air Ducts

Your air ducts are one of the most important systems in your home, and if the ducts are poorly sealed or insulated they are likely contributing to higher energy bills.
Your home's duct system is a branching network of tubes in the walls, floors, and ceilings; it carries the air from your home's furnace and central air conditioner to each room. Ducts are made of sheet metal, fiberglass, or other materials.
Ducts that leak heated air into unheated spaces can add hundreds of dollars a year to your heating and cooling bills. Insulating ducts that are in unconditioned spaces is usually very cost effective. If you are installing a new duct system, make sure it comes with insulation.
Sealing your ducts to prevent leaks is even more important if the ducts are located in an unconditioned area such as an attic or vented crawl space. If the supply ducts are leaking, heated or cooled air can be forced out of unsealed joints and lost. In addition, unconditioned air can be drawn into return ducts through unsealed joints.
Although minor duct repairs are easy to make, qualified professionals should seal and insulate ducts in unconditioned spaces to ensure the use of appropriate sealing materials.


Minor Duct Repair Tips

  • Check your ducts for air leaks. First, look for sections that should be joined but have separated and then look for obvious holes.
  • If you use tape to seal your ducts, avoid cloth-backed, rubber adhesive duct tape—it tends to fail quickly. Instead, use mastic, butyl tape, foil tape, or other heat-approved tapes. Look for tape with the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) logo.
  • Remember that insulating ducts in the basement will make the basement colder. If both the ducts and the basement walls are not insulated, consider insulating both. Water pipes and drains in unconditioned spaces could freeze and burst if the heat ducts are fully insulated be-cause there would be no heat source to prevent the space from freezing in cold weather. However, using an electric heating tape wrap on the pipes can prevent this. Check with a professional contractor.
  • Hire a professional to install both supply and return registers in the basement rooms after converting your basement to a living area.
  • Be sure a well-sealed vapor barrier exists on the outside of the insulation on cooling ducts to prevent moisture condensation.
  • If you have a fuel-burning furnace, stove, or other appliance or an attached garage, install a carbon monoxide (CO) monitor to alert you to harmful CO levels.
  • Be sure to get professional help when doing ductwork. A qualified professional should always perform changes and repairs to a duct system.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Heating and cooling your home uses more energy and costs more money than any other system in your home!

Heating and cooling your home uses more energy and costs more money than any other system in your home—typically making up about 54% of your utility bill.

No matter what kind of heating and cooling system you have in your house, you can save money and increase your comfort by properly maintaining and upgrading your equipment. But remember, an energy-efficient furnace alone will not have as great an impact on your energy bills as using the whole-house approach. By combining proper equipment maintenance and upgrades with recommended insulation, air sealing, and thermostat settings, you can cut your energy use for heating and cooling—and reduce environmental emissions—from 20%-50%.


Heating and Cooling Tips

  • Set your programmable thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter and as high as is comfortable in the summer, as well as when you're sleeping or away from home.
  • Clean or replace filters on furnaces and air conditioners once a month or as recommended.
  • Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.
  • Eliminate trapped air from hot-water radiators once or twice a season; if unsure about how to perform this task, contact a professional.
  • Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and the radiators.
  • Turn off kitchen, bath, and other exhaust fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing; when replacing exhaust fans, consider installing high-efficiency, low-noise models.
  • During winter, keep the draperies and shades on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.
  • During summer, keep the window coverings closed during the day to block the sun's heat.
To View More Energy Saving Tips please visit the US Department of Energy

Monday, February 27, 2012

Air Cleaners and Air Purifying Systems

How Effective are Air Cleaners and Air Purifiers?

Though air cleaners and air purifiers can reduce some particles that are suspended in the air, such as dust or tobacco smoke particles, these machines cannot remove larger particles such as mold or animal dander that have already settled upon a surface in the home. The air cleaner or air purifier will only remove larger, settled particles if they are disturbed and sent into the air once more.
Many companies that manufacture air cleaning or air purifying machines may claim that their products can eliminate all pollutants, but they have no scientific proof to back up their statements as of yet. To learn more about these claims, visit the Environmental Protection Agency at www.epa.gov. Even though air cleaners and air purifiers cannot remove all pollutants in a room, they can effectively reduce the amount of pollutants in the air, which is good for everyone's health.

Types of Air Cleaners and Air Purifiers

There are many different types and brands of air cleaners and air purifiers available on the market today. Some machines are portable, while others are incorporated into central heating and air conditioning systems. Here are the most common set-ups:
  • Electronic Air Cleaners - These systems use electrical fields to trap charged particles.
  • Mechanical Filters - Just like a furnace, these systems use filters to trap particles.
  • Ion Systems - These systems charge particles, which are then attracted to a charged collector or to other surfaces such as walls, floors, draperies and furniture.
  • Hybrids - Some systems use two or more of the methods described above to reduce particles in the air.

