How HVAC equipment becomes a system

Every HVAC system is different. Some people have one system, some two. Some people heat their home with boilers, others furnaces. For those outside of the HVAC industry, these systems can be a mystery. You may think that only the furnace and AC unit make up your heating and cooling system, but there are actually many other components to consider. Neglecting and allowing them to break down could cause issues in the long run.

The Furnace

Furnaces, both oil and gas, are the most common way to heat your home in the northeast. Furnaces turn fuel into heat and then push it out into your home. When told by the thermostat, burners fire up and start the process of heating your home. Burners transfer heat to a heat exchanger which heats up the air blown over it, by the blower motor, as it is pushed out into your home. Once the air is out, return ducts send it back to the furnace to repeat the process. Keeping the heat exchanger clean and crack-free is very important to heating your home.

The Air Conditioner

An air conditioning unit is made up of several components. Outside your home is the condensing unit. Hot refrigerant gas comes from the evaporator coil through copper or aluminum refrigerant lines and flows into the compressor. The compressor pressurizes the gas, turning it back into a liquid, sending the cooled liquid back inside. Blowers pull warm air from your home and run it across the evaporator coil which is cooled by the refrigerant. The coil then reduces the humidity so that cooler, drier air is pushed into your ducts. While technically part of the AC system, the evaporator coil is located on the furnace, showing how closely the units work together.

Total System

Both the furnace and the air conditioner are controlled by your thermostat. It is essentially the brain of your HVAC system. Other important components of your HVAC system are your air ducts, which guide the air around your home and out through vents. Keeping your ducts clean and well insulated is important to the efficiency of your unit. For this reason, regularly replacing your air filters will help extend the life of your systems.

There are many smaller components that make up your HVAC system. All of these parts are important to keeping your system working properly. Getting annual tune-ups on your air conditioner and furnace are crucial to maintaining the health of these parts. A qualified and trained technician will inspect and clean parts of your unit to help keep it running properly. They can also detect parts that may be failing or likely to break in the near future. Replacing them before they break and possibly cause other parts to break will save you money and keep you from being stuck in the cold or heat with a broken system.

Call us today to schedule a tune-up or learn more about your money-saving maintenance plans.