With temperatures already cooled down to a point that you need your heating system on a daily basis, we hope yours is working as well as it sh. But what if you’ve skipped maintenance, or you have an aging system that just can’t keep up with the heating demand in your home anymore? Well, then it may very well be time to invest in a new heater.
We discourage you, though, from rushing to buy the biggest heater within your budget and just being satisfied with that. If your system is still operational for now we really urge you to take a few considerations into account for your next heating system purchase. And if you don’t already have a boiler system in place, it may be time for you to consider one! But what are the benefits? What makes them better than furnaces or other forced-air heating systems?
They Use Less Energy
A boiler does tend to cost more to install than a furnace does. However, it also costs less money to run over time. This is due to the fact that water is much more effective at moving heat than air is, so boilers provide heat much more efficiently. This means hundreds of dollars in savings for you, when you change from a forced air system to a boiler.
Boilers Last Longer
Boilers are constructed with fewer moving parts than furnaces or heat pumps are. Forced-air heating systems utilize a number of motors and blower fan in order to operate, while the only major mechanical moving part on a boiler is the circulator pump. This lower number of mechanical parts means that boilers undergo less stress as they operate.
As a result, you can reasonably expect a boiler to last longer than other types of heating systems. In fact, when they are well taken care of, they can last about 30 years versus a heat pump’s 10-15 or a furnace’s 15-20.
Boilers Require Less Service
We’re talking maintenance and repairs. The low number of moving parts within a boiler helps it in a few ways. It takes less to keep them properly maintained, and they’ll encounter fewer repair issues throughout the years than other heating systems. So long as your boiler receives annual maintenance, it should remain trouble-free for most of its service life.
Boilers Evenly Spread the Heat
One of the problems with forced-air heaters is that they tend to blow out heated air that gathers at the top of a room. There are things you can do to make it more efficient, but ultimately it can take a pretty long time for enough hot air to accumulate before it spreads out through your entire household.
Radiant heat from a boiler system, however, moves evenly throughout your space, meaning there are fewer cold spots and the rooms heat up much faster.