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Are Boilers Recommended for Heating in Virginia?

HVAC technician installing a boiler

Northern Virginia can experience some relatively cold winters, dropping below freezing throughout the season or even below zero on occasion. A robust heating system like a boiler can be a great investment with these temperatures.

Though they heat slower than furnaces, boilers tend to heat more evenly without drying out the air, making your home more comfortable overall. They also continue to radiate heat long after the system has shut down.

What Are Boilers?

Most residential boilers used for heating look similar to furnaces, with the main system in a large rectangular box. However, additional pipes aside from the flue and gas pipes will run into and out of the case. These pipes distribute hot water or steam throughout your home to a set of radiators, baseboard heaters, or in-floor heating systems that radiate the heat into each room of your home.

Hot water boilers transfer the heat from the boiler using hot water and circulation pumps, while steam boilers heat the water above the boiling point to create steam, sending it to specially designed steam radiators that heat your home.

How Do Boilers Work?

Like a furnace, boilers use an energy source like natural gas, oil, or electricity to generate heat, but instead of heating air through a heat exchanger, they heat water.

Hot water boilers use this hot water directly to heat your home using radiators, while steam boilers wait until the water vaporizes into steam before using it to heat your home.

Pros of Boilers

Boilers can offer several advantages for your home and your family, including:

  • Even, long-lasting heat: Boilers heat your home more consistently without reducing humidity, keeping your home warmer for longer.
  • Better air quality: Boilers don’t circulate dust, pollen, and other airborne contaminants through your home like forced-air furnaces can without a good filter. They also don’t dry the air, so you’re less likely to have skin, nose, and throat irritation.
  • Quiet operation: Without a blower fan and large amounts of moving air, boilers are quiet compared to furnaces.
  • Longer system life: Boilers have fewer moving parts than furnaces and tend to last for 20 years or more.

Cons of Boilers

There are a few disadvantages to think about before installing a boiler, such as:

  • Upfront cost: Because of all the required accessories, such as radiators, circulation pumps, expansion tanks, and piping, boilers cost more to install initially than furnaces.
  • Installation complexity: With all the extra components that need to be added, installing a boiler will take longer and be more complex.
  • Slow heating: A boiler will take longer to heat your home to a set temperature than a furnace, so you must plan accordingly when turning the boiler on or programming a thermostat.
  • Separate cooling: Central air conditioning can easily be added to homes with furnaces because the systems can share several components, but adding cooling to a home with a boiler is often more complex.

Factors To Consider When Installing a Boiler

Before adding a boiler to your Northern Virginia home, here are a few factors you should consider:

  • Home size: To be as efficient as possible, the boiler’s size should be closely matched to the size of your home using ACCA Manual J procedures.
  • Budget: Boilers are more expensive to install, so you need to consider your budget carefully, factoring in the additional parts you need, like radiators or in-floor heating.
  • Energy efficiency: While standard boilers can be 80% to 90% efficient, upgrading to a condensing boiler can increase efficiency to as much as 98%, though the initial investment will be higher.
  • Fuel type: Boilers that use natural gas tend to be more cost-effective to operate than oil or electric boilers, while electric boilers require the least maintenance.

Schedule Boiler Installation in Northern Virginia

When you need a qualified HVAC company to install a boiler in your Northern Virginia home, talk to our experts at United Air Temp. We offer boiler installation and replacement, as well as financing options to make the process as easy as possible.

Our company has been a leader in home comfort since 1931. We provide quality work, upfront pricing, excellent reviews, and guaranteed satisfaction.

Call UAT today to schedule your boiler installation in Northern Virginia or the Washington, D.C., area.

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