furnace / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Furnace not heating? Furnace Troubleshooting & Easy DIY Fixes
Heating and cooling

How to troubleshoot a furnace that won’t work.

...furnace that will shut the furnace off if the pump fails. There should be a small reservoir you can pour some water into to check that the pump is working.  Check safety switches on modern furnaces Newer and modern furnaces will have safety switches that set the furnace into a lockout mode that will shut down the furna...

Natural gas fireplaces, furnaces, boilers and gas water heaters - Green or Not?
Heating with gas and oil

Heating with natural gas furnaces, boilers and fireplaces

...furnace or boiler: Water vapor formed during combustion is condensed and recovers the latent heat of condensation. This is a very efficient combustion system, somewhere in the area of 90% to 97%.  There is also very little loss during the transmission of heat energy. With a conventional gas furnace or boiler: This is a...

HEPA filters & SMART Air Filters catch airborne dust, pollen, allergens, viruses
Healthy indoor air quality

Buying guide for home air filters in furnaces - HEPA, SMART or Regular?

...furnace Are air filters for furnaces washable? Some filters are washable such as those with lower MERV ratings (or no rating at all), so in general we would have to recommend against washing furnace and home air filters. The higher-rated air filters are paper-based, as that is the medium needed to capture the finer pa...

Electric Heaters - is heating with electric an eco-friendly option?
Heating with electricity

Heating with electricity

...furnace: While cheaper than an oil furnace, this is not a cheap or efficient way to heat with electricity. On top of the cost of the furnace and duct work (which can be quite expensive), operation requires not only generating heat, but energy is also required to distribute that heat throughout your home. Heat loss can ...

Do you need a backup heat source with central heat pumps in a power outage?
Heating and cooling

Do heat pumps need a backup heat source?

...furnace or boiler, or even an old oil fired unit, to serve as an emergency backup heat source. However, if the electricity supply is interrupted during a power outage, a gas furnace or boiler won't actually operate as they also rely on electric to run fans, pumps and thermostats and ignition systems. Natural gas firepl...

How to insulate basements properly
Insulation and soundproofing

Best practices for basement insulation in new home construction

The most common practices currently employed for finishing basement interiors as living space rarely account for the impacts that come with the added moisture load below grade, or the amount of heat that will be lost to the ground. Existing basements are typically under-insulated or not insulated at all, and if they ar...