Top 7 reasons why a hydronic heating system is a better choice than forced air

1. Comfort – Your body naturally loses heat to the cooler surfaces in a room (windows, walls, floors and furniture). When those surfaces are warmer, you feel more comfortable. No system is more comfortable than a hydronic system, because it heats the objects and surfaces in the room. But because a forced air furnace heats the air, you only feel comfortable when the furnace blower is on.
2. Efficiency – There's more to heating efficiency than just the AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) rating of a boiler or furnace. For example, a furnace blower can pressurize the room and force heated air out through small cracks in a building's walls, roof and floors (also called the “building envelope”). Hydronic heating systems don't pressurize the room during heating cycles, so there's less heat loss.
3. Reliability – It's not unusual to find well-installed 30- or 40-year-old cast-iron boiler still providing reliable service. Forced air furnaces have a typical lifespan of 15 - 20 years.
4. Versatility – The design flexibility of a hydronic system makes it exceptionally versatile. Systems can be configured to provide independent heating zones, domestic hot water or snowmelt, as just a few examples. A hydronic system is also a perfect complement to a ground-source heat pump (geo-thermal). A forced air system can't begin to compete in this category.
5. Quiet – There is no quieter heating system than a well-installed hydronic system. (If you hear a lot of noise in the pipes, something needs fixing!) Compared to forced air's noisy blower and frequent on-off cycles, there's just no contest.
6. Cleanliness -- With no blowers or leaky ducts, there's no dust blowing through the house. That means there's less housecleaning plus a healthier indoor environment, especially for people with allergies.
7. No need for humidification – A hydronic system doesn't dry out the indoor air because its water temperatures are usually much lower than the air temperatures of a forced air furnace. Because forced air makes indoor air so dry, most people need additional equipment (such as a humidifier) to add moisture back into the air to feel more comfortable.

Stay tuned. Starting next week, I'll expand on each of these seven advantages in more detail.

Heidronically yours,

Wayne