SYSTEMS - HEATING
For most of us, heating is the first thing we think of in our environments-whether for heating new homes or buildings or as an important early step in renovation and HVAC repairs. There are several heating options to choose from, including gas, oil and electrical heating options that work through heating and air units such as furnaces and boilers:
Forced Hot Air, Boilers, Heat Pumps
Boilers
Unlike a furnace, which moves air, a boiler produces steam or hot water. Gas and oil boilers provide warm, even heat throughout your home by circulating steam or heated water through a system of pipes and baseboard or radiator-type heat exchangers. Boilers provide warm, even comfort without drafts because it's not a forced air system. Instead, warmth "radiates" throughout your home without causing much of the dryness associated with heat from a forced hot air system (furnace or heat pump).
How They Work
Oil fired boilers are constructed of steel or cast iron. Cast iron boilers are made up of sections, which are large hollow rings stacked together, like a box of donuts. The water to be heated is inside the rings, and the burner is mounted to blast its flame into a firebox (sometimes called a refractory) fitted into the hollow created within the sections. Steel boilers can be of the same design or be of stamped steel welded together to form the sections or water chambers. Gas burns at a lower temperature than oil, and gas boilers come in a variety of designs. They can be similar to oil boilers, but usually put the flame closer to the metal, even immersing the water tubes in the fire.
Efficiency
A boiler's efficiency rating or AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) tells you how efficiently the boiler uses fuel (gas or oil). The government-mandated minimum efficiency for boilers is 78% AFUE. Higher efficiency boilers are rated as high as 90% AFUE.
Payback
Usually, the higher the efficiency, the more expensive the initial cost. If you live in a cold climate, you will probably see the higher cost of a high-efficiency boiler paid back through lower utility bills in a few short years. Your dealer can use heating data from your area to help you determine about how long it would take you to recover the additional cost in energy savings. Of course, after the payback, you continue to save on your energy bills for the life of the system.
