You Have a Choice When Heating Your Home

Whether you’re building a new home, or are remodeling a home you’ve lived in for years, one of the first things you’ll consider is how to keep your home warm all winter long.

It starts by considering where you live. A condo in the city is different than a small cabin in the mountains. A multilevel home will heat differently than a tiny house in the country.

But you do have choices. It starts with understanding what is involved in the heating process.

Size matters. Heating systems need to be scaled to how much square footage you have. A lot of homes across the Front Range use natural gas, but it isn’t the only option. If you live near a lake, for example, geothermal heating might be an option.

If you’re wondering what makes most sense for your home, a good place to start is with an energy audit. We can help you evaluate your living space, and make recommendations for the best way to heat your home. Some options include:

Boilers

Boilers are not the same thing as water heaters. A boiler heats water and converts it to steam. This steam is then radiated throughout the home through baseboard heaters or panels set into the floor, wall, or ceiling. Because boilers don’t use fans to push the heat throughout the home, they are quieter. It’s also possible to control the heat in different rooms, making it more efficient.

Furnaces

Gas forced furnaces are powered by natural gas, electricity, or oil, and use ductwork to distribute heat throughout the home. They are energy efficient and practical here in Colorado – they’re one of the most common heating systems we use. The largest drawback is they can be quite noisy as they operate. Furnaces are a part of HVAC systems, where the furnace and air conditioner use the same blower motor and ductwork to distribute conditioned air throughout the home.

Heat pumps

Heap pumps are more popular in milder climates. It uses a device that absorbs heat from outside the home, usually the air or ground, and transfers the heat into a heat exchanger. The process can be reversed in the summer, making it a year-round system.

Radiant heating

Radiant heating is a heating source you can use underneath some types of flooring. Because it heats the floor underneath your feet, it can help certain rooms feel warmer, thus making your rooms more energy efficient in the long run.

Space heaters

While not a heating system, space heaters can help you control individual space easier. It can help you keep the rest of your house a few degrees cooler in the winter, especially if you spend a lot of time in a family living space, for example.

What’s the best way to keep your home comfortable? Start with an energy audit. We can help you determine the perfect heating source for your home.