Home Heating Systems on Long Island, NY
| As the temperature drops, people reach to turn up the thermostat. The thermostat is only a small part of a larger system often referred to as HVAC (heating, ventilating, air conditioning). There are a number of different types of home heating systems, including furnaces for forced hot air, hot water or steam, heat pumps and various types of radiant and space heaters. There is some overlap. For example, a hot water system may use a radiator to heat a room or it may use pipes in the floor, which is called radiant heat. Home heating as well as swimming pool heating can also be accomplished through the channeling of solar power through the installation of solar panels Long Island. |
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Forced Hot Air Forced hot air heating systems use furnaces to circulate air though a ductwork system, pulling cooler air into a heat exchange then letting the heated air rise back to the living space. While all furnaces work on the same principle there are many different kinds of furnaces. There are oil furnaces (also called oil-fired furnaces), gas furnaces (also called gas fueled furnaces), electric furnaces and even coal burning or wood burning furnaces. One advantage of this system is that the forced hot air heating ducts can be used for air conditioning. However, for optimal heating vents need to be at floor level but for optimal cooling the vents need to be at ceiling level. On Long Island with dramatic temperature differences between winter and summer, it may be worth having separate ductwork for the heating and cooling system. Hot Water (Hydronic) In a hot water or hydronic heating system, water is heated in a boiler to between 160 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit. The hot water is then pumped throughout the house to warm up radiators placed in each room. These boilers can be oil-fired or gas-fired. There are several advantages to hydronic heat systems. They are generally quiet. The radiators are small. The system can be divided into multiple zones, allowing more control over the temperature in different parts of the house. Hot water is also used in radiant heating (or more accurately radiant floor heating or radiant ceiling heating). In these systems hot water is circulated through pipes that are buried in a concrete slab. The concrete acts as a thermal mass, absorbing the heat from the water and slowly radiating it out into a room. One advantage of this system is that it evenly distributes heat throughout a room and over a long period of time. Its main disadvantage is that it generally doesn’t heat a room quickly. Steam Heat Many older houses on Long Island still have steam heat. In these heating systems water is heated in a boiler until it becomes steam. The steam, being a gas, rises through pipes into radiators, which become hot, in turn heating the room. Steam is generally not used in new home heating systems. It is noisy and not easily divided into zones. The radiators are also a burn risk. Heat Pump There are two primary types of electric heat pumps – outside air and underground water. Underground water systems are also referred to as geothermal heat exchange, ground source heat pump, ground water heat pump or ground loop heat pump systems. Heat pumps can provide both heating and cooling. During the summer a heat pump functions like a normal air conditioner. When heat is needed it is operated in a reverse mode, with the heat pump extracting the available heat energy from outside air or underground water. On Long Island where temperatures regularly drop below 35 degrees Fahrenheit outside air electric heat pumps by themselves may not provide enough heat. Some units include an internal electric heating coil, which is expensive to operate. There are also dual systems that type into a furnace to provide auxiliary heat when the heat pump is not up to the task. Underground water systems work better in these climates since the ground generally stays above freezing once you go down a foot or two. Other Heating Systems There are other heating systems that can be used either for whole house heating, supplemental heating or zone heating. These include electric radiant baseboard heating, wall furnaces, room heaters, space heaters and even wood stoves. |