Believe it or not they aren’t. lets break it down. A boiler is a piece of home heating equipment. How can you tell its a boiler? Typically you will have baseboard heating, cast iron radiators, or radiant heat. A water heater, it heats water! this heated water is different from a boiler because we use it for washing, showers, clothes, and dishes. Water heaters could be tank style or tankless. Some homes have combination boilers and water heater while its one unit that heaters both the home and water for washing, you should think of them as two separate systems under one hood. Last but not least a furnace. Furnace used gas to heat air over a heat exchanger and blows that heated air through duct work in your house up the vents in your room to heat the space. The duct and vents are usually a give away. The great thing is if you have a furnace and want Air Conditioning its very easy to add, since they both require duct work and air to function.

There are a few types. Steam boiler, water boiler, hot air furnace. The main difference is a steam boiler has a sight glass on the side of it. You would also have radiators in your rooms, most common with a metal vent on one side of the radiator. A water boiler typically has radiators or baseboard heating. If your very luck you might have radiant heat! A water boiler can be cast iron or high efficient wall hung style. A furnace has duct work and you would have air vents in your rooms instead of radiators or baseboard. There are some hybrid systems called hydro air which you would have a furnace and boiler working together.

If you have steam heat congratulations ! Steam heating is an older technology that Americans really mastered back in the 1900s. Steam should be very quite when maintained and balanced properly. The main issue people have is because the system is so durable they forget it needs TLC every now and then. Once a system gets out of balance it will become vey noisy. Its nothing to worry about, the system is just asking for help in its own language. This kinda’ stuff is our specialty allow us to return the system to its natural peaceful, quite, and comfertable state.

Almost every system needs some kind of maintenance according tot the manufacture. At the very least you should being some visual inspections while your in your basement or mechanical room. Also keep in mind any gas equipment needs clearances you should never pile stuff around or on top of your gas equipment. If you have a small mechanical closet you should also keep it as free as possible. Your system will thank you!