Electric heaters
If you can describe your home as being "all electric," then you most likely have an electric heater. Electric heaters are easy to explain: they have a heating element that turns on when called from the thermostat, and air blows over the heated coils, out through your vents, heating your home.
To learn more, watch this video!
Gas Furnaces
If you have a gas water heater or gas stove, odds are you most likely have a gas furnace as well. Gas furnaces work slightly different from electric furnaces in that they use ignited natural gas or propane in a controlled setting to heat the home. The gas is lit with a hot surface igniter, heating the air, which is then blown through your vents.
To learn more and see how this whole process works, click "play" on this video.
Heat Pump Systems
Ever go down the health and beauty isle at your local grocery store and notice how sometimes you can get shampoo and conditioner in the same bottle, a two-in-one kind of deal? Or how on a few isles over they have jars of peanut butter with the jelly already swirled in there? Well, this is exactly how a heat pump system is set up.
Heat pumps contain BOTH an air conditioner and a heater within one housing, and this is why, if you've ever seen one in person, they are larger than an average cool-only system. But with what we've already learned about heating and the refrigeration cycle, how in the world can one thing do both? Simply put: whereas your air conditioner pulls warm air out of your house to cool it, in reverse, heat pumps pull warm air out of the outside environment and send it into your home. However, in extremely sustained cold temperatures, there is usually an auxiliary form of heat, such as a furnace back up, to make sure that warm is produced. But, since Mississippi never gets the same kind of winter as our neighbors to the north (think Michigan/Wisconsin), heat pumps are a totally viable option for our more temperate cold weather.
Carbon Monoxide Leak Detection
Is your heater giving you a headache? It could be! If you have a gas furnace, we HIGHLY recommend getting a carbon monoxide leak detection test done yearly on your unit to make sure it is in proper working order so you and your family can safely heat your home. We can perform this as a stand-alone service, or we can include it in a bi-annual preventative maintenance check-up of your heating equipment.
Now that you've become more informed about your heating system and how it operates, please don't hesitate to contact us when you need a heater or gas furnace repair. Call Timmy today to schedule your repair. Time to replace altogether? We offer many attractive financing options for those who qualify; simply head on over to our "Financing" page and apply.