Methods to heat your home range from the simple to the high tech. Each of these systems has benefits and drawbacks. In the end, it’s up to you, with the help of an HVAC professional, to choose which system is best for your home.

Furnace or Forced Air Heat

A heating system that uses a furnace is a type of forced air system. The furnace fan blows heat through your home’s ductwork and registers to warm the rooms. When the air cools, it’s returned to the furnace to be heated and forced into the rooms again. One benefit of this type of system is that it can deliver hot air in the winter and cool air from the central air conditioner in the summer. This makes a forced air system exceptionally efficient.

The cons of this kind of heating system include ductwork that takes up a lot of space. The system also needs filters to keep allergens and pollutants out of the air, and these filters must be washed or changed regularly. The system also needs humidifiers to keep the air comfortable.

The Heat Pump

As with a forced air system, a heat pump can deliver both warm and cool air. It’s a rather complex system built to pull heat out of the air, from underground, or even from a nearby body of water. The benefits of a heat pump are that it doesn’t need ductwork, it’s quiet, and you can control the temperature very precisely. It’s also energy-efficient.

One drawback of a heat pump is that it might not deliver the heat you need to be comfortable when the temperatures get really frigid. Conversely, it may not keep you as cool as you’d like on boiling hot days. This means it’s best used in places with mild winters and summers that don’t get too many scorching days.

Boilers for Home Heating

A lot of houses still have boilers, and they’re becoming more and more efficient. A boiler heats up water and circulates it or steam through pipes to radiators in the rooms. People usually find that the heat produced by a boiler is more comfortable than the heat of a furnace. Old-fashioned radiators can be replaced by baseboard units. This is a good thing because one of the drawbacks of this system is that some people find radiators ugly. Not only that, but they get in the way of furniture and window dressings. Boilers also can’t be used to power a central air conditioner system the way a furnace can.

Call Us to Learn More About Heating Systems

You want a heating system in your home that’s both reliable and efficient. To learn more about these systems or to schedule heater installation, get in touch with our HVAC professionals at Charlton & Hill in Lethbridge, Alberta.