When looking for furnace repair Summit most people confuse a heater, furnace and boiler and end up choosing the wrong service. In the middle of winter, you may wonder what device causes your living room to maintain comfortable temperatures. Most homes in The United States of America have a central heating system and the parts that make up the heating system can be confusing. Knowing what your heating system is and how it functions will help you keep it well-maintained.

Heaters

It can be tricky to define the term heater. It is just a catch-all term in The United States for devices that heat up an environment. We all know it as a central heating device but it started in the Roman Empire. Romans had an underground source of heat which would be distributed by pipes along the walls and holes in the ground. After the fall of the civilization of the Roman Empire, western heating technologies came into place.

Central heating units have a location for the heating device, be it an attic or basement or a machine, where the heat is distributed throughout the building. They are common in most homes, commercial buildings and apartment complexes.

Modern heating systems in The United States are efficient and will not require additional energy-wasting localized heaters.

Central heating systems use forms of energy combustion, be it from a furnace or a boiler and furnace combination. A furnace or boiler produces heat that your HVAC system will distribute throughout your home to keep it warm. A central heating system without a boiler or a furnace will not be a heating system and that is why you need to do a furnace repair when your system is not producing enough heat.

Furnaces

Furnaces get their names from Fornax. This is a Greek word that means oven. The first furnaces were clay or stone structures that used wood or coal to create intense heat. They were used for ceramic projects such as for smelting ore to create tools, metal objects and materials.

Industrial furnaces are cages for raging fires. They are hot enough to melt stones and can look like something build to haunt kids. The furnace is applied in homes as an efficient form of heating.

Modern-day furnaces in The United States run off electricity, gas or induction. They are safer than their older counterparts. They produce enough heat to feed into a ventilation system. Small furnaces are often attached to water heaters and boilers to apply the necessary energy to give people hot showers or even circulate heat from boilers to heat homes.

Boilers

The job of a boiler is to turn water into steam. Air does not hold heat and water is hard to move so steam provides a great medium for heat transfer to where it is needed. A small furnace is usually attached and provides the necessary heat to get the water steaming. Like a furnace, boilers aren’t just used for home applications.

Irrespective of the heating system used in your home, furnace repair Summit will provide the necessary services to keep your system functioning efficiently.