Last week we staged a showdown between the electric furnace and the gas furnace. (You’ll have to read the post to see who won—if there even was a winner.) This week we don’t have any cage match for heating systems. Instead, we’re bringing a spotlight to one the of major alternatives to installing a furnace in a home… the boiler.
Are boilers really still a decent heating choice?
Yes, they are. They haven’t become “old fashioned” at all. (In fact, the furnace has been around much longer than the boiler.) However, since many homes already have ductwork in place for a furnace to attach to, boilers aren’t as common. This is unfortunate, because there are some wonderful advantages that a boiler can deliver to a household. Below are a few of them:
- Long lifespan: Boilers will almost always outlast furnaces. The reason for this is the low number of mechanical moving parts in a boiler compared to a furnace (or a heat pump). The less mechanical stress, the longer the service life! You’ll get many solid years of heating performance from a well-installed boiler.
- Fewer repairs: This goes hand-in-hand with the first point. The reduced amount of work stress translates into fewer malfunctions that need professional repairs.
- Energy saving: Boilers usually cost less to run than furnaces. There are a few reasons for this. One is that water makes for a better heat transference medium than air, so boilers are simply better at delivering heat. Another is that boilers don’t have ducts, which are a major source of heat loss in furnaces.
- Even heating spread: Heat from a boiler radiates off of terminal points (i.e. radiators, baseboard heaters, in-floor tubing), and then allows for a more even spread of warmth through a room. Furnaces blow air through vents, which then gathers at the ceiling and takes longer to spread evenly around the space.
To find out more about boilers in Westfield, NJ, call on Air Creations, Inc. “We Do It Right!”
