When my wife Angela and I moved into a new home with a boiler heating system, I wasn’t sold on that type of heater.
- My wife and I were completely happy with every other detail of our new home.
We loved the location, layout and the big backyard. However, we didn’t trust the boiler to measure up to our high expectations for comfort and energy efficiency. We were under the impression that boilers are dirty, noisy, unreliable, costly to operate and require a lot of maintenance. Since the boiler was over twenty years old, we expected it to fail within a year or two and looked forward to replacing it with a different style of heater. After spending one winter in our new home, Angela and I totally changed our opinions. We’re now convinced that a boiler is the best style of heating system on the market, and we’re hoping the system lasts for another twenty years. The only drawback is the lack of a cooling option. Carol and I live in the upper northern part of the country, where the weather is chilly and wet for most of the year. We don’t need a central cooling system. Our priority is a heater that can manage temperatures down to twenty below zero. The boiler keeps up with the very worst weather and provides very gently and evenly distributed comfort. It is a hydronic system, meaning that it uses water to move heat energy. There’s no ductwork spewing dust into the air. The boiler maintains clean and healthy air quality, operates almost silently and requires only annual maintenance. The boiler is also very versatile, linking to any combination of radiators, baseboard heaters and radiant flooring. It can even supplement household water heating, heat a swimming pool, link to towel warmers and provide a snowmelt system.