Heating Systems

Choosing The Right Heating System

One of the biggest challenges that anyone faces is keeping a house warm in winter time, especially when the temperatures can go below freezing point. Luckily there are now many great heating systems available for those who like to keep warm and in general these include boiler systems and fireplaces.

When choosing a boiler one of the main decisions that need to be made is whether the boiler will be used for heating or hot water or both. A boiler which is used simply for hot water can often be a highly-efficient way to make sure the water is heated to a good temperature, and there are many good brands available on the market. If the boiler is simply used for heating, by which is usually meant heating water radiators again is it possible to find a very highly efficient boiler to keep the radiators at a high enough temperature to warm even the coldest rooms in the coldest temperatures. If the house is particularly large, it may be worthwhile considering a commercial boiler.

The right combination

However, one of the most popular types nowadays is the combination boiler, particularly a gas condensing type. These have the advantage of being able to heat the hot water system and also supply hot water for the bath and so on. The technology of these boiler types has improved greatly over recent years and they are now highly fuel efficient and can often convert almost 100% of the fuel into heat.

When it comes to a secondary heating source, for those times when the central heating is not powerful enough, there are several choices of fireplace, including the wood burning fireplace insert for those people who like a traditional look to their fireplace, and the gas fireplace insert, for those people who want a traditional look but without the hard work of chopping wood and having to wait for a wood fire to become warm enough to heat the room properly.

Quick burning inserts

Quick burning inserts are now a very effective way of heating a room, because in effect some of these inserts are nothing short of a small furnace, or a mini furnace as they are sometimes known. The amount of heat that can be created can be enough to warm a very large room, and if linked to a central heating system can be enough to provide hot water for a large family.

But it is the gas fireplace that has really come into its own in the past few years. The main benefit of these is the fact that they can supply almost instant heat, at the flick of a switch, while the workings of the stove itself can be controlled by a remote control unit and an automatic thermostatic system. Many of these models will use natural gas and propane gas, which means you are very unlikely to ever be left without fuel. In the case of the propane gas fireplaces these are extremely portable and can therefore be moved from room to room very easily.

Whatever the type of heating system you need, there is now a wide range of choice available. Take time to look at some of the articles on this site to get a feel for what is available and to understand some of the considerations that need to be borne in mind before making the choice.