The various types of home heating systems

by | May 6, 2013 | Uncategorized

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When building a new home, there are a number of different types of heating systems that can be considered. The heating installation in Western Springs which is the most common is forced air, however, radiant, steam radiant and geothermal are options that are often the choice of many homeowners.

As noted, the forced air system is by far the most popular; it works by bringing air up to a pre-determined temperature and then delivering it to the various rooms in the home by a duct system. The system is commonly referred to as central heating because all the heat comes from a central point, the furnace itself. The air can be filtered and humidified prior to delivery. The air can be heated using a number of different fuels, the most common being oil, natural gas, propane and electricity. The primary reason why this ducted central heating system is so popular is that it can do double duty as the air conditioning system as well.

When doing a forced air heating installation in Western Springs, it normally starts with the ducting. The cold air return ducts run among the cavities in the walls and the hot air delivery run in dedicated ducts usually suspended below the floor joists. It is difficult to install the forced air system in an existing house unless the wall surfaces are removed, exposing the cavities between the studs.

The drawbacks to a forced air system are the noise when it operates and the fact that dust and allergens are moved throughout the house through the ducting. Even though this system has filters installed, they require on-going maintenance or the optimum functionality of the system will suffer.
A system which is well received is under-floor radiant heat. When this Heating Installation In Western Springs is done, pipes are first laid under the floor; these are the pipes that water, heated in a boiler, runs through. This system is quiet and inexpensive to operate, however, in the event of a pipe failure; the repair costs can be high. A under floor hot water system also cannot do duty as an air conditioning system.

A spin off of under floor heating is hydronics. This Heating Installation In Western Springs is somewhat similar to under floor heating, except the hot water runs through tubes which are installed along the baseboards. The tubes take the hot water through base board mounted radiators. The fuel used to heat the water in the boiler can be oil, gas or electricity. The prime benefit of hydronics over under floor is that the temperature can be adjusted for each room, this is not the case with an under floor system.

The choices for home heating are varied, the homeowner must decide if air conditioning as an integral component is important, or if cost is the mitigating factor.

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