Forced Air vs. Hydronic Heating

There are many types of heating and air conditioning systems that are available today. They can be divided into two broad categories, forced air HVAC systems and hydronic HVAC systems. Forced air heating systems use air to transfer heat from the furnace to rooms that require heating. Hydronic heating systems, on the other hand, use water or steam to transfer heat from the boiler to the room. The following are some of the major differences between the two types of heating systems:

Heat Transfer Medium

While a forced air system uses air to transfer heat from the furnace to the room, hydronic heating uses water. In the former, air is drawn from the room by powerful fans. It is then passed through a heating chamber before being pumped back to the room. As a result, indoor temperatures rise. With hydronic heating, hot water/steam from the boiler is transported to difference parts of the room through metal pipes. Baseboard heaters, radiant floor heat conductors, and radiators mounted in difference parts of the house extract heat from the water that is being transfered. It then radiates it to the surrounding air. As a result, there is no forced circulation of air.

Comfort

The main goal of installing a heating system in your home is to improve home comfort. In that regard, it is important to note that hydronic heating leads to even heat distribution around the house. This means that you will enjoy even temperature inside the house regardless of where you go. With forced air systems, you may experience gushes of hot air and cold drafts of air around the house. This can lower home comfort significantly.

Installation and Service Costs

The cost of installing a forced air heating system is low compared to hydronic heating. It uses a furnace and air ducts to supply air to different rooms in the building. With hydronic heating, however, you will need an extra heat exchanger for each room in the house as well as additional plumbing. Each of the radiators can significantly increase the cost of installing the heating system. It is also important to note that maintaining a hydronic heating system is more extensive. Boilers or Combination boilers have heat exchangers that require descaling and hydronic loops are recommended to be commissioned every 3-5 years due to sludge build up. Furnaces generally just require you to change the air filters and make sure the system components are functioning as they should.

Health and Safety

There are a number of problems you can encounter with a forced air system. For one, the forced air circulation of air may raise dust and other allergens. This can activate allergies and cause an asthma attach. Secondly, a broken combustion chamber can lead to leakages, and this may contaminate your air. If carbon monoxide finds its way into your air supply system, you and your family may experience carbon monoxide poisoning. With hydronic heating, the only thing that you need to worry about is water damage if there is a leakage in the system. This makes hydronic heating healthier and safer than forced air systems.

Navien Combination Boiler Install performed by our technicians.

Energy Efficiency

Water is a better heat transfer medium than air, which makes hydronic heating a more energy efficient heating system than forced air systems. However, the efficiency of the system will also depend on the type of fuel used, efficiency of the furnace/boiler, insulation of the air ducts and hot water pipes among other things. The age of the boiler/furnace is also crucial as newer heating appliances are much more energy efficient than older models.