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Hvac Vs Furnace – What’s the Difference Between Them

What is HVAC?

HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. The multiple systems used in residential and commercial buildings for heating, cooling and moving air between indoor and outdoor spaces are together referred to as HVAC. These are the systems that help to keep you warm and cozy in the winter and cool and invigorated in the summer. Additionally, these are the gadgets that keep your indoor air clean and at acceptable humidity levels for your health.

The conventional air duct system that was formerly the only option is no longer the only affordable alternative to installing an HVAC system, which is now a well-knowingly expensive and difficult job. Some of the most current systems can be set up in only one day and typically require substantially less maintenance and installation time.

By breaking down the several parts of an HVAC system, or the heating and cooling equipment used in homes, you may be able to better comprehend how each system contributes to your comfort throughout the year.

What is a Furnace?

A furnace is a part of a building’s HVAC system that heats the air before distributing it through ducting to heat the structure. They might also be called boilers or heaters. Your furnace uses the heating cycle described below to warm your home: Natural gas or propane is ignited by the furnace’s burner. The flames heat a metal heat exchanger before the exhaust comes out of the chimney. As cold air enters, the heat exchanger heats it up.

There are different types of furnaces:

Propane Furnace

At the burner of the furnace, propane is lit. This heat is transferred into the incoming air using a device known as a heat exchanger. The heated air is then forced into the ducts and vents by the blower unit, where it is distributed around the house to heat it as required.

Gas Unit

This functions nearly identically to a propane unit, with the exception that natural gas is used for burning instead of propane. It is also known as a natural gas furnace. The fuel is also transported into your house through an exterior gas pipe that your utility provider has installed.

Electric Furnace

These types of furnaces operate using a totally different concept and work by generating heat from a series of electric heating elements. Those elements, made up of coils, are activated when electrical energy from your home is transferred into heat energy via a resistor. That heat energy is then used to warm up the incoming air, which is once again distributed throughout your home via ducts and vents.

Oil Furnace

Again, the fuel is utilized to generate heat through burning, much like the propane or gas alternatives, but in this case the fuel is oil rather than either of those two.

Furnace VS HVAC Handler

People frequently ponder how various HVAC systems differ from one another. The distinction between air handlers and furnaces is one query that is frequently asked. In fact, a lot of people think they are the same thing, which is wrong.

There are two major differences between a furnace and an HVAC handler.

Air Handler Contains Heat Pump

As you may have just discovered, unlike furnaces, air handlers don’t produce heat on their own. A/C or heat pump coils that transfer heat to or from the air are moved by air handlers. The inner or internal unit of an air conditioner is another name for the air handler. They are a component of a split system, the outside unit or condenser serving as the other component.

The vapor compression refrigeration cycle is the mechanism that powers air conditioners. When the air handler sweeps it over the interior evaporator coils, which are packed with cool refrigerant, they take the heat out of the air. The ducting in the home distributes this cold air to each room. The refrigerant is simultaneously transferred via the refrigerant lines to the outside unit, where it is now warmer after taking the heat out of the air condenser.

The heat stored in the refrigerant is discharged into the atmosphere at the condenser. It is once again cooled by the compressor before being returned to the evaporator coils through the refrigerant loop.

Check out our thorough AC guide to discover more about how air conditioners operate.

Heat pumps and air handlers operate in the same manner. Heat pumps, however, may both add and remove heat from the air. An air-source heat pump uses the vapor compression refrigeration cycle in reverse to supply heat to the interior air.

As you may have guessed, while the heat pump is in heat mode, air handlers control the airflow over the heated inside coils. On the thermostat, it is simple to change them to the cooling or heating mode. Therefore, this may result in further confusion about whether a furnace or an air handler is the same thing.

Furnace Makes Heat While HVAC Doesn’t

Heat is produced by a furnace and distributed throughout your home’s air ducts. It warms a heat exchanger using either natural gas, propane, or electricity before transferring its heat to the air, which is then pushed by the blower into the ductwork of the house. The air warms the rooms before being drawn via the return ducts back to the furnace.

Furnaces, whether they provide gas or electric heat, are frequently enclosed in grey or silver sheet metal and are primarily rectangular in shape, similar to how air handlers seem.

However, air handlers don’t produce heat. As their name implies, all they do is move air. They have a blower motor and a fan that forces air through the inside coils of an air conditioner or heat pump system.

In addition to resembling furnaces, air handlers include air filters that need to be regularly replaced or cleaned to maintain high air quality and functionality. Another factor that leads people to believe that they behave similarly is the similarity of their filters.

The heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system in your house keeps you comfortable all year round by circulating fresh air that is free of dust and allergens. It could be time for a replacement if your HVAC unit isn’t operating as effectively as it previously did. The price to replace a whole HVAC system ranges from $5,000 to $10,000, with the national average coming in at $7,000. This is between $25 and $60 per square foot. The size and brand of the HVAC system, the size of the house, the length of the ductwork, and the efficiency rating of the new unit all affect prices.

A brand-new furnace typically costs between $2,600 and $6,400, or around $5,500 on average. The typical cost to install a new air conditioning unit is from $3,800 to $7,500. A new HVAC system, on the other hand, typically costs between $