Making improvements to your existing heating system may be more cost effective and advantageous then purchasing an entire new heating system. Performing maintenance and small upgrades can make your existing heating system more efficient and economical to operate. Preventative maintenance is the most important thing that you can do to make sure your heating equipment operates efficiently.
Some of the routine maintenance things that should be performed are to clean and tune your oil or gas burners. If you have oil fired heat the oil unit should be serviced once per year. If you have a gas fired unit it should be serviced at least once every two years. If soot is allowed to accumulate the heat exchangers efficiency can be significantly diminished. This is particularity true with an oil fired furnace.
Another simple but yet very important step in maintaining hot air heating equipment is to change the filter on a regular basis. For most units this means changing the filter once per month. Some hot air units have high efficiency and electronic air cleaners. Check with the manufacturer for the care and maintenance of these specialized air filters to help keep them filtering a peek efficiency.
If the ducts are not tightly sealed energy will be lost. Duct leaks contribute to a very large part of the overall energy loss associated with forced air heating system. Investing a few hundred dollars in duct repairs can pay big dividends in energy savings. Also keep the furnace blower motor and fan blades clean.
Look for soot, corrosion and rust around the area of the furnace, rust and soot may be a sign of a major malfunction and immediate service should be performed by a professional HVAC technician.
Insulate ducts that are located in unheated spaces. By the time the heated air flows to the interior rooms much of the heat is lost. Installing insulation around the exposed ducts in the unheated space will keep heat loss to a minimum and help you save significantly on energy costs.