Keys to a Quality Furnace Replacement

January 22, 2025

Our team at Save Home Heat Company is committed to performing high quality furnace replacement work in order to achieve the greatest comfort levels, the most efficient performance, and the quietest operation possible – along with doing all we can to ensure safe, dependable operation for many years.

In this post, we’ll cover many aspects of the work we do before, during, and after our team replaces a homeowner’s forced air furnace in the Denver Metro, Boulder, and North area. If a furnace replacement is in your plans for the near future, please feel free to view this as an informal checklist from our comfort team, to help guide you.

a lennox metal unit with ducts and pvc pipes

Step One: Learning About Our Customer & Their Home

Our commitment to a professional, quality furnace replacement starts long before the work at your home begins. When one of our comfort advisors visits a home for a free assessment, there’s several important bases we cover before a written quote is provided. Some of these involve measurements and calculations, while others involve getting to know the homeowner better. This is the time to learn about a homeowner’s priorities, including things such as concerns about overall comfort or in specific rooms, operating sound levels, potential plans to move to a new residence in the near future, addressing budget limitations, and lots more.

We love homeowners who are fully engaged and ask lots of questions!

The Particulars of Your Installation

two lennox furnace side by side in a basement

The process of preparing to quote a furnace replacement involves taking a closer, detailed look at the home and the job. Recording details such as the existing furnace model number and BTU rating, duct sizes on both the output and return side of the furnace, existing gas piping, venting, and electrical in the mechanical room are all important details that come into play when preparing to send a crew out to perform a new installation.

In addition, a look is taken at the entire house, as a whole: total finished square footage, windows, insulation values, and other factors that play a role in calculations that help determine the right size replacement furnace. This is the time when homeowner input on potential airflow issues and our professional assessment of the air circulation system can play a big role in our recommendations to help improve comfort in the home.

Reviewing Efficiency Levels & Advanced Comfort Features

When our comfort team at Save Home Heat provides a quote for a replacement furnace it’s not uncommon that we offer a variety of options, giving our customer a clear view of any alternatives that we feel would be a good fit for their needs and their home. There’s rarely ‘only one’ option that someone should choose.

Lennox Premier Dealer
Energy Star HVAC Products

In the broad Lennox furnace line that we’ve been installing for most of our 45 years in business, we offer efficiency levels ranging from 80% to 99% AFUE, and furnace designs that include conventional single-stage, two-stage, variable-speed, and variable-capacity performance. From reliable workhorse furnaces, to the quietest rated 80% AFUE and 90%-plus AFUE units made, including the “quietest, most efficient furnace you can buy” (per Lennox), the SLP99V variable-capacity model, Lennox furnaces are a good fit for many homes we visit. The learning curve isn’t really that steep, and our team takes the time to make sure a homeowner is fully equipped to make an informed equipment selection they feel good about.

If Air Quality Is a Concern, Now’s the Time

When discussing a furnace replacement, this is the right time to learn about indoor air quality options that could significantly improve your indoor environment and your health. The most popular of these with our customers are central humidifiers, high efficiency furnace filters, and central air purifiers. If we’re already there to replace a furnace, the cost of installing these IAQ products is lower.

lennox hc11 replacement filter

Addressing Rooms With Thorny Comfort Issues!

There are times when marginal comfort levels in certain rooms in a home can’t be fully solved even with our most advanced furnaces, even though the rest of the home has been much improved. In the case of ‘comfort-challenged’ rooms, there are a variety of independent, permanent solutions that can be considered, systems that can complement the existing central system. In our market, these most often include mini-split heat pumps or radiant cove heaters. The prudent approach typically includes learning about all options for independent heating for those problem areas, and then possibly mulling it over for an entire heating season, before deciding if an additional investment makes sense to consider.

Covering Rebates & Code Requirements

Lennox 'Air is Life. Make it perfect' logo

We always take the time to inform potential customers of rebates that may be available from manufacturers like Lennox and utilities such as Xcel Energy in the Denver metro area. Rebates from both are usually substantial, and combined can be a downright game changer in the decision-making process – Higher efficiency systems may now be affordable, when otherwise they’d be off the table!

Another thing that our team at Save Home Heat Company is fully aware of and always in compliance with, wherever we work, are the specific code requirements of the municipality where our customer resides. Efficiency requirements are not stagnant and are raised periodically (they’re never lowered). Big changes in national code are slated for 2028 and certain Denver area cities, Louisville and Superior in particular, have already taken those steps.

Maintaining High Standards in the Field

Our team maintains high standards in all aspects of the furnace replacement work we perform. We work efficiently, with great attention to detail. Let’s take a closer look at some common procedures and practices, materials, and standards that are ingrained in the work we do.

