Home Heating FAQs

While home heating methods vary somewhat, there are certain basic approaches to home heating that are most commonly used in those regions of the country where Americans have true autumn and winter heating needs. Generally, these methods involve the use of traditional central heating with or without the use of auxiliary heating techniques to augment the furnace-based heating. Three auxiliary methods are most popularly used. Finally, one state has legislated an advance in oil-based heating beginning in 2010.

Furnace-Based Central Heating

Probably still the most common means, as of November 2009, of heating one's home is central heating using a furnace/boiler system and either radiators or gas-fired heating elements. Gas heat is quiet, but for piped-in gas the householder is often restricted to a large regional supplier that may have a pricing monopoly. Some communities have a municipal gas entity that usually has economical pricing. Some systems, also, use bottled propane gas fuel, particularly in rural areas. Oil furnaces tend to cost less to fuel than gas-fired furnaces. However, oil-fueled radiators tend to be noisy, emitting clunking noises and this gets more pronounced as the systems age.

Auxiliary Heating: Solar Power

Although there is some movement toward homes heated entirely with solar cell technology, this is still somewhat unusual. More common, however, is the use of rooftop solar cell collectors as a backup, or auxiliary, heat source along with gas or oil systems. Solar cell heating allows the householder to minimize use of the gas- or oil-fired furnace system, allowing a savings both in terms of operating costs and in terms of environmental emissions.

Auxiliary Heating: Electric Heat

As with solar power, while there are homes heated entirely with electricity, this is not usual since in climates where home heating is necessary for an extended season, heating a home fully based on electric heating systems provides inadequate warmth. More commonly, as with solar power, the householder may reduce use of an oil- or gas-fired furnace heating by using electric radiators in specific areas of the home. Again, this allows for a reduction in ongoing furnace operation, providing for a more cost effective overall home heating method.

Auxiliary Heating: Wood or Pellet Stoves

Another means of reducing the operating requirements and costs of an oil- or gas-fired central heating system is the use of wood-fired stoves or pellet stoves to augment the oil or gas furnace. This option is not suitable for all homes, however. One typically finds this methodology either in older homes that have such stoves installed at the time of building, or more contemporary homes designed to incorporate such a stove. This may not provide a good option for those unfamiliar with the operation of such stoves; and a caution with this type of home heating is that it necessitates regular servicing by a chimney sweep to ensure against carbon monoxide backup into the home or a chimney fire: chimney fires being among the most dangerous of home fires.

The Massachusetts Mandate: Biofuel

A variation on oil-fired central heating is the Massachusetts mandate. Recent Massachusetts legislation requires oil distributors operating in that state to convert to biofuel during 2010. Biofuel is a blend of oil with natural fuel sources, such as soybean derivatives.

References

• Home Doctor: Radiators