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You Can Feel It!
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Heating Your Home or Business
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At CARE Heating and Cooling we believe the
furnace that is in your home or office is much more than a heating
system...they are your environment.
We install and maintain many types of heating systems for commercial and
residential needs. We also custom fabricate your ducting to insure
proper installation and safety.
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There are many ways to heat your home or office. This page will cover a few of the most common types of heating units available.
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Gas burning furnaces
Hydronic heat
Heat pumps
Electric furnaces
Gas burning furnaces
Gas or fuel burning furnaces all work on the same basic principle.
The fuel is burned inside an enclosed metal container
(generally referred to as a fire box or heat exchanger). The exhaust
gases (including carbon monoxide) are
vented to the exterior of the building. The burning of the fuel warms
the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger, now hot, radiates the heat
into the air in the living area. This heated air is circulated by
gravity or pumped through the living area with a fan.
Gravity furnaces
These will usually be found in older homes. They include floor and
wall furnaces and some ducted furnaces that are generally in a
basement. The term gravity referrers to the fact that the furnace
has no blower to move the heated air around the room. They rely on
the fact that heated (less dense) air rises and the cooler
(more dense) air falls to circulate the heat. This is not a very
efficient way to heat a house and generally will be used as a room
heater.
FAU's (forced air units)
This is the most common type of furnace. A forced air unit does
exactly what it's name implies. It forces air (using a blower) over
the hot heat exchanger. This now warmed air is directed (usually
through air ducts) into the living area. If you have a FAU that is
over 15 years old and are considering replacing it you have a lot of
options. In the state of California you can't get a FAU that is less
than 80% efficient for your home (not legally anyway). This is good
and will lower your gas bills during the heating season but there
are some things to watch out for. First these newer FAU's have what
is called a draft inducer. This pulls the burning gas through the
heat exchanger to make better and more efficient use of the fuel
spent. What this means is that the exhaust gasses
(vented to the outside) are cooler leaving the furnace and they can
cause condensation to form on the inside of single wall or transite
vent pipes. If you do not replace the vent pipe with double wall vent
pipe this condensation can (and probably will) drain down into the
draft inducer motor and destroy it. This common error made by the
installer can void a warranty from the manufacturer.
Hydronic heat
This type of heating unit can be used with forced air or radiant
heating systems. Hydronic referrers to water. The water is heated by
a boiler or solar power or both. In a forced air application the
heated water is passed through a coil (much like a automobile
radiator) and a blower pushes (or pulls) the cool air across the
coil. At the coil the air picks up the heat energy and the now warm
air is directed to the living area. In radiant systems the heated
water is run through pipes in the floor (or walls) and the floor gets
warm and the heat radiates into the living area. A well designed
and maintained system of this type can be efficient to operate.
Homeowners who I have met who own this type of system (when working)
just love the heat at their feet. Unfortunately quite often this type
of system can be prone to leaks if not designed, installed, and
maintained by experts.
Heat pumps
You can count on these quiet, high-efficiency unit to keep energy and
operating costs low in the hottest weather, or the coldest--for many
years of comfort.
Care Heating & Cooling can adjust fan speed and air flow to the level
best suited to heating and cooling your home. So you'll have the
right performance for maximum comfort any time of the year. Choose from
several different designs to give you the benefits of multi-speed "Comfort
Match" on-demand fan adjustment, usually found only on the most
expensive systems.
Electric furnaces
Not the best way to heat your home. Expensive to operate. They can
make your electric meter spin like a top. They work like those old
bathroom electric coil heaters except that they are enclosed in a
box with a blower forcing the cold air across them heating the air
for the living area.
Have you changed your filter lately?
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You can feel the difference!
Call us first at 1-614-841-1555
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