Quality-Focused Installation Procedures & Materials

Here’s some highlights of important upgrades that our team routinely makes when replacing an existing furnace:

  • Custom-Built Sheet Metal Transitions – Custom sheet metal transitions, manufactured in our sheet metal shop, are often installed on both the output and return side of the furnace in order to assure the smoothest and quietest air circulation. Often tapered in design, these transition fittings may contain what are called turning vanes and relief fittings, for enhanced performance
  • Return Air Box Installed Below The Furnace – In order to assure proper airflow on the return-air side of the furnace, a pre-manufactured, heavy duty steel ‘return air box’ is normally installed below the new furnace, raising the new unit off the floor about a foot or so. This replaces the old style ‘cut into the side of the blower compartment’ practice that often choked down critical airflow where it returned to the heater. The return air box upgrade helps ensure quieter airflow and less stress on the furnace, too
  • High Efficiency Furnace Filter Upgrade – Our team replaces existing, less effective, 1” thick furnaces filters with a 5” thick, high efficiency media filter on all furnace replacements whenever the ducting can accommodate the upgrade
  • Built To Last – Our team uses rigid ¾” PVC pipe for all AC and furnace condensate drain lines – no vinyl tubing that can easily kink or split as it ages; solid core PVC exhaust pipe is used for all high efficiency furnace vent pipe, per manufacturer instructions; high quality ball type, brass gas shutoff valves and stainless steel gas connectors are used, as needed; all electrical components, fittings, and conduit that our electricians use are manufactured by trusted, reputable manufacturers and meet all industry standards. We don’t cut corners on the material we install, big or small

Detailed System Startup

Once the furnace is installed and the system is being tested in its maiden voyage, our crew’s lead installer uses a digital manometer to check the gas pressure going into the furnace and from the gas valve to the burners. Next, we measure the temperature rise through the furnace by comparing the return air temperature to the output temperature, making fan speed adjustments as needed according to the manufacturer’s startup procedure. High quality digital or analog thermometers are used for this step.

We also check the overall system static pressure, which measures the resistance to airflow, or friction, within the system. This is done on both the return and output side ducting using a magnehelic air pressure gauge. Ensuring that static pressure is within manufacturer specifications is critical, as too much pressure can cause the system to be louder and put undue stress on components such as the main blower.

a close up of a lennox furnace unit installed in a home with a filter attachment

For enhanced performance furnaces such as variable-capacity and 2-stage systems, these steps are repeated at various heating levels to ensure the furnace performs properly across all heating stages. Our team at Save Home Heat is highly trained and experienced in the specific startup procedures for the high performance systems we install and maintain.

Meeting Industry Standards

Energy Star Most Efficient 2025 logo

Our heating and cooling installation team is always in full compliance with detailed manufacturer installation instructions, local code, and national Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC). In addition, our plumbers strictly adhere to national Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC), and our electricians’ work is always governed by NEC, short for National Electrical Code. All members of our team do their work by the book!

Before Heading Back To Our Shop…

We always recommend that our customer be present when our work is complete, as this can be a great help for them, as well as for our team. This is an ideal time to walk you through thermostat operation and programming, answer any new questions, address any concerns you may have, and give you a guided tour of the work we did. If you purchased a Wi-Fi enabled thermostat, we can also assist you in getting the connection set up.

At this time, we also review the furnace filter replacement procedure, and present the homeowner with a complete information packet, including all owner’s manuals.

Lastly, we conduct a final, thorough inspection of our work area, making sure that our crew fully cleaned up after themselves, wherever they were working. Our goal is to leave the jobsite cleaner than we found it!

After Our Crew is Gone

Our work isn’t quite done after we’ve completed the installation and walked our customer through the installation. After we’re gone, there are still some letters to dot or cross, including the following:

mitsubishi elite diamond
  • Rebate Processing: We submit and track all utility company and manufacturer rebates for our customers until the cash has been received
  • Quality Control Follow-Up: We send an automated email to every customer after work is complete, providing them another opportunity to grade our work and reach out if there are any issues that require attention. Our top level managers review every survey that’s completed, and take all feedback to heart. If necessary, follow-up action may be taken to make sure our customer is fully satisfied with our work
  • Permit Closeout: Our team obtains a mechanical permit from the local building department before a furnace replacement is performed, and our office staff coordinates the final inspection with our customer after we’re done. We communicate with our customer about their availability for the inspection, and then handle scheduling and confirm the date and time with them

Our entire team is trained to be highly responsive to our customers at all times, including any questions or concerns that may arise after the fact.

an ac condenser unit installed on the exterior of a home

A Note About Central Heat Pumps & AC Systems

Central heat pumps and central air conditioners are normally connected to either a furnace or on occasion, an air handler. Either of these is used to distribute warm or cool air produced by the AC or heat pump system around the home. Whenever a centrally ducted comfort system is being upgraded, whether with a new furnace, AC replacement, or a heat pump, many of the principles discussed above also apply.

Do You Need Your Furnace Replaced in Metro Denver Or Surrounding Areas?

Our team at Save Home Heat Company is committed to providing top tier service to homeowners all around the Denver Metro, Boulder, and Loveland-Longmont area. Our strong focus on quality, attention to detail, lasting results, and complete customer satisfaction helps set us apart as a trusted home comfort source in our market.

Whether it’s your furnace, boiler, an air conditioner, or a heat pump, our goal at Save Home Heat continues to be exceeding our customers’ expectations. As in all of the work that we perform, we strive to reflect this principle in every aspect of the furnace replacements that our team is hired to complete. All installation quotes provided by our friendly comfort advisers are highly informative, low-pressure, and free, with no obligation.

Please contact me to schedule a quote for a furnace replacement!