{"id":2529,"date":"2020-12-28T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/?p=2529"},"modified":"2025-10-31T11:49:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T15:49:39","slug":"explaining-afue-ratings-gas-furnaces-vs-electric-furnaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/explaining-afue-ratings-gas-furnaces-vs-electric-furnaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining AFUE Ratings for Gas Furnaces vs. Electric Furnaces"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1829\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Heating__iStock_000002445972_Medium-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"natural-gas-burner\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Heating__iStock_000002445972_Medium-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Heating__iStock_000002445972_Medium-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>One of the trickiest parts of navigating a new heating system installation for a house is figuring out energy efficiency ratings and what they mean. People want their heating systems to use less energy if possible, but they may not understand what the efficiency ratings mean and if it\u2019s worth it to pay more to install a high-efficiency system. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/sealed-combustion-furnace-what-makes-it-different-from-a-standard-furnace\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding sealed combustion furnace design<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can also help clarify which systems offer better energy performance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s the difference between AFUE ratings for gas vs. electric furnaces?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Gas furnaces<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> typically have AFUE ratings around 90% or higher, they lose some heat through exhaust<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Electric furnaces<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> show 100% AFUE because all the electricity is converted into heat, with no exhaust losses<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But <\/span><b>100% AFUE doesn\u2019t mean lower operating cost<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, electricity is often more expensive than natural gas, making electric units costlier to run in many regions<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Efficiency ratings don\u2019t account for energy cost, so a lower AFUE gas furnace may still be cheaper to operate than a \u201cperfect\u201d electric one<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Making the choice for a new central heating system is much easier when you have the assistance of our <a href=\"\/heating\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Madera, CA, HVAC<\/a> experts. It\u2019s our job to see you have the right heating system for your house, and we\u2019ll assist you with figuring out efficiency ratings and all the other important factors that go into new system selection.<\/p>\n<p>In this post, we\u2019ll look at an example of where efficiency ratings can be confusing for homeowners, which is how the AFUE ratings for furnaces differ between gas and electric models.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency<\/h3>\n<p>AFUE stands for <em>Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency<\/em>, and it\u2019s the standard measurement for furnace efficiency. It\u2019s expressed as the percentage of a furnace\u2019s energy source it converts to heating power. A 90% AFUE gas furnace converts 90% of its gas into heat for the home and loses 10% to exhaust. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/some-important-gas-furnace-safety-tips-for-winter\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gas furnace safety tips for winter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are also essential when considering fuel-based heating systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>\u201cWow, This Electric Furnace Has 100% AFUE!\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>If you look at an electric furnace, you\u2019ll see that it has 100% AFUE. In fact, <em>any<\/em> electric furnace you look at will have this same rating. You can\u2019t get better than using 100% of an energy source. So an electric furnace must be the better choice for a house when it comes to saving energy, right?<\/p>\n<p>Well, no \u2026 and this is what can be tricky about AFUE ratings. AFUE is not a guarantee of energy savings, because that percentage doesn\u2019t account for the <em>cost<\/em> of energy. All electric furnaces have 100% AFUE ratings because that\u2019s just the way they operate. Electrical resistance heating doesn\u2019t lose energy to exhaust because there is no exhaust. All the electricity is turned into heat as it moves through the heating elements. A gas furnace loses some energy to exhaust gases, although most furnaces have greater than 90% AFUE.<\/p>\n<p>The difference here is the cost to use electricity for heating vs. using natural gas. Electricity is usually more expensive, and this is why an electric furnace on average costs more to run over a season compared to a gas furnace. Most homes that have a natural gas connection will opt for a gas furnace, not just because of the cost of gas compared to electricity, but because gas furnaces have higher heating power and work faster at providing warmth.<\/p>\n<h3>Choosing the right heating system<\/h3>\n<p>You may have the choice between gas and electric already decided for you, such as if you have an all-electric house. But you\u2019ll still need to make other choices for a new heating system, and you\u2019ll need our professional assistance to ensure you end up with a heater that will work both efficiently and effectively for your household for many years. You can trust to our many decades of expertise to ensure you have the right comfort system. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ll help you evaluate components like the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/what-does-a-furnace-limit-switch-do\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">furnace limit switch and its function<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to make sure your system is both safe and reliable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"\/contact\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Schedule your heating installation in the Central Valley with Purl\u2019s Sheet Metal &amp; Air Conditioning.<\/a> \u201cQuality Is the Cornerstone of Our Success\u201d since 1952.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ll look at an example of where efficiency ratings can be confusing, which is how the AFUE ratings for furnaces differ between gas and electric models.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[302,301,300,15,89],"vertical":[],"segment":[],"service":[],"class_list":["post-2529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heating-service","tag-electric-furnace","tag-gas-furnaces","tag-heating-system-installation","tag-heating-system-replacement","tag-madera"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2529"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3198,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529\/revisions\/3198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2529"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=2529"},{"taxonomy":"segment","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/segment?post=2529"},{"taxonomy":"service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purlsheetmetal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/service?post=2529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}