Boiler vs Furnace: What do I have?

Boilers use Water while Furnaces use Air to Heat Homes.

When the cold air hits and the familiar sound of the heating system isn't heard, it's time to have your heating system looked at and possibly replaced. A common issue that comes about is what kind of heating system do I have, a boiler or a furnaces and what is the difference?

Well there is a big difference between the two, first is the efficiency and how the each equipment heats the home. Boilers use water or steam, while furnaces use air to heat the home. This is where the terms forced hot air or forced hot water come from, as the system will force heated water through base boards or radiators or heated air through duct work.

Boilers traditionally are more energy efficient than furnaces due to the delivery of the heated source. There is a lower amount of energy loss from piping involved with a boiler than the duct work that is required for a furnace. The energy energy rating for your heating system is represented as an annual fuel utilization efficiency or AFUE. The AFUE for most boilers is actually lower than furnaces, this is because the AFUE rating doesn't take in consideration heat loss through the duct work. Heat loss from the duct work in your home can account for 30% your heating use.

However furnaces allow for an easier installation of a central air condition system, much much easier. Central air conditioners require duct work to deliver the cool air. This is almost impossible with a boiler without expensive duct work that would just be used during hot months here in the Northeast.

The easiest way to tell the difference is go into your basement, go to your heating system, if the system is tall and rectangular in shape you have a furnace. The top of furnace should connect to duct work that will distribute the heated air through the home. This should not be confused with a chimney, as boilers and furnaces need to vent in air to keep their flames going.

Written by:

Robert Stahelski

Comments

La Nina Summer

We Could Experience much Warmer Temps this Summer Last year and even the year before that we talked about El Nino and boy did it come, we saw one of the mildest winters this past winter. Now what, El Nino is the warming of the waters in the pacific, but what happens after the water has warmed? After the warm has warmed, it naturally cools off this is called La Nina. Traditionally La Nina follows El Nino's and present the opposite effects of El Nino. Of course La Nina don't always follow El Nino's, in the past we've seen El Nino's that extend into the next winter or La Nina's that extend for several years. For this year most weather outlets are predicting that we'll see a La Nina arrive around Fall or Winter. To understand what we might see this summer we have to look at last year. For 2015 we didn't see the real El Nino until mid fall and it continued through mid winter, but its effects were seen during the summer. It brought us unseas...

The C-Wire

Smart Thermostats almost always require them. The internet of things is on the rise and one of the easiest and most useful applications of this is the smart thermostat. Popular smart thermostats that come to mind at the Nest, Ecobee, and the Honeywell Lyric most of these and other smart thermostats that come with WiFi. Installing these thermostats can be tricky due to the C-Wire or Common Wire. For thermostat installations you need to have a set of wires that run from your heating and/or cooling system to your thermostat(s). In instances where you just have a boiler or furnace without the ability to cool you see a thermostat with just two wires, red and white. If you have a cooling system with your heating system you'll most commonly find the thermostats using 4 wires. If you add a smart thermostat you're going to need a fifth wire, the c-wire. C-wires help delivery more power to the thermostat to power the Wi-Fi functions. Adding this wire can be difficult as it requ...

Spring Outlook

Looks like we have some nice weather to look forward to. source: www.WeatherChannel.com Raise your hand if your tired of the snow...okay everyone's hands are up. From January 26th to February 21 everyone here in the Northeast got a weekly blast of snow with February 23 being the first Monday without snow in three weeks. With foot plus snow storm after foot plus snow storm and continuous sub freezing temperatures, we've had little time or help from mother nature to dig ourselves out from a record setting winter. Currently the weather channel is predicting that everyone here in New England will see an above average March, April, and May for temperature. This is very welcomed after a solid three-four weeks of freezing temperatures and several days and nights of sub-zero temps. With an average spring temperature of 42 degrees for Worcester and 46 for Providence, we should see even warmer temperatures than that if we'll have an above average spring. ...

Total Energy News and Insights

Search This Blog