Many homeowners think that their are two exclusive methods to heating a home—gas and electric. While this is mostly right, there’s a little bit of a caveat to this. While electric furnaces and heating systems only use electricity, it’s not true that gas furnaces don’t use a tiny bit of electricity to run effectively. Most modern furnaces are built with electrical ignition systems, and they’re also built with high-tech electrical components that help them run more efficiently. These require electricity, but no more electricity than that of a small device like a smartphone.
Today, we’d like to cover why your gas furnace uses electricity, if this is a negative or positive thing, and what to do when you encounter an electrical problem that requires furnace repair in Monroeville, IN. Thankfully, our technicians can handle any repair for a furnace, so you’re in good hands!
Electrical Ignition
Somewhere a few decades ago, HVAC companies were focused on making furnaces that were fueled by natural gas as efficient as possible. Since fuel costs are always increasing, it’s important to design systems that use less fuel so that you can have low-cost bills to pay and you’ll still be able to heat your home without concern. This is a large feat for a system that’s been pretty standard for almost a century.
Electrical ignition is one of those inventions that makes furnaces incredibly efficient. Down below, we’ll talk about why your system likely has an electrical ignition, and why that’s definitely a good thing!
Why Not Use a Pilot Light Like Older Systems?
Back in the day, the best way to ignite a furnace so that it could heat your home was through a pilot light. Many systems still use pilot lights today. The tricky problem with a pilot light is that it continuously has to burn throughout the day in order to ignite your furnace when the system needs to turn on. When a pilot light goes out, then your ignition system is off and your furnace won’t be able to turn on.
Electrical ignition means that your system can completely turn off when it’s not in use. If we come across a warm day this winter that doesn’t require too much heat, your furnace can be off for hours at a time until the electrical ignition kicks in and starts the furnace up! With a pilot light, you’d be wasting energy fueling the light until your furnace needs to run.
Why Electricity Usage Is a Good Sign
A furnace that uses a little bit of electricity is a good sign. This means it has high-tech systems that are going to help it run more efficiently. From sensors to electrical ignition, your furnace might be more of a robot that’s working hard to warm your home than you originally thought!
Call Us for Professional Help
This doesn’t mean that you can fix your furnace when you run into problems though! When we say that we’re HVAC professionals, it also means that we can repair electrical issues with furnaces as well. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today!