Three Ways to Heat Your Home (Besides Using a Furnace)

16 November 2020
Categories: , Blog

Although furnaces are most likely not going away anytime soon, there are several alternatives to the central heating system that most people have in their homes that are worth investigating. Some of them offer substantially greater benefits than a regular home heating system, so research the following options to see if any of them work for you.

Geothermal Energy

Heating your house using the Earth's energy is nothing new, but recent technological innovations have made it remarkably energy efficient to do so. Geothermal heat pumps operate by sticking large poles inside the earth underneath your house and circulating the air through the pipes to heat and cool your home. This provides several different advantages: for starters, you won't need to have an AC system in your home anymore. Geothermal energy uses the same system to both heat and cool your home (depending on the time of the year), which can save you a lot of money in possible repair bills. The other major benefit of geothermal systems is energy efficiency. The only real energy that you need to power the system is the one used to start and run the motor, which means once it's installed, your energy bill should plummet.

Boiler

Although not nearly as popular as it used to be a century ago, boilers still provide a unique way to provide radiant heating inside your house. Some would argue that this option is more comfortable than a furnace. Boilers operate by using steam to create warm air that passes through long pipes in your rooms and are very popular in older apartment buildings and office spaces. Though they're relatively energy-efficient, the one downside to these is the aesthetic appeal; unless you're going with an industrial look for your space, boilers can provide an unsightly metal pipe in your space that doesn't match the rest of the decor.

Underfloor Heating

A version of the boiler system that is also becoming popular is radiant heating that comes from underneath your flooring. In this type of system, pipes are laid underneath your floorboards and heats your room from the ground up, providing a very nice, even form of heating that minimizes cold spots and is also energy-efficient. This system is substantially more costly to install and can only be used with certain types of flooring, but if your HVAC company offers it as part of their slew of home heating systems, it's definitely worth looking into.

If any of these systems appeal to you, contact home heating services to make an appointment.

About Me

I almost always have my air conditioner inspected every spring before I start using it in the summer. However, last year I decided to skip the inspection. Everything had been OK for the last couple of years, so I assumed that it would be fine this year as well. Why not save a few dollars and skip the annual check up, just this once? Of course, this was the year that my air conditioner decided to break down. It ran for a few days, but it never really seemed to get cool enough to bring the indoor temperature down. Then it started making a loud noise, right before shutting off completely. By that time, the AC repair company was swamped like it always is when the weather is warm, and I had to wait days for an appointment. Next year, I will definitely be getting that yearly inspection first.