Popular Heating Solutions To Consider
Posted on: 16 March 2016
Heating your home can be a pretty big hassle, especially if you have an older heater that isn't quite as efficient as you might like. One solution is to entirely replace your heating system, and there are a number of ways that you can go about that. Three of the most popular heating solutions are gas furnaces, electric furnaces, and heat pumps, so here are some of the benefits that each bring to the table:
Gas Furnaces
A gas furnace is quite simple in function, burning natural gas in order to produce heat. This heat is then distributed to the rest of the home via air, which travels through your ventilation in order to reach each individual home.
A gas furnace is one of the cheapest options available to you if you live in an area that has easy access to natural gas. Thankfully, this applies to most areas of the United States nowadays, so there is a good chance that you have cheap natural gas available in your home with the flip of a switch.
Electric Furnaces
To contrast with a gas furnace, an electric furnace uses the power of resistance to convert electricity directly into heat. In other appliances, heat is considered an unwanted byproduct of electrical power, but in a furnace, heat is the goal. Electrical furnaces can achieve efficiency rates at or near 100%, which means that every bit of electricity is turned into heat.
However, this doesn't necessarily mean that electric heaters will give you the most bang for your buck. You will need to compare electrical prices in your area to the price of natural gas, taking into consideration the amount of heat that you can get per dollar of each type of power.
Heat Pumps
An interesting alternative is to get a heat pump, which can add or remove heat to your home with ease. This means that you can use a single appliance for all of your heating and cooling needs, which reduces the number of things that you need to maintain and repair. There are two main types of heat pumps, which are pretty different in terms of function and cost.
Air-Source – These heat pumps add and remove heat from air, meaning that they are pretty easy to install. All you need is a bit of space on the outside of your home, and you can install a heat pump just like you would install an air conditioner. They are also very sensitive to changes in temperature in the air. In winter, air can lose almost all of its heat, meaning that your heat pump will become extremely inefficient. However, during warmer times, an air-source heat pump can offer exceptional efficiency.
Geothermal – While an air-source heat pump is easy to install and is a poor choice in cold seasons, a geothermal heat pump is effectively the opposite. A geothermal heat pump extracts heat from the soil, which unfortunately means that installation costs will be relatively high. However, it will retain good efficiency in cold months, since there is a lot more latent heat in the ground beneath your home than there is in the cold air outside. Contact a business, such as Kangas Burner & Heating Service, for more information.
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