If your furnace were over-sized it would be coming on for short periods of time, blasting out a lot of heat, shutting off, and then repeating the cycle; this is inefficient. So I am not particularly concerned that your furnace is on a lot, particularly in this very cold weather.

I am concerned that your home weatherization is possibly not as effective as it should be, which is somewhat unexpected in a home that is as new as yours. New windows would be quite expensive and not necessarily the most cost-efficient approach to improving things. It would help if you provided more info:

Is your home fully insulated (floors, walls, ceiling/attic)?

Are your windows double pane?

Can you feel air movement around windows and/or doors?

Can you feel cold air coming out of wall outlets?

Do you know how well the house is caulked and weather-stripped?

We can't really troubleshoot this over the web.

There are two general things to check:

1. Is the furnace properly sized and working correctly. Are the ducts sealed and properly designed

2. Is there a problem with excessive heat loss / gain

What type of furnace do you have? Has it been serviced recently (this year)? Does it have clean filters? You mentioned the draft inducer - are you talking about your blower motor or the small fan that moves the flue gasses (a draft inducer)?

It is going to take significantly more effort to really understand your insulation / windows / air infiltration

My utility company offers energy audits. They send a tech out, he looked at insulation, hvac, and measured heat loss. My recommendations were: replace windows, replace furnace, add or replace attic insulation. Also, replace refrigerator and freezer.

Jim Mat-

I am a big proponent of energy audits since utilities now want to save energy, but -- without even knowing anything about your house -- that package of recommendations looks pretty aggressive. Yes, every one of those things will save you energy...but how much? For example, unless your refrigerator is more than 15 years old, the savings might not be enough to justify running out and getting a new one immediately. I'd be curious to know if the auditor showed you the payback period on each of those recommendations. Also, if your energy situation was that bad, I'm surprised that there was no mention of improved caulking and weatherstripping, which can be a big saver and is very cheap. I'm all for energy conservation as I spent part of my career in the private and public sectors working on just these things. But it's important to understand the exact amount of savings one gets from each particular measure. My experience is that sometimes energy auditors from utilities are more junior staffers who are pretty decently trained but don't always have years of engineering experience. I'm not being snobbish, but I know what I know.

Wow, I appreciate the detailed responses. I knew there would be multiple follow up questions as it is difficult to determine an issue online as many have mentioned.

Gawoski- I absolutely think there is lack of insulation around duct work, I can feel hotspots all throughout my house where the duct work runs in walls and under flooring. Also can tell there are leaks, was checking temp around outdoor faucet with IR temp gun and saw 78 degrees, found ductwork running to the second floor about 4 feet away.

Kudzu-

Is your home fully insulated (floors, walls, ceiling/attic)? Walls and Ceiling/Attic yes. Unsure on floors as subfloor is visible in the basement.

Are your windows double pane? Yes

Can you feel air movement around windows and/or doors? Yes, absolutely. All windows and doors. Have made improvements to this since moving in but cannot prevent all of it with my current knowledge of tactics to do so.

Can you feel cold air coming out of wall outlets? Yes, but minimal. Added outlet insulation to all exterior wall outlets. Feel a good amount of cold air at the baseboard level as well.

Do you know how well the house is caulked and weather-stripped? I would guess not very well. Builder of the home was mid-grade and cut many corners. Previous owners were not very good at maintenance or repairs.

Jake

1. Is the furnace properly sized and working correctly. Are the ducts sealed and properly designed. Have had multiple people out and have been told furnace is proper for the home. Have been told there is duct leakage at most of the runs and I could cut into the main supply, seal around the run and should help.

2. Is there a problem with excessive heat loss / gain. Nothing that appears excessive. Summer time upstairs is usually 4-5 degrees warmer than thermostat, winter is usually 1-3 cooler.

What type of furnace do you have? Unsure on what you're looking for

Has it been serviced recently (this year)? No

Does it have clean filters? Yes, change every 6-8 weeks

You mentioned the draft inducer - are you talking about your blower motor or the small fan that moves the flue gasses (a draft inducer)? Furnace Inducer Blower

Thanks again for all the responses, I'd love to learn more about this to take care of what I can myself.

Do you mean that your furnace ran for over 20 hours without shutting off? Depending on what kind it is, and what the outside temperature is, that may or may not be a big deal. A two- (or more) stage furnace might continue to run, but switch up and down in output as needed. That's actually better for efficiency and system longevity than frequent on-off cycling. A single-stage furnace simply shuts off once the thermostat is satisfied.

I think that maybe noisy bearings is the steady-state of most furnace
draft inducers. It shouldn't significantly affect furnace efficiency
or efficacy. If the inducer can't pull enough of a draft, the furnace won't
light.

It's certainly possible that your windows are already leaking, especially if the builder specified garbage windows.

If you feel air moving when standing next to one, that doesn't necessarily mean that outside air is blowing in through gaps. You'll feel that just from the convection as the glass cools the air next to it. So it could be either or both. No matter, it's still heat loss.

I'll second (third?) the recommendation for an energy audit.

Perhaps a blower door test? During the test, a careful look at all the doors/windows with "smoke" should locate most leaks and let you devise a strategy. For me, expanding foam around the outlets and switches, careful caulking on the window exteriors, 6" of extra insulation, replacement of non-ICAT can lights with ICAT units (Insulation Contact/Air Tight) and some foam weatherstripping on some door frames made a huge difference.

The winter design temperature for Toledo, Ohio is 3F degrees. I see Toledo hit -11 on three days ago on January 31. Running for 20+ hours is expected would indicate your furnace is properly sized. If your neighbors have shorter run times they either have a smaller house, a bigger furnace, or better insulation.

Improving the insulation will help reduce your heating load and will cut down on the furnace run time. The attic should have R-30 - R40 insulation. If it is the blown in type make sure it is uniform throughout the attic. You may have some low spots that may need to be addressed. Leaky windows are the biggest source of air infiltration and heat loss. You may have to spend money upgrading.

mike_home-

Good observations. I will only add that some windows that are bad should be replaced because they have unfixable leaks, while others can be improved on with less radical means, such as better caulking and sealing. Here is an article that may be of interest to the OP: https://www.dailyprogress.com/realestate/weatherizing-your-old-single-pane-windows/article_a5feac62-db91-11e7-b3d0-472daaf3ce12.html

kudzu, my home is a tract home built in the 70’s. Fridge, separate freezer, windows, furnace were from that era. Insulation was blown in and had settled below the rafters. I have replace fridge, got rid of the freezer, replaced windows, replaced furnace and added AC and a whole house fan. So far, about $25k. $2k for insulation is on the list.

I noticed a temp difference from the windows. Other changes have cut my electrical bill.

I think your IR gun is your friend. Use it inside your house on the outside walls, looking for cold spots, especially around the windows. If one or more of the windows are especially cold, than that's a fixable problem. If they are all cold, then the original builder didn't use good enough windows, but fixing that's an expensive upgrade. Hotspots inside your house just means that your ducts are leaking heat into the living space, and that shouldn't be a problem, unless they are on an outside wall. I'm concerned about the hotspot around your outside faucet - what do you mean by "found ductwork running to the second floor about 4 feet away"?