Gain Heater Knowledge: Learn How Your Heater Actually Works

Having some heater knowledge is useful for a couple of reasons. Knowing how heating systems work can help you select a new one for your Broken Arrow home if needed. Being familiar with how heaters work can also help you notice when something is wrong with your heating system so you can have it repaired right away.

Forced-Air Furnace

Forced-air furnaces use gas, oil, propane, or electricity to generate heat. These heating systems take in air, then heat it up and send it through ductwork and vents to warm homes. A blower motor pushes the heated air into the ducts, where it flows to different areas of your home. Colder air in your home is pulled into the furnace through return ducts, and the heating cycle begins again when your heating system is on.

Heat Pump

Heat pumps exchange heat rather than produce it from gas, electricity, oil, or propane. Heat pumps take heat from the air outside or from the ground and use it to heat a home's interior. Air-source heat pumps pull heat from above ground, while geothermal heat pumps pull heat from underground. This provides one energy-efficient way to heat homes in winter. These heating systems can also cool homes by moving hot indoor air outside in summer.

Radiant Heat

Radiant heat produces heat through coils or pipes that are placed in floors, ceilings, or walls. These coils or pipes use either electricity or heated water to keep rooms or areas in homes warm. The heat from these pipes and coils flows into the room rather than coming through vents.

If you’re interested in heater knowledge so you can choose a new heating system, our experts can help. Contact Air Assurance for more heater knowledge about our HVAC services in the Broken Arrow area. We can assist you with choosing the most efficient heating system for your home.

What Are All the Types of Home Heating You Can Get?

Homeowners in Broken Arrow are lucky because there are plenty of types of home heating systems that are efficient and convenient here. Fuel-burning furnaces, radiant-heating systems, and heat pumps are all types of home heating that work effectively in this climate. 

Forced-Air Furnaces

These systems are by far the most common of all the types of home heating in the United States. They are cost-efficient, relatively easy to install, and they can be highly energy efficient. They produce heat using a fuel, and they blow warmed air through ductwork that's distributed throughout the home. 

Fuel options include natural gas, propane, fuel oil, or electric. Natural gas is the most common and least expensive to operate given the widespread availability of natural gas. 

Oil furnaces produce the most heat per unit of energy consumed. Electric furnaces, while easy to install and operate, cost the most to run. In this region, it makes sense to choose a natural gas furnace if this fuel is available on your lot. 

Radiant Heating

Instead of blowing heated air throughout ductwork like furnaces and heat pumps do, radiant systems use pipes or coils that use electricity or circulate heated liquids in coils in radiators or coils placed on the walls, the ceiling, or under the floors. The heat gradually radiates into the room. This kind of heating is comfortable and quiet. It doesn't contribute to household dust or aggravate airborne allergies. 

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps function like forced-air furnaces but exchange heat instead of creating it with a combustible fuel. Technically, they are the most energy-efficient types of home heating, especially if they're geothermal heat pumps (GHPs). 

GHPs and above-ground air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) work like refrigerators. In the summer, they absorb the heat in your home and move it outside. In the winter, the appliance removes the heat in the outdoor air and brings it inside. 

A GHP has such great efficiency because it uses an underground loop field where temperatures are always stable. ASHPs complete the heat exchange in above-ground air that can be either hot or cold. 

Contact Air Assurance for help choosing the best types of home-heating systems. Our pros can give you professional advice and insight. We provide HVAC services for Broken Arrow homeowners. 

The Truth: Radiant Heat vs. Furnace

There are many different options when it comes to heating your home. The most common is a forced-air furnace. But you can also install a radiant heating system. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Let's take a look at radiant heat vs furnace options.

Radiant Heating

With radiant heat, heating coils are installed beneath your floorboards. Heat then rises, spreading throughout the room and providing an even, comfortable layer of warmth. Not only are you warmed by the ambient heat, but also by direct contact with the heating source. There's nothing like walking on a radiant floor on cold mornings.

Radiant heating doesn't use ductwork, which eliminates the energy losses that can come from leaky or damaged ducts. Thus it uses much less energy than a forced air system, while heating a room more evenly. The drawback is, no ductwork also means no cooling in the summer. If you do get radiant heat, a dedicated duct system would still have to be installed for your A/C.

Radiant heat is also expensive to install, particularly when retrofitting an existing home, as it means tearing up the floorboards. And if you have thick carpet or area rugs on the floor, they act as insulation, and the radiant heat won't be able to spread effectively throughout your home.

Furnaces

A forced air system has its own advantages when it comes to radiant heat vs furnace. It warms your home more quickly and provides better air circulation.

The main drawback is dealing with energy loss from damaged ductwork, air leaks, poor airflow, and more. Additionally, the ductwork can circulate allergens and other contaminants through your home. The heat isn't as even, and the lower areas of your home will have trouble getting heat at all.

So ultimately, which is better? It all depends on your specific heating and cooling needs. Talk to an expert and let them help you decide which is the best option for your home.

For help solving the radiant heat vs furnace conundrum for yourself, contact us at Air Assurance. We proudly serve all of Broken Arrow's heating and cooling needs.