HVAC Services and Why They Are Necessary

A home’s HVAC, or heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are crucial for keeping the home comfortable in both warm and cold seasons and for venting stale air, excess heat and excess humidity. Here are the components of the ventilation, heating and cooling systems:

Forced Air
There are different ways to heat a house. With a forced air system, air is warmed in a furnace then forced, or blown through the ducts of the house and up through registers. Forced air heaters use gas, propane, electricity or oil to power them. They are often large, boxy pieces of equipment found in basements.To keep this equipment working properly, HVAC contractors are skilled in furnace repair and furnace installation.

Some heaters also serve as air conditioners, and they are called heat pumps. During the winter, heat pumps pull air in from the outside, warms it and distributes it through the house. In the summer, the air is passed through refrigerant lines and cools the house.

Radiant Heat
Radiant heat is provided by pads or coils HVAC contractors install beneath the floors or in the walls. The source of heat can be electricity or warmed water. Radiant heating is almost maintenance-free, silent and efficient.

Radiators
The heat from radiators comes from the water or steam from the boiler. The heat comes through baseboard convectors or coiled radiators. These systems are also easy to care for.

Solar Heating
Solar heating is becoming more and more popular and more and more affordable. It uses collectors on a roof to take in the energy of the sun.

Air Conditioning
Both central and unit air conditioners use a complex system to remove heat from the air and then force the cooled air into the house. The homeowner or HVAC contractors need to assess how many Btuhs, or British thermal units per hour the house requires to cool it sufficiently. More and more people are choosing zoned air conditioning systems, which deliver warm and cold air only to the rooms that are being used. This cuts down on energy costs.

Ventilation
There are two types of ventilation: static and powered. Static ventilators are doors, windows and vents in the attic, crawlspace and even in the combustion chamber of the furnace or the boiler. Power ventilators are the kitchen range hood or the exhaust fan in the bathroom. A fan mounted in the house’s roof works with the static ventilators to pull excess heat out of the house. It may even cool the house down to the point where the air conditioner doesn’t have to be used as much.

HVAC contractors recommend that the system be serviced at least twice a year, once before the heating season and once before the cooling season. You may want to browse the Cozy Comfort Plus website for additional information.