The question of whether or not to repair or replace a furnace can be a challenging one. However, there are some key factors that can help you decide which is best for you and your home. One thing to keep in mind is that heating system replacement is a great opportunity to increase your energy efficiency and comfort. Should you decide to replace your furnace in Brighton, make sure that you hire trained professionals to perform the installation. The experts at FB Electrical Services can install both electric and gas furnaces, so call us today!

Reasons to Consider Replacement

Here are some reasons why it may be better to replace than continue to repair your current furnace:

Constant Repairs

If your furnace needed a lot of repairs last winter, and you are looking at more repairs this winter, it may be time to consider replacement. Nursing an ailing furnace along can add up quickly, sometimes even up to the cost of a new furnace. You may need to determine where your money is better spent.

Rust/Corrosion

Furnaces do not use water in any way, so if your unit has considerable rust and corrosion on it, it may need to be replaced. If rust and/or corrosion is localized, it may be repairable, but if the corrosion is significant, it can’t be repaired. Excess corrosion can be dangerous in gas furnaces because cracks and holes can potentially leak toxic fumes, which are very dangerous to your household.

Age

Age always plays a role in whether or not it’s time for replacement, and for good reasons. Aging systems can be challenged to effectively and reliably heat your home, and often do not have good energy efficiency. The average lifespan of a gas furnace is 15-20 years; for electric furnaces, it’s 20-30 years. If your furnace is at or over the average lifespan, it may be time to consider replacement.

Your furnace should be reliable, energy efficient and provide the Call FB Electrical Services today and schedule an appointment for your furnace with one of our heating specialists.

The Internet of Things is arriving in a big way. Smart thermostats, smart refrigerators, smart home security systems and more are all moving toward one integrated home system. One day soon, all your HVAC equipment, electrical work and appliances will be connected and in communication with each other. The next leap forward in smart homes is coming to your kitchen – the smart stove. Before you know it, your range top and oven will be sending you text messages when it's time to pull out the roast. Really.

Texting and Tweeting from the Oven

Smart stoves are quickly on their way to the marketplace. General Electric recently announced an initiative to bulk up the internet integration capabilities of its appliances. Stoves, for example, will soon be able to send you a text message once they've preheated, or cooked a meal for a specified amount of time. Not paying attention to your phone? The stove will also be able to flash the lights of whatever room you're in to give you the alert, if your other electrical work is hooked into the smart system.

The benefits don't stop there. If you leave the house and forget to turn the stove off, it can shut down automatically. It can also do this if the smoke detector goes off, potentially saving you from catastrophe. The smart stoves will also be able to interact with social media applications like Facebook, Twitter and Dropbox. That's right – soon your oven will be able to tweet out a photo of your perfect apple pie and you won't even have to lift a finger.

A New Way to Interact

Smart stoves are just the start. "Owners can create recipes that suit their lifestyle and integrate GE's connected appliances into the rest of their Internet-connected lives," Logan Garrett, a member of the Wi-Fi connected appliances team at GE Appliances, said to the Motley Fool. "We think this is the beginning of a new way for consumers to interact with their home appliances."

One day, smart kitchens could even come up with suggested recipes based on the ingredients you have on hand, which it would already know via inventory software. All you'd have to do is gather the items and mix them together. Technology already exists to determine when a dish is cooked properly, so the oven could handle the temperature and time settings all on its own.

If you need advice on how to get cutting edge technology into your kitchen to take the guesswork out of cooking, or need any other help with your electrical work, call an expert electrician today.

“Smart” technology is all the rage right now. However, it’s a bit of a disservice to call the Nest a smart thermostat. A learning thermostat suits the bill better. The Nest system learns your heating and cooling habits, and is able to incorporate the information that it gathers, and the data that it compiles, in order to help you live comfortably in a far more convenient manner. With Nest Sense, the Nest thermostat is able to learn about how long it takes your house to warm up and to cool back down, as well as how it can utilize your existing HVAC equipment in a more efficient manner. You will get monthly energy reports from your Nest, but the truth is that this system is able to help you make your home a more efficient place, without you even having to think about it.

With technology as advanced as the Nest thermostat, you may be wondering what its applications are beyond simply heating and cooling your home in an incredibly convenient and efficient manner. Well, there are many different products which are actually being designed to work with the Nest, as denoted by the “works with Nest” logo. When you see this logo, you’ll know that the products it appears on, from washing machines to lights, are Nest-ready. Contact us today to learn more, or to bring your household further into line with the technology of the future.