I understand that a boiler and a furnace both heat your home via different methods: the boiler heats water and circulates that water or steam, and a furnace heats air and circulates the hot air. If they have the same general function, what are the pros and cons of each? If you were building a new house, which would you install and why? I'm interested in a comparison based on longevity, reliability, purchase cost, monthly cost, safety, building code eligibility, and any other factors that I'm unaware of. Thanks!
This is a tough choice. If your going to air condition the home then you might want to use a furnace. If the house is large then a hot water boiler will be easier to get the heat to the rooms with different zones. Boilers use pipe and furnaces use metal duct to distribute the heat. Its going take so many BTU's to heat your home so this is where the efficiency of the unit comes to play. Regards, Dale
Personal preference - I like hot water heat with radiators or under floor heating best. Boilers generally provide a more even heat across the room, if you put it in the floor, the floors are always warm. Downsides to boilers is that you need separate ducting for the air conditioning and boilers take a longer time to initially heat the house, so you can't turn it down for the day and expect it to warm up quickly when you come home at night. Boilers are quiet too when installed properly.
