The Basics of a Heating and Cooling System

Majority of homeowners don’t really think about their heating and cooling systems, as long as they keep on providing a comfortable space inside the home. It is expected that the heating system will work as usual in keeping us warm during the cold and winter season while the air conditioning system gives us a cool environment inside during the summer.

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However, every homeowner, including you must have at least the basic knowledge in heating and cooling, particularly on how they work. The reason why you need to learn how they work is because there’s no way for you to figure out if something’s wrong with them.

Yes, you can always call a professional to troubleshoot your heating and cooling equipment once it stops working, but you can’t afford to pay them even for the smallest and simplest issues. So if you wish to cut professional service costs and at the same make sure your equipment works efficiently, you need to learn how heating and cooling works and in the process allow yourself to gradually teach yourself of the basic maintenance and repair work.

Both your heating and cooling systems are classified under one type of device – we call it climate control device. It is generally made up of three basic components namely the source of the warmed or cooled air, the method of air distribution, and the specific control utilized for the regulation of the system. Sources of warm air include that of a furnace, but there are also other modern types you’ll learn later on. An example of a source of cool air meanwhile is the air conditioner.

What’s interesting is that in most modern houses these days, the same distribution and control system is used for both heating and cooling. Now it is likely that your house is using central air conditioning, which means that the cool air will flow through the very same ducts where heated air flows. As a matter of fact, the same control device, i.e. the thermostat is regulating both heating and cooling.

So when your equipment fails to provide sufficient heating or cooling, there problem will always be in any of those three basic components.

Meanwhile, you also should know that both heating and air conditioning operates under the same principle that heat will naturally move from a warm object to a cooler one; similar to how water flows from a higher point to a lower level.

The way heaters and furnaces work is that they place heat into the air so that the environment inside gets warmer than usual. Air conditioners on the other hand will remove the heat in the space inside your home so as to make it cooler.

Both systems will only work if they have a fuel source. As for air conditioners, the only way to power them is using electricity. Home heating systems on the other hand will use different kinds of fuel sources, including but not limited to gas, oil, geothermal, and electricity. There also is another type of system called the heat pump – which uses electricity to control the temperature inside the home, in the process producing both cool and hot air. During the winter, it can work by pulling heat from the air outside and then uses the same to warm the air inside. In the summer, it’ll extract heat from the air inside your home so as to make the space cooler.

The way a typical furnace works is that when you turn it on, it will begin using the fuel that causes it to function. That fuel can be gas, oil, or electricity. In the process of burning, heat is then produced and distributed to the different areas of the house with the help of pipes, ducts, cables, and wires. The heat is then blown out using a variety of components including radiators, registers, or heating panels.

For older types of heating systems, they traditionally use the heat they product to heat water. The hot water then will heat the air inside the house. Typically, a boiler is intended to store and heat the water, while hot water is distributed through pipes hidden underneath the floor, walls, or the ceiling.

As for the air conditioner, electrical power is used in order to cool a gas in a coil to a point that it turns to liquid. After that, warm air inside will be cooled once it makes contact with the cooling coil. The resulting cool air will be distributed to the home using ducts and out registers.

By learning the basics of heating and cooling, you’ll have a pretty clear idea on what the problem is once you feel like either of those systems isn’t working. At this point, you can go ahead and learn some basic troubleshooting.