Heating Systems Using Forced Air

Many homes in North America have heating systems using forced air, and the components of such a system will be discussed in this article. A forced air heating system requires ducting, and one reason for its popularity is that the ducting can also be utilized in the summer months by your home’s air conditioner. Lots of furnaces today also have humidifiers attached to them. When inside air gets heated it tends to lose humidity, and if the inside of a home is too dry, people can develop health issues. This is especially true for people with sinus problems.

All forced air systems will need an air handler. Once the furnace or heat pump has warmed up the air, the blower will send it into the ducting and force it around the home for distribution into the rooms. The blower will continue turning until the system’s thermostat tells it that the desired temperature has been reached and the system should stop. It is advisable in terms of saving money that the thermostat be a programmable unit. If nobody is at home, there is no need to keep the house at the same temperature as when people are home. The same principle applies at night while the family is asleep.

Along with the blower will be an air filter. These should be replaced or cleaned periodically, depending on the type of filter you are using. There will be registers in each room of the house at the point where the air enters the rooms, and these will control the flow of air when it arrives. Gas fired units, either natural gas or propane, will need a flue in order to get the combusted gas out of the house.

In a forced air heating system there is a cycle that is repeated each time the thermostat says the temperature has dropped too much. The blower pulls room temperature air from around the house through the duct system and into a heat exchanger where the air is warmed up. This can be done either by gas jets or electrical heaters or perhaps a heat pump in some regions. A heat pump does not work efficiently in places where the temperature gets too cold. Once heated, the hot air is then sent around the house through the ducts by the blower. When the thermostat detects that the room temperature has risen to a certain level, it then turns off the system until the next cycle is initiated,