The Perks Of Using Boilers
Most residential properties heated using furnaces or boilers. The best system for your home really depends on a number of factors. Furnaces are more popular these days, especially in single family homes. Most homes have a separate water heater and furnace. However, water heaters can be incorporated with space heaters in hybrid systems. Even though boilers aren't as common as furnaces, they do have some perks that you might want to consider. This article looks at the drawbacks and advantages of using boilers to heat your home.
The Main Differences Between Boilers and Furnaces
The main difference between furnaces and boilers is that furnaces heat air while boilers heat water. A furnace will heat air and then distribute it throughout a building through the ducts within the walls. A boiler heat water or steam that is then distributed through pipes within the walls, baseboards, and floors. Most boilers also have several radiators outside of the wall. For instance, in many homes every room will have at least one heat radiator. These often look old fashioned, but they are still commonly installed. However, it is now more popular for all of the heating pipes to be within the walls and floors (they aren't visible at all). The radiant heating approach used by boilers is actually very effective, but surfaces can become a little hot to the touch even while the actual air is not hot enough.
Boiler Efficiency
Boilers have varying capacities and efficiencies depending on the size of your house and your climate. HVAC professionals will need to come to your property to examine your system and measure your home to figure out the exact specification requirements. However, many technicians install boilers that are actually bigger than they need to be. This can be wasteful and it will result in larger utility bills since it will use more electricity just to run the boiler. So, it is important that you boiler is perfectly calibrated to your home size.
Fuel Type and Storage
Much like furnaces, boilers run on gas and/or electricity. Electricity only boilers are rare and would only be practical on really small properties. There are many different fuel types that can be used to power a boiler. Natural gas and propane are two of the most common. The best fuel partly depends on what is available and affordable from your public utility provider. In most regions, one will be cheaper and more practical than the other.
If you want to add some central heat to your property, boilers are definitely still worth considering. Talk to a company like Comfort Solutions Inc to learn more.
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