HVAC Contractors

What You Should Know About Heating & Air Conditioning

by Gary Wilson, of Wilson Services, Inc.

This section is meant to help people with basic phrasing regarding heating and cooling. With hundreds of Hampshire County homeowners calling our company every year, it is normal that not everyone understands how to describe what they have for a heating system, or even more so what they ideally want or need.

You generally have either one of two classifications in your home: HVAC or Hydronic Heating. HVAC stands for Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, but it widely accepted as referring to a ducted system, also known as forced warm air, forced hot air, central AC, central air, or a combination of these terms. The other popular method of heating is Hydronic Heat. Hydronic heat is very popular in the New England region of the country (and certainly in other pockets of the country as well). It refers to either hot water heat or steam heating. Many regions of the country are strictly HVAC, such as urban sprawl communities and high volume housing developments. However, when it comes to residential neighborhoods in older small cities in New England, you would be hard pressed to find warm air systems.

When you describe what kind of system you have to someone, you generally describe two subjects in the same breath: the fuel (or energy such as electric, solar, or geo-thermal), and then the kind of system (as described here). So, you might say, I have a natural gas hot water baseboard system, or I have an oil fired forced hot air system with AC. Most folks in the industry say the energy used first, then the type of system.