Every year, we talk to new homeowners who’ve recently moved into their first oil-heated home in the Eastern Panhandle. Buying a new home involves a lot of research, but one factor they often don’t investigate thoroughly is their heating system — at least, not until winter arrives.
Many new homeowners in Inwood and across the region aren’t sure whether their oil-heating system includes a boiler or a furnace. Understanding your heating system is important for proper maintenance and troubleshooting. In this article, we’ll discuss how you can identify your home’s heating equipment and how you should take care of it.
If your home is heated by hot water or steam, you have a boiler. In this system, water circulates through your boiler’s combustion chamber to be heated. A circulator pump then sends the hot water or steam through pipes to either baseboard heaters or radiators in your rooms. After releasing its heat, the cooling water cycles back to the boiler to start the process over.
A furnace is part of a warm-air or forced-air system. Inside the furnace, air is heated. Then, a blower fan pushes the warm air through a network of ducts. This heated air is distributed throughout your home via vents or registers located in the floors, walls, or ceilings of each room.
The simplest way to tell if you have a boiler or a furnace is by looking at how heat is delivered throughout your home:
You can also inspect your basement or utility room. A boiler will have pipes leading to and from it, while a furnace is connected to large, rectangular metal ducts.
Proper maintenance is crucial for keeping your heating system running efficiently and preventing expensive repairs.
For furnace systems:
For boiler systems:
For both systems:
Regular maintenance is the key to reliable and efficient heating. At Roach Energy, we recommend annual heating system maintenance to keep your boiler or furnace operating at peak performance all winter.
Our experienced technicians provide comprehensive tune-ups that include inspecting, cleaning, testing, and calibrating your system for safe and efficient operation. To make maintenance even easier and protect yourself from unexpected repair costs, consider enrolling in one of our service plans.
Don’t wait for a problem to arise. Contact Roach Energy today to learn more about our service plans and schedule your annual heating system maintenance!