TIP:  Just like outdoor pollution, indoor pollution can have an effect on the air that we breathe. Used indoors, air cleaners and air purifiers can help reduce the pollutants in the air.

If you have any questions regarding your systems please feel free to contact our office to speak to one of our experienced and knowledgeable sales reps by calling 231-943-1000 or email us at info@geofurnace.com! Thanks Again and Have A Great Day!!!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Reduce Your Home Heating Bill

Home Heating - Tips for Reducing Your Home Heating Bill

Heating costs are steadily on the rise. This article offers tips on reducing your home heating bill.
With energy costs on the rise, people everywhere are looking for ways they can reduce heating costs. Though you can't do anything about the price of natural gas, fuel or electricity, there are other options. If you want to reduce your home heating bill, here are some tips that may help:
  • If you want to reduce your heat bill, keep the thermostat turned down! If you get cold, throw on an extra layer of clothes or snuggle up under a blanket before you turn up the heat.
  • Perform regular maintenance on your furnace. Change or clean the filters, and if necessary, call in a service professional to test the efficiency of your heating system.
  • Have your utility company perform an energy audit. Audits will provide you with an evaluation of your home's energy efficiency. Many companies offer this service at no charge. If you want to lower your heat bill and learn how you can save energy, this is a great start.
  • If you have an old boiler or furnace, you may want to install a more energy efficient heating system.
  • Don't waste hot water. On average, heating water accounts for 25% of the heat bill. Take quick showers and use cold or warm water to wash your clothes whenever possible.
  • Check your windows. Old leaky windows allow the cold air to come in and the warm air to escape. Over time, new windows could save you quite a bit of money in heating costs. If you don't have money to replace the windows, consider covering them in plastic. This is a cost-efficient way to cut down on drafts.
  • Check your doors. If necessary, replace weather stripping to prevent cold drafts.
  • Add insulation to your walls, crawlspace or attic space. Insulation helps to keep cold out and warmth in. If you have an older home, you may not have much insulation.
  • Close your fireplace damper when it is not in use. This will prevent heat from rising up your chimney and out of your house.
Call Geofurnace anytime at 231-943-1000 where we are always happy to help and on stand by 24/7!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Saving Money With Efficiency

Saving Money with Efficiency
GeoFurnace is about saving energy, which in turn saves our customers money. We are dedicated to staying abreast of changing technologies in the residential heating and cooling industry because we believe it is the right thing to do for our country and our planet.
Think of the energy it takes to heat and cool your home just like gas mileage and your car. Just like a car, every day a heating system operates, it can get good mileage or poor mileage. It all depends on the efficiency of the system. Over the life of a typical system (15 years), a lot of your money can be saved or wasted. This website will attempt to illustrate some of the ways you can save money on a daily basis.
It all starts with the design and installation of the system itself…


All Systems Are Not Equal
The graph at the right illustrates the universal basic difference in residential heating and cooling systems. Most people assume that all HVAC (heating, ventilation, and cooling) systems are basically the same, and therefore can be chosen on price alone. Nothing could be further from the truth. Before we even discuss our energy-saving products, this graph clearly illustrates how much a poorly designed and installed system really costs in terms of wasted energy. Four things: proper sizing, proper air flow, refrigerant charge, and air duct sealing can dramatically affect energy consumption. Each factor by itself does not represent huge savings. But when all are added together, the savings can be more than 1/3 of the total amount of energy needed to keep a home comfortable! Just imagine how much energy would be saved by the correct design and installation of home heating and air conditioning systems in the United States alone.
At GeoFurnace, we understand that energy efficiency starts with proper design and sizing. That's why we always calculate the amount of a home's heat loss based on window area, R-factor of the walls, construction quality, and many other factors before we quote a system. We have always been (and always will be) dedicated to energy-efficiency. We believe it is more important today than ever before. A well-designed and engineered high-efficiency indoor comfort system can pay for itself by saving you money every day it operates.
Give us an opportunity show you just how much.



Source: Consortium for Energy Efficiency, Inc., National
Energy Savings Potential From Addressing Residential
HVAC Installation Problems, (1999).

