On Dec 13, 8:48*am, Home Guy wrote:
unnecessarily full-quoted:

Hey, I never said ir did anything for efficiency - I said BECAUSE
the furnace is so efficient, a natural draft may not be created
immediately on startup - so the "draft inducer" gets the air
movement up the stack started to make sure you get ptoper
ventilation. It IS a safety item.

If you've extracted so much heat from the combustion process that the
exhaust gases are cool, then you have no choice but to force the
combustion gases out of the furnace - and out of the house - by using a
draft fan because you won't have any natural convection happening in
that case.

The draft motor is one of those extra electricity-consuming devices on
modern furnaces that are overlooked when comparing the total electricity
usage of old vs new furnaces. *The proper operating of the draft motor,
and the proper operation of the sensors that monitor it, electrical
inter-connects, relays, etc, are additional points of failure for the
modern furnace that older furnaces simply don't have.

(rest of the unnecessary full double-quote deleted)

I'll bet the energy used by that small draft inducer and the
electronics is so small that
it's small compared to the savings in fuel that you get in going from
80% to 95%. I
mean we can make electronics so that things like a GPS or cell phone
can run off
small batteries for long periods. What makes you think furnace
electronics need to
use so much electricity?

Also odd you choose that small motor that's only on during firing to
focus on, yet you're a big fan of a
pilot light in old furnaces that burns 24/7, including summer when the
furnace isn't on.

I know, you turn your pilot light out in summer. I do too, but I'll
bet 90% of people don't.