When you’re considering getting a new heating system for your home, you’ll probably be looking into a forced-air heater of some kind: an electric furnace, a gas furnace, a heat pump. These heaters all raise the temperature of the air and then send that air through ductwork to the rooms. If your home already has ductwork, then you’ll almost certainly will be looking into a forced-air heater.
The other major option is a boiler. Boilers don’t use ducts, instead sending heated water to terminal points (often baseboard heaters or in-floor elements, although some use traditional radiators) to radiate heat indoors. You may be interested in a boiler system if you are building a new home or doing major renovations on one.
So let’s talk about getting a boiler for a home, if that’s a possibility. Boilers have several tremendous benefits that make them worth considering if you’re in a situation where they’re a viable choice.
Boilers have high energy efficiency
Water is a more energy-efficient medium for heat transfer than air. That’s a fancy way of saying it takes less energy to move heat from water than from air. You can demonstrate this for yourself by placing your hand in both a stream of hot air and a pan of hot water. Which gives you more heat, faster? The water, of course. This principle applies to heating a home: a boiler consumes less energy to provide a house with the same level of heat that a forced-air system does, and can save large amounts of money over its service life.
Boilers make for less dusty and pollutant-filled air
Furnaces and heat pumps blow air through ductwork, and this stirs around dust and other particles in the house. Plenty of particulates are inside the ducts already, so each time the heater comes on, these particles get blasted out into the air. Boilers don’t move air at all—they radiate heat rather than blow it around—and this contributes to a less dusty house with cleaner, healthier air.
Boilers have longer service lives than most heating systems
Because boilers have few mechanical parts, they don’t suffer from the same levels of wear and tear as other heating systems. You can expect a gas-powered boiler to last for more than 20 years if it has regular maintenance, which is anywhere from 5 to 10 years longer than other types of heating systems. They also have fewer repair needs because of this lack of mechanical strain.
Boilers create more even, cozier heating
Radiating heat rather than blowing it around makes heating spread more evenly through a space. A boiler can help a home avoid cold spots this way. Also—and this is more subjective—many people find the heat from boilers to feel cozier than that from forced-air systems. It’s like the warmth of the sun on a summer day.
If you’re curious about boilers in Brighton, MI, call our experts today. We’ll make your home happy!
First Choice Heating & Cooling. If your home had a voice, it would call … First Choice!