subject: Merits And Demerits Of Hot Water Heating Systems [print this page] Heat exchangers in furnaces and heat exchangers in boilers share similar functions. Heat is transferred from fire to heat transfer mediums through them. While air is the medium through which furnaces transfer this heat; water is what is used to perform the same function in boilers. Basic and common material for both the equipments are alloys, copper and cast iron
People contemplate between boilers and furnaces as the outputs are similar.
Advantages of Various Water Heating Systems offer:
1. They both provide similar volume of heat and its even.
2. Rooms tend to be more comfortable as drafts are not created.
3. They donot make noise as the forced air systems.
4. Circulation of odor is usually restricted with these boilers compared to forced air systems.
5. They demand for lesser number of pipes in floors, walls and ceilings compared to having ducts. This helps in reducing bulkheads in rooms.
6. Its always recommended to use boilers than furnaces because they are smaller with equivalent capacity.
7. Heat exchange repair services can be minimized easily with the usage of boiler or furnace.
Disadvantages Various Water Heating Systems:
1. Installation is more expensive and time consuming compared to forced-air furnaces. Even the services charges are higher.
2. It is tedious to install humidifying, filtering and central air conditioning equipments at home.
3. Sales of furnaces are higher than that of boilers in the market.
4. Radiators occupy more space in houses than heating registers.
5. Leakage in a hot water system usually means water damage. However there is no damage if there is a leak in a supply or duct system.
6 Safety is always a main concern for heating systems. There are lots of safety issues with respect to boilers and furnaces in terms of exhaustion of fuels, burning and handling them. Explosion of boilers have serious safety concern. It can lead to steam explosion if over- heated.
One should follow principle of home inspection while using hot water boilers. When water boils at 212 degree F at atmospheric pressure, steam is created when the pressure is released. When the ice pick is stuck into the water tank, pressure is released in a similar method of cold water in the tank. The only difference is super heated water boils immediately and gets converted to steam which escapes instantly in the atmosphere. Because of the speed it generates steam explosion.
8. Building a tank and skeleton of pipes installed at home can create a deadly project of metals. It has a very high potential of fatally harming someone as the instrument is spaced out from basement to the roof top. Any explosion between the inlet and the outlet can create hazardous explosions. The pressure generated would have enough energy to lead loud explosions.
It could be expensive and disruptive if we convert any heating system to the other. Under very few circumstances we should advise the client to replace one heating system with other. The outcome for both the boiler and furnace are similar. Hence, all the factors should be considered before investing in any one of these heating systems.
