Posts Tagged ‘HVAC’

What’s New: Home Heating Innovations

Monday, March 17th, 2008

With the new information coming to light about energy and natural resources, it is not a wonder why so many home owners are trying desperately to revamp their heating and cooling systems in their homes. Not only do a lot of home owners want to protect and help save the environment, they also want to save some money on their heating bills. That is why so many heating and cooling companies have come up with effective home heating innovations.

There are two things that a home owner must consider before changing the heating system in their home, or before purchasing a new home with one of the newer heating systems already installed. What type of heating system is it, and how efficient is it? Another important consideration for a lot of people is the cost of the system: will any of these new home heating innovations save them money on their heating bills, and will these potential savings make up for the cost of installing these new home heating innovations.

Home Heating Innovations

The best place to start when you are considering putting in one of the newest home heating innovations is what types are available. The most popular of all the new home heating innovations is the in floor heating system. These work in different ways but all operate on the same principle of heating: since heat rises, and a most of the heat that is wasted from other types of heating systems is lost in the area close to the ceiling of the room, putting a heating system in the floor will prevent much of the heat loss and will also heat the room more efficiently.

One type of these in floor home heating innovations is the type that uses water pipes within the sub flooring of the house. Most people cannot afford to have this type of heating system installed in a house because it requires the flooring to be ripped up and piping installed. However, if you are building a house, this is a good option to consider. Other types of floor heat, like radiant heat, can be used and these systems are much easier to install. They simply pull cold air from the floor and release warm air at floor level from the same base board unit. These do not require any ductwork or work on a thermostat.

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Radiant Base Board Heating in Your Home

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

One of the most important things you can consider when you are looking to purchase a new home or to remodel your own home for either resale or energy efficiency is the type of heating system.  Radiant base board heating is one of the most common ways homes and apartments are heated.  While radiant base board heating is not the most effective or efficient of all possible heating systems, it can be beneficial in many ways.

Radiant base board heating systems work by taking in cold air and returning warm air to the room.  The process of heating is called electric resistance; this means that there are electric cables inside the heating units located in the base boards of the walls.  These electric cables warm up the cold air as it passes through them, thus radiating heat into the room.  As a result, the system is called radiant base board heating.

Radiant Base Board Heating

In order for the radiant base board heating unit to access the cold air and radiate warm air, there must be both an inlet and an outlet.  The inlet is on the bottom of the base board unit.  It takes in the cold air from the bottom of the room, near the floor.  This cold air, as was mentioned above, passes through the electric cables inside the base board unit and is re-released into the room as warm air through the outlet on the top part of the base board unit.  As with all types of heating units, radiant base board heating systems will continue to process the cold air into warm air until the temperature of the room reaches the temperature set at the thermostat.

It may seem odd that this is one of the most popular types of heating systems since it is neither cheap nor efficient.  However, the benefits of having radiant base board heating are that they do not take up very much space and work independently with the direction of a thermostat.  Radiant base board heating systems also do not need ductwork installed, and this makes them fairly cheap to install, if not as cheap to use and run.  As with all heating projects, accessing your local HVAC handyman or contractor for information about your specific project is a great place to start.

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