Improving Gas Furnace Performance: A Field and Laboratory Study at End of Life
- Gas Technology Inst., Des Plaines, IL (United States)
In 2010, natural gas provided 54% of total residential space heating energy the U.S. on a source basis, or 3.5 Quadrillion Btu. Natural gas burned in furnaces accounted for 92% of that total, and boilers and other equipment made up the remainder. A better understanding of installed furnace performance is a key to energy savings for this significant energy usage. Natural gas furnace performance can be measured in many ways. The annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) rating provides a fixed value under specified conditions, akin to the EPA miles per gallon rating for new vehicles. The AFUE rating is provided by the manufacturer to the consumer and is a way to choose between models tested on the same basis. This value is commonly used in energy modeling calculations. ASHRAE 103 is a consensus furnace testing standard developed by the engineering community. The procedure provided in the standard covers heat-up, cool down, condensate heat loss, and steady-state conditions and an imposed oversize factor. The procedure can be used to evaluate furnace performance with specified conditions or with some variation chosen by the tester. In this report the ASHRAE 103 test result will be referred to as Annualized Efficiency (AE) to avoid confusion, and any non-standard test conditions will be noted. Aside from these two laboratory tests, steady state or flue loss efficiency can be measured in the field under many conditions; typically as found or tuned to the manufacturers recommended settings. In this report, AE and steady-state efficiency will be used as measures of furnace performance.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1172290
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/GO-102015-4624; KNDJ-0-40346-03
- Resource Relation:
- Related Information: Work performed by Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit, Des Plaines, Illinois
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Improving the Field Performance of Natural Gas Furnaces, Chicago, Illinois (Fact Sheet)
Improving Gas Furnace Performance: A Field and Laboratory Study at End of Life