# Furnace or boiler?



## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

What's better and why? Most of us plumbers (myself included) are gonna favor boilers(forced hot water) but I'll play devils advocate and give some reasons for going with a furnace (hot air & A/C).

1. Both heat & A/C in one unit. 

2. Your home is never going to get flooded with a furnace.

3. You have an air filter which helps control dust and dander.

4. Hot air will heat your home faster than hot water.

5. Less moving parts, less maintenace.


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## njoy plumbing (May 19, 2009)

Both. I believe in redundancy up here in the cold north. We all no that inevitably the boiler goes down and you need a part that is sometimes several days out. Bldg codes require heated ventilation with hydronics anyways. It costs for comfort.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

pauliplumber said:


> What's better and why? Most of us plumbers (myself included) are gonna favor boilers(forced hot water) but I'll play devils advocate and give some reasons for going with a furnace (hot air & A/C).
> 
> 1. Both heat & A/C in one unit.
> 
> ...


1. You can do both heating and cooling with a boiler system.....just add a chiller....rads however would have to be changed to ones with drains on them for condensation.

2. yes your home can get flooded with a furnace....if it a condensating furnace than yes you can get water on the floor.....not only that you still have a HWT that can leak...which is more likely than a boiler leaking

3. You dont have air movement like forced so you would have less dust.

4. If boiler is heating an air handler or unit heater then that statement would not be true

5. I would think a boiler in itself would have less moving parts than a forced air furnace


Reason to go with boiler

1. easier to zone control that with forced air

2. ablilty to lower fuel consumption

3. ablity to heat domestic water

4. ablity to do infloor heating

5. ablity to add to the sytem with out redoing all the ductwork as in a furnace

6. ablity to adjust water temp to heat loss with indoor/outdoor control

I could keep going but this is just my opinion


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## nhmaster3015 (Aug 5, 2008)

Heating air is a *****. Air does not like to be heated and no matter how efficient the fire heating it, it still does not either take nor give off heat nearly as efficiently as water does.


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## RealLivePlumber (Jun 22, 2008)

Scorched hot air sucks.

There is nothing more comfortable than hot water, or steam.

The disadvantage is AC. But, and air handler or 2 will take care of that.

Ultimate in comfort and efficiency is expensive. I love the ho that spends all the money on the frills, and hates spending it on the mechanicals, where it is needed most.


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## liquidplumber (Dec 6, 2009)

1. Both heat & A/C in one unit. 

But...every piece of ductwork is the wrong size and in the wrong location for half the year

2. Your home is never going to get flooded with a furnace.

Maybe not with water but a much better chance of getting flooded with carbon monoxide when heat exchanger cracks.

3. You have an air filter which helps control dust and dander.

Laughable...poke your head in some ductwork next time you have the chance

4. Hot air will heat your home faster than hot water.

So what....with a good hydronic system you set the t-stat and enjoy the comfort...only with crappy, drafty burnt air is this an issue

5. Less moving parts, less maintenace.

Not true


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## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

:laughing: A buddy of mine is a tin knocker, thanks for the ammo......


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

I love scorched air, dried airways and all the other things furnaces bring...:laughing:

I'll take hot water baseboards please...:thumbup:


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## philipjfry2 (May 30, 2010)

i prefer myself a boiler, but the house we live in has forced air heating, i like boiler heating myself because the schools i went to were heated by radiators and really old firetube boilers, and the heat seemed so even, unlike forced air where there are cold drafts


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