Indoor Air Quality


Mold Spores

Cat Dander
Pollen

Household dust
I've never heard anything about indoor air quality before.
You're not alone. The majority of people are not aware of the poor quality of some indoor air. Americans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, either at home or at their workplace, where they can be exposed to very high levels of airborne particles. In fact, the EPA ranks indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health. Furthermore, according to the EPA, levels of many airborne pollutants may be 25-100 times higher than outdoors. Most of the airborne particles cannot even be seen.

What Causes poor Indoor Air Quality?
Today's homes are built "tighter" to help conserve resources and save expenses. As a result, there's less fresh air circulation. Certain airborne particles can thrive in this "airtight" environment and promote poor air quality. It is important to ventilate your home. Keep the windows open as often as possible to allow air to circulate. Or, when the temperature, pollution index or pollen count is high, use an air conditioner to allow the windows and doors to stay closed while air circulates.

Do I Really Have To Clean The Air to Improve my Indoor Air Quality?
With more energy-efficient building construction and less ventilation with outside air, indoor air quality can suffer. Removing airborne particles may reduce allergic reactions of people suffering from asthma, hay fever, sinusitis and other respiratory problems. Air cleaners may be one part of the solution, but we offer many other products to alleviate respiratory problems. Call us to learn more about creating a "safe zone" in your home.



Did you Know...
* Common causes of indoor air problems include inadequate ventilation, due to not allowing outdoor air to dilute indoor air emissions and the lack of indoor air leaving the home. Also, high temperature and high humidity levels can heighten the concentrations of some indoor air pollutants.*
* Common indoor air pollutant sources include oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood and tobacco products. Pollutant sources can also be found in asbestos-containing insulation, some products used for household cleaning and outdoor sources such as pesticides and outdoor air pollution.
* Additionally, household cleaning agents and personal care products may trigger allergic reactions.
* Studies also show that 75 percent of U.S. homes use at least one pesticide a year indoors to control insects, termites, rodents, and fungus and other microbes. Also, 80 to 90 percent of most people's exposure to pesticides occurs indoors.**
* Exposure to dust mites, cat saliva, animal dander and mold is estimated to cause at least 200,000 emergency room visits by asthma patients each year.**
* According to the American College of Allergists, 50 percent of all illnesses are either caused by, or aggravated by, polluted indoor air.**
* Individuals who are most susceptible to indoor air pollution are the ones who are home the most: children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with chronic illnesses.†
* The health care costs and productivity decreases from allergies and asthma are about $13 billion per year.**
* According to Mothers of Asthmatics, an estimated 40 to 50 million Americans - about one in five - suffer from allergies including allergic asthma.‡
* Also according to Mothers of Asthmatics, allergies are responsible for 3.4 million lost U.S. workdays each year, plus an estimated 2 million lost school days.‡

*United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission Office of Radiation and Indoor Air.
"The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality."

**EHS Services, Inc. "Indoor Air Quality: Issues, Action, Solutions, and Management, 1st Edition."

†The National Safety Council's Environmental Health Center. Air Quality Program brochure: "Indoor Air Quality in the Home."

‡Allergy and Asthma Network, Mothers of Asthmatics, In.

Note: While air cleaners are known to reduce allergans and particles from the air there is no guarantee that some or all of the above conditions described above will be alleviated or cured by air cleaners.

Radiant Floors


Radiant Floor Heating
Here's how it works. Wirsbo Radiant Floors circulate warm water through PEX tubing embedded in the floor of your home. The heat radiates up through the floor, warming the people, furnishings and air in the room. The warmth stays down where the people are, not up at the ceiling or lost to the outdoors every time a door or window is opened. It's a comfortable, even heat where cold spots and drafts are eliminated.

The Benefits ... Ya Gotta Feel 'Em to Believe 'Em.


Cutaway Illustration

Boiler Systems


What is hydronic heating?
It is a method of heating that uses hot water or steam instead of air. With hydronic heat, you get two types of heat delivery: radiant heat and convected heat. Radiant heat warms you directly, just like the sun's rays. Convected heat is carried by warm air circulating in a room.
Hydronic heat lets you choose from several different devices that use these two heating processes. Hot water from a Burnham boiler can be piped to radiant tubing hidden in the floor, to slim baseboard radiators, or to stand-alone radiators. Hot water can also be circulated through a coil in your central air-conditioning unit to heat other living spaces with warm air. Plus, hydronic heating produces more hot water for cooking, washing, hot tubs, swimming pools, and even radiant sidewalks and driveways to melt ice and snow.

Upgrading Old Equipment
Many homes still rely on boilers and furnaces to provide
heat. In addition to the reliability issues inherent with older
equipment, these systems are significantly less energy efficient than the ones available today. For example, many old boilers are rated at only 50-55% AFUE, Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency, a standard government efficiency rating. In these homes, 45-50 cents of every heating dollar is wasted by system inefficiencies. Compare this to new boiler efficiencies of 84-87%. A new boiler can cut energy costs by 1/3, paying for itself in fuel savings in the first two to three years. And in homes converting from electric to hot water heat, fuel costs can be cut by over 50%
.

Burnham provides a combination of residential and
commerical quality products. All Burnham boiler
castings are produced in its own domestic foundry to
ensure quality and availability - a claim no other boiler manufacturer can make.
Utica Boilers products are designed, tested, and assembled to ensure that you get the very best in home heating and cooling comfort, and value. Each one meets or exceeds all recognized safety, performance efficiency standards

Furnaces and Air Conditioning

 The Heart of the System

In Northern Michigan, furnaces are the heart of any heating and cooling system. But most people don’t realize that there have been tremendous changes in the efficiency of furnaces and air conditioners today. In fact, most people are unaware that an air conditioner can be used to heat your home. That’s right. An air-source heat pump looks just like an ordinary air conditioner, but in the winter it can heat your home when the outside temperature is above 20 degrees F! Here at Geofurnace, we only sell what we believe is the finest equipment on the market today.



Gas Furnaces

Like heat pumps, furnaces keep your home warm in the winter and serve as an important part of your air conditioning system in the summer. In a furnace, gas or oil is combusted in a burner and then heat produced from that reaction passes through a heat exchanger where it is transferred to the air distribution system. The ductwork throughout a home carries and disperses the conditioned air and the flue or vent pipe releases the byproducts (such as carbon dioxide and water vapor), outside the home. 




Central Air Conditioning

Central air conditioning helps keep your home cool and reduces humidity levels. By transferring heat from air located inside your home to the outside, conditioned and cooled air is left to be re-circulated. Using electricity as its power source, the compressor inside an air conditioning unit pumps coolant, or refrigerant, back and forth to gather heat and moisture from indoors. Warm air from inside is blown over the cooling coil, which is connected to the compressor, and then pumped back into your home.




Winter Heating

Summer Air Conditioning

Air-Source Heat Pumps

Fueled by electricity, heat pumps are used for either the heating or cooling of your home by transferring heat between two reservoirs. In the warmer months the heat pump acts like an air conditioner, moving heat from inside your home to the outside. During winter months, heat from outdoors is transferred to the interior of your home. Even a 20ยบ-Fahrenheit day still produces enough heat to warm a home via a heat pump.

Geothermal Systems

Geothermal is our specialty!
GeoFurnace is one of the leading geothermal contractors in the nation, with hundreds of systems installed and serviced over the past decade.

As fuel prices continue to escalate, geothermal systems are becoming the only option for affordable fuel bills. We encourage you to talk with someone who has a geothermal system and to ask them what their monthly energy costs are.


A major source of energy is right under your feet.

Your own backyard has the potential to be your source of heating and cooling comfort. Now you can get safe, reliable, energy efficient heating and cooling from one piece of equipment. Geothermal energy represents the leading edge of heating and cooling technology. It moves heat energy to and from the earth to heat and cool your indoor environment. And compared to ordinary systems, geothermal technology can save you 30% to 60% on your monthly energy bills. Geothermal is the safest, cleanest, most reliable space conditioning system you can buy.

Geothermal energy is an unlimited resource. The lot surrounding a home contains a vast reservoir of low temperature thermal energy, typically 10 times that required over an entire heating season. This resource is constantly resupplied by the sun, the surrounding earth, and heat rejected while cooling during the summer. The universal definition of geothermal is "...pertaining to the heat of the earth." By using the earth to provide up to 50% of a building's total heating and cooling needs, these systems are truly geothermal energy made practical.
Four basic types of geothermal energy resources:

Horizontal loops are often considered when adequate land surface is available. Pipes are placed in trenches, in lengths that range from 100 to 400 feet.
Pond (lake) loops are very economical to install when a body of water is available. Excavation costs are virtually eliminated. Coils of pipe are simply placed on the bottom of the pond or lake.
Vertical loops are the ideal choice when available land surface is limited. Drilling equipment is used to bore small-diameter holes from 75 to 300 feet deep.
Open loop systems are the fourth type and utilize ground water as a direct energy source. In ideal conditions, an open loop application can be the most economical type of geothermal system
Four times the efficiency:

A geothermal system uses the Earth's thermal properties in conjunction with electricity to provide unprecedented
efficiency. For every unit of electricity the system uses, it provides four units of heating energy, giving a geothermal system a 400% efficiency rating on average. These numbers translate into real savings on your utility bills year-round.