Winter Gas / Energy Use
Three Years Ago, I installed a smart thermostat. This new device has been quietly collecting furnace run-time data. How long the furnace stays on, fan times, cooling times, average indoor temperatures and humidity. Thousands of data points!
In 2022 the 1984 furnace finally needed upgrading. Out with the once 80% efficiency and In with the new 96% efficiency. The promise was, lower gas bills. Two years later, the data is in to prove that this higher efficiency furnace is living up to the promise!
This chart tracks total amount of energy used in a month as a function of the average outdoor monthly temperature. The plot is million BTUs, which is approximately the same as natural gas MCF units. A MCF unit of natural gas is 1,000 cubic feet of gas. 1 cubic foot of natural gas has about 1037 BTU of energy. So, 1 MCF = 1,000 cubic feet * 1037 BTU / cubic feet = 1,037,000 BTU / 1 MCF. If you are thinking in terms of electricity use, 1 kWhr = 3412 BTU or every million BTUs is 11.5 kWh (multiply the values by 11.5 to convert to kWh).
The main point is: In cold months, we are saving nearly 50% on the Gas bill with this new furnace!
See the chart for 30F months (think January), the use goes from 30 million BTU down to 15 million BTU. The only change was the new furnace. Half the gas bill, same nice warm house!
