There’s long been a debate between baseboard heating vs. forced air, and for good reason. Baseboard heating can be an effective, affordable way to heat your whole house or to supplement heat in certain rooms. Forced air heating offers similar benefits, heating or cooling your entire home with ease.
There are many differences between these two ways of heating, as well as a few similarities, and it’s important that homeowners understand their attributes so they can make the right decision for their home.
Here we’ll examine baseboard vs. forced air heating systems to see how they compare.
How Does Baseboard Heating Compare to Forced Air?
Let’s take a look into the baseboard vs. forced air discussion. Forced air heating is used in homes to cool or heat the indoor air by distributing air throughout the structure.
Air is pushed through ducts and vents connected to a heating or cooling unit typically located outside. It tends to be quick to heat, cost effective, and reliable, but it can be loud and efficiency can be hindered by leaky ductwork.
Keep in mind that a forced air heating system is different from a central air system. The main difference between these two—forced air and central air—is that a forced air system is any heating or cooling system that uses ducts and vents to control temperature. Central air only applies to cooling systems and uses forced air to transport the air.
Baseboard heating, on the other hand, operates almost silently since they don’t need noisy blowers. They also don’t require ductwork, making them easy to install and requiring little maintenance. Baseboard heating also tends to heat a home evenly rather than coming intermittently like forced air heating.
What is Baseboard Heating?
Baseboard heating is installed on the baseboards of your home. Because heat rises, it starts along the floor and then rises to the ceiling to heat the room. They can operate with electric heating or hydronic heating.
Electric baseboard heating effectively heats single rooms or office spaces but tends to get less cost- and energy-efficient when heating a whole home. This is one of the disadvantages of baseboard heating in the baseboard vs. forced air heating debate.
Hydronic baseboard heating usually heats by using hot water. A boiler system is utilized to heat the water and then distribute the heated water through a piping system to keep a home or room heated. Due to the amount of time water takes to heat, hydronic baseboard heating systems can take longer than other heating options to warm a space, another disadvantage in the forced air heating vs. baseboard heating debate.
One of baseboard heating’s advantages is they provide consistent heat, which makes them great for residential spaces where you don’t want a lot of fluctuation in temperature.
Additionally, they are non-toxic, don’t expel any carcinogenic gasses, and don’t circulate pollutants in the air. Installation costs tend to be low for baseboard heating systems. These advantages convince a lot of homeowners to go with baseboard heating when comparing baseboard vs. forced air systems.
What is Forced Air?
Forced air systems typically use a furnace to heat up air and then “force” that air through the ducts and vents around your home. This is a process that uses HVAC air filters to help keep the air as fresh and clean as possible. Just like baseboard heaters, you control the temperature in the home with a thermostat, but due to a forced air system’s intermittent methods, the temperature isn’t as consistent as with baseboard heating.
Forced air systems tend to be able to heat a home quicker than baseboard heating systems, one of their main advantages in the baseboard vs. forced air system debate.
Which is the Right Choice for Your Home?
Baseboard heating offers many advantages over forced air systems, including their silent operation, easy installation, little maintenance, and consistent heating.
Ultimately, however, the winner of the forced air heating vs. baseboard heating system debate comes down to homeowner preference. Many homeowners enjoy baseboard heating over forced air systems whereas others prefer it the other way around. Either one could be a good fit for your home depending on your needs.
If you have more questions about the pros and cons of baseboard heating, how you can get a heating system installed in your home, or how either would work in your home, contact our experts at John C. Flood for assistance at (703) 214-5611.
