What to look for

Proper Sizing

Make sure the heating capacity of the furnace is not too high for your home - many furnaces are substantially oversized. You can get an estimate of the furnace capacity you need in a number of ways. If EITHER (i) you have had an evaluation carried out on your house so that you can apply to a government grant scheme, OR (ii) you have reliable fuel consumption data for a full year, it is possible to calculate the heating capacity you require. Our consultant can run this calculation for you. Or you could hire an energy consultant / HVAC engineer / building physicist to estimate your heating requirement. Or ask your contractor do an accredited heat loss analysis. [Simply estimating on the basis of floor area can sometimes result in large errors.]

High Efficiency Condensing Models

The efficiency of new gas furnaces is measured by the annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) - this indicates all-year-round performance under standard test conditions. The AFUE for a modern furnace could be anything from 80% to 98%. Those at the top of this range (above about 90%) are "condensing", which means they include an extra heat exchanger to capture energy by condensing the water vapour given off as the fuel burns. There is now a very large number of condensing furnaces on the market. Therefore, for this directory (see criteria below) we set a minimum of 95% AFUE for gas furnaces - as you will see from the lists of models below that still leaves you lots of choice.

High Electrical Efficiency

A furnace can use a significant amount of electricity, mostly to power the fan motor. Variable speed fan motors are generally more efficient than standard ("PSC") motors and may save you hundreds of dollars per year. The approved models listed here all use high efficiency fan motors - if you are considering a different model, ask whether it has a variable speed brushless direct current motor.

Government Grants

Grants are available from government programmes for efficient heating systems from provincial (Energuide for Homes) and (in some cases) federal (ecoENERGY) programmes.

The situation at present is however somewhat complex due to the phasing out of the federal government programme. For details see this announcement.

If you had a pre-assessment carried out before 2010:Mar:29, but have not had a post-assessment, then the applicable grant details (federal plus provincial) are listed here.

Otherwise, you are entitled to provincial grant funds only, listed here

The government grants programmes were established some years ago, when 90% AFUE was still a very high furnace efficiency, and this aspect has not been revised. Therefore there are some models not listed below for which you would still be eligible for a government grant.