It’s getting colder out there, which means you will need to stay warm while inside your home. Having a large house could mean colder winters if you don’t have the proper machinery to heat your home properly. Most homeowners would probably look for a boiler system for this purpose. In this article, we will be going over what a boiler system is, what you need to know about a boiler system, and the pros and cons of having one.
What is a Boiler System?
In the simplest of terms, a boiler system is something that heats your home. The way it works is that a boiler furnace will heat water by either means of a gas or oil-fired burner. This makes it turn into steam. The stream will travel through the pipes of the home to the radiators or convectors. This gives off heat and thus heats up any room you want it to. When the steam cools, it will condense back into water and return to the boiler to be heated once again.
What You Need to Know About Boiler Systems
In this section, we’ll go over what you should know about boiler systems. The first being what you need to know about them that’s important:
Knowing whether or not your boiler is of standard efficiency or high-efficiency is important. Standard efficiency boilers are vented in metal pipes. The high efficiency models will be vented in PVC pipes.
Here’s what else you should know:
Pumps fail and electrical components fail. Unnecessary air could get into the system and this could result in the system not moving water into the boiler, which means the boiler won’t work properly. This can also happen if low pressure happens.
Water can freeze in states that get really cold in the winter, which means you need to have someone looking at your pipes or turning them on occasionally if you’re not home to watch over it.
There is a low risk of children being hurt around hot radiators, but you should always be cautious. If you have an old cast iron radiator, this can be very hot to the touch. So, you should do research on what kind of radiator you have when you have small children around.
Boilers do not waste water due to the boiler being a sealed system so you never have to worry about this. When it comes to modern boiler systems, they’re just as efficient as those that are gas forced-air furnaces.
You will know if your boiler is operating properly when you perform a boiler tune-up on your system. If you have a boiler then it is going to require annual maintenance so you can assure that everything is good every year.
The Positives and Negatives to Owning a Boiler System
Just like everything there are pros and cons to buying a boiler system. If you live in an apartment, this is beyond your control. But, having a house means you are responsible for the heating system you put in your house. So, before you make the purchase and effort to install a boiler system in a home (if it doesn’t already have one), you want to know what you’re getting into.
Positives:
Here are the positives to having it in your home:
- Having a boiler system can improve the quality of air you’re breathing in every day. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic. And it’s cold season. And we’re staying indoors more often. Combine all three of these things and you’re going to want improved air in your home. Because it doesn’t spew air all over the place, it makes for cleaner air. How is this done? If you do have any dust on your furniture, it won’t get kicked up by the heating system.
- Boilers are quiet. They don’t make noise. There’s nothing more annoying than a fan or an AC that makes noise. It almost makes you want to not have them on and deal with the annoying weather change. Boiler systems, as opposed to forced air systems; do not kick up air or dust and are virtually soundless.
- Be warm comfortably. As opposed to forced air heaters that keep the room hot, but the surfaces cold, boiler systems disperse evenly. So, you will experience a comfortable heat that will have you happy that you decided to go with boilers instead of forced air systems.
Negatives:
In this section, we will go through the few negatives that come with installing a boiler system. These cons are just for you to have in your mind so you are not surprised further down the line:
- They are a little pricey. We have mentioned forced air in this article quite a bit and that is because they are cheaper than boiler systems. Which, have made them more popular and common to buy. While boiler systems are more expensive when you first purchase them, they are cheaper on a monthly basis.
- Boilers can leak. Due to boilers using water, there is the chance of a leak. Which, could mean there’s a lot of cleanup if a leak or a crack happens. This is unlikely to happen with new systems, but you should have an annual checkup and understand that it may happen 15 years down the line.
Should You Install a Boiler System For Your Home?
In this article, we’ve gone over reasons why boiler systems are good to install. We’ve also gone over the negatives and the little facts you should know before installing such a system. If you’re moving into a new home or you are building from the ground up, you have the ability to pick out how you want to heat your home. If you live in a colder state or one that experiences seasons, you eventually are going to want something like this in place. It isn’t just enough to have plug-in heaters. It may be more expensive to purchase initially, but it will be a cheaper investment in the long run that you will be happy you splurged on.
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