Types of Heating Systems

Homeowners can choose between heating systems such as furnaces, boilers and heat pumps for keeping their home warm during the winter months.

Most homes in the United States use furnaces in order to satisfy their need for a central heating solution. Furnaces use a method of blowing hot air through ducts throughout the home, with ducts placed in different rooms. The air moves from the central system into the ducts through registers or grills. Furnace systems are also called ducted warm-air systems or forced warm-air systems if there is a central component to it.

There are a few different ways that you can choose to power your furnace heating system. This is done through electricity, fuel, or natural gas. Often the type of system that powers this set up depends on whatever is cheaper in your area. If your system is using gas or oil, the particular fuel you use will mix with the air in the system and burn. This causes the metal heat exchanger to heat up and transfer the heat into all the system’s air. A furnace fan pushes heat through the exchanger and into the duct work, eventually getting to the different rooms in the house.

Sometimes furnaces can get a little energy inefficient, especially where the combustion products are concerned. Whenever you have a furnace, you need to get the combustion products out of your home. Older furnaces would take the combusted products through air holes and up out of a home’s chimney. This wasted around 30 percent of the energy the system used. As a result of this inefficiency, modern systems were designed with an inducer fan. This fan pulls the exhaust gases and causes them to draft into the chimney.

Boilers:

Another heating system that works fairly well is the boiler setup. Boilers use a system of combining heat, water and radiators to get hot air into different parts of a building or house. With Ravinia heating you can get the latest boiler system installed in your home.

When you turn on the boiler, it begins to distribute heat into the water, which causes the water’s temperature to eventually pass its boiling point. This produces hot steam and air that goes through every location in the system. The boiler system has a cycle where cool water goes back to the boiler and is reheated in order to continuously warm up a building.

If you want a boiler system for your residential property, you are probably going to fuel it with natural gas or oil. Boiler systems do not come with any fans or ducts. Instead, you have pipes and radiators that carry this hot air across the building and into different units. Boilers always come with valves and thermostats in order to effectively set an ideal temperature. The last thing you want is your boiler overheating an entire building by five or six degrees!

Heat Pumps:

The third and final system worth mentioning is the heat pump. These are simply air conditioners that work in two ways. When you are experiencing hot weather, the air conditioner moves heat out of a room into the general atmosphere. In the winter, the heat pump uses its electric system to generate warm air from the outside climate and pump this into the room. Heat pumps also come with different systems to get this hot or cold air into multiple rooms of one house or building.

Heat pumps come in two major varieties: air-source and ground-source. The air-source pumps use outside air, while the ground-source systems use underground air conditions to get what they need for cooling or heating. Because underground air is typically less impacted by the weather, this system works very well. However, ground-source heat pumps are generally more expensive, which is why most heat pumps you see in homes or buildings are air-source systems.

Not only are ground-source pumps likely to work better, they are also far more energy efficient. This is because they do not have to use electricity or other fuel in order to heat up cold air in the winter, or cool down warm air in the summer. Even though this costs more, you can talk to Ravinia heating about the option of a ground-source heat pump if you know you are going to live in the same home for the next five or ten years. It might cost more up-front, but the long term energy savings make up for this high price.

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Common Furnace Problems and Repairs

Furnace repair Evanston helps customers get their home furnace running at an optimal level, which saves money and keeps their house warm all winter.

As soon as fall turns into winter, people start worrying about their furnaces. This is when most will call furnace repair Evanston companies in order to get their system in top shape. However, it is important to call for furnace repair more than one time a year. In fact, it is the regular maintenance of furnaces that keeps them running in a good way. Furnaces that are left sitting there for months without a checkup are going to develop problems, especially if you use them intensively all winter.

Here is a look at the most common problems with furnaces

1. Maintenance: If you get your maintenance done only once a year, it might not be enough. Ideally, it is best to get maintenance checkups before and after the winter is over. This way, your furnace is spending the spring and summer months off and in optimal condition. If you want to be even more conscientious about repairs, get three repair checks a year.
2. Filters: These are a massive problem for any furnace. If the air filters get dirty, they are going to clog up the furnace. This means it needs to use more energy in order to get air flow going properly, which increases inefficiency and might cause other damage later.
3. Excessive Use: Regular wear is normal for furnace systems, especially if you are using it for many hours every day during the winter months.

Tips and Advice on Repairs:

Along with contacting a furnace repair Evanston company, there is more you can do to keep your system running smoothly:

• Change the air filters every few weeks. It is also good to check these filters every week to make sure they are still in usable condition. Spending a few dollars on extra filters is nothing compared to the increase in your electricity bill if the system is inefficient. Also, newer air filters mean cleaner air throughout the home.
• Thermostat issues are also common. Sometimes you think you set a temperature, but the house is still too cold or warm. In this case, your thermostat’s battery might have run out, causing it to stop communicating properly with the furnace.
• Circuit Breakers are also a spot where problems occur. Sometimes if the furnace is running a lot, along with other intense appliances, you will trip a fuse in your home. This causes the system to shut off. It may appear as a furnace issue, but flipping the switch should set it back on.
• Inefficiency in your home’s insulation is going to cause the furnace to work very hard. Do not open windows during the winter, especially at night. If a room is too hot, lower the temperature on the thermostat. When you open a window, the furnace just has to work harder in order to keep your room at a certain temperature. In addition, check to see if there any major drafts through windows or doors throughout the house, because these can let in a lot of cold air.

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How HVAC Systems Save Money

Despite cooling or heating the entire house, HVAC systems are very efficient in terms of energy use, which helps lower monthly electric bills.

Whether you are trying to cool down your house in the summer, or heat it up during a particularly cold spell, HVAC systems are the best way to manage this without breaking the bank. While these systems may seem complex in their nature, they are incredibly efficient and a lot more manageable than installing multiple ACs or heaters throughout your home.

 

Thanks to a reputable Northshore HVAC Contractor, you can get yourself the HVAC system that best suits your needs. Here is a look at some tips to help those who want a new system, or need assistance with saving money on their current setup:

1.       Buy a more efficient model for your home. If you are still using the same HVAC system from five or six years ago, it is hard to get much in the way of energy savings. However, newer systems are a lot more advanced and efficient, which means an immediate reduction on your bills during months of high heat or extreme cold. Make sure you get a product that is certified by Energy Star, because those are usually 50 percent more efficient than comparable models.

2.       It is imperative that you use a programmable thermostat with your HVAC system. Even the most efficient system will waste energy if you are manually shutting it on and off. With a thermostat, you can discover your ideal temperature for different months and leave it alone. Heating and cooling systems use most of the energy going from one extreme temperature to another. Incremental shifts are less energy consuming.

3.       Change your filters at least once a month, with every two weeks a better option. New filters do not cost very much money, but they make a huge difference to any HVAC system. They produce better air through the ducts and they make sure the system is running near 100 percent of its efficiency.
  
4.       When you install part of the HVAC system outside, make sure it is an area that has plenty of shade during the day. This is especially important in the summer, because you do not want the sun heating up your system or damaging any of its parts. Similarly, pick a spot where flying debris will not become an issue.

5.       Regularly clean your vents, because these can get clogged up fairly quickly. Sometimes we forget about these spaces, because they are either up high or tucked away behind furniture. If you have not checked you vents for six months, you will see a ton of hair, dust and other particles collected over time.

6.       Do not leave a vent closed accidentally, especially in the winter. Not only does this produce inefficiency by itself, but you might forget that you ever shut the vent and keep wondering why your room is not heating or cooling properly.

With all of these steps, along with assistance from a Northshore HVAC Contractor, you can make sure that your next HVAC system runs at its optimal performance for many years.