Fort Wayne and Indianapolis winters can be brutal, but a well-maintained heating system from Masters Heating & Cooling Inc. can keep your home cozy and comfortable all season. When selecting a new system, many customers ask us if radiant boilers or forced-air furnace systems are best. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at how each system operates and examine the pros and cons.
Ready to schedule heating installation? Contact the heating experts at Masters Heating and Cooling today.
Pros of Forced Heating
Forced-air heating systems use air to transfer heat to the entire house. These systems typically include a furnace or a heat pump, a supply plenum, ductwork, heat registers, or return vents. The home’s temperature is usually controlled by a single thermostat. There are several pros of using a forced heating system, including:
- Fast heating: Forced-air furnaces heat up quickly and distribute heat almost immediately.
- Reliable: The ductwork in forced-air furnaces is simple and dependable, with few moving parts, meaning less damage and breakage over time.
- Cheaper to Install: Installing forced-air furnaces is easy if there is existing ductwork for a furnace or air conditioner — the new system can use old ducts without renovating the home.
Cons of Forced Heating
While there are several benefits to forced heating systems, there are some downsides, including:
- Noise:Forced heating systems are louder than radiant systems.
- Allergens: Forced-air systems can stir up and distribute allergens in the home’s air, and some are incompatible with high-grade filters that trap the smallest particles.
- Central temperature control: With a forced heating system, the centralized thermostat only measures the temperature of the room in which it’s located.
Pros of Radiant Heat Boilers
A boiler uses hot water or steam from hot water to heat your home. Due to the lack of a blower, radiantly heated air is often the most comfortable option for use inside your home. There are several pros of installing a radiant heat boiler in your home, including:
- Energy efficiency: Boilers circulate the same water throughout the system, so they need less energy to keep it hot.
- Better indoor air quality: Since there is no air being moved with a boiler, no dust particles are being moved.
- Even heating: Radiant boilers heat more consistently, leading to more uniform heating.
- Quiet operation: Because a boiler has no blower motor, boilers deliver radiant heat silently.
Cons of Radiant Heat Boilers
There are two main disadvantages of radiant heat boilers, including:
- More expensive installation: Installation is typically more costly than other heating systems.
- Separate AC system: Because boilers are designed to produce heat, they don’t have the ductwork needed to provide air conditioning.
Forced vs. Central Air: Which Is Right for Your Indiana Home?
It’s important to weigh the pros and cons before committing to a forced-air heating system. Forced-air heating systems are popular for their energy efficiency, heating time, easy installation, reliability, and high indoor air quality. Still, they require regular maintenance, produce a lot of noise, utilize ductwork, stir up allergens, and distribute heat unevenly. Determining which heating system is right for your home depends on various factors, including the size, age, and location of your home.
Choose Masters Heating and Cooling for Heating Installation
You may find it difficult to choose between installing a boiler or a forced air furnace. The easy step is contacting Masters Heating and Cooling to help you decide! Since 1980, our team of experts has been going the distance to help customers with their heating needs.
Contact Masters Heating and Cooling today for boiler or forced air furnace installation.
