The visible parts of your heating system give you a way to distribute air and regulate the temperatures in your home, but they have nothing to do with producing hot air. You can see the grilles from inside your home, and you probably adjust the thermostat from time to time, but there is much more to your system than you can see. The parts that are involved in producing heat for your home include these:
- Heat exchanger
Understanding How the Heating Components Work Together
The furnace is where all of the action takes place, concealing the working components of your heating system. In a large metal carton located in your attic, basement or closet, your furnace serves as a central command post that directs and coordinates the system’s components.
A furnace serves many purposes for industry, but the function of a forced air unit in your home is to convert cold air into warm by using gas or electricity. The heat exchanger inside the furnace warms air when it is needed, using a burner in gas systems or coils in those that use electric power.
When air reaches the proper temperature, the blower sends warm air into your duct system for distribution to rooms through vent grilles. The exhaust system performs a vital function of releasing gases into the outdoors, and draft hoods allow the safe release of carbon monoxide. Maintaining your heating system can extend it’s lifetime.
Understanding the Distribution System
Moving warm air through airways or ducts starts with the cold air return or the intake for systems that pull in air from outside your home. Heating systems use filters for returns and intakes to prevent dust particles from entering the working mechanisms of your equipment. Cold air that enters the heat exchanger in your furnace activates the process of converting it into heat.
The airways in your duct system provide a supply of heated air to the vents in each room, and return ducts pull cool air out of rooms and return it to the furnace for reheating. Supply vents are the small grilles that are placed in each room to provide the temperatures that you enjoy. Return vents are larger and less numerous than supply grilles, and the air that they return passes through a filter to protect the furnace.
The sound of a system turning on means that heated air can start circulating as soon as the blower engages. Working in coordination with the exchanger, the blower activates when heat reaches an appropriate temperature. You may hear the system shut off as well, but the blower keeps running until it depletes the supply of heated air in the furnace.
Controlling the Temperature
Your thermostat is a sensitive switch that promptly responds to a change in temperature, automatically turning on the heat when it is needed. Relying on input from sensors located at strategic points, it gathers data that allows it to keep your home comfortably heated.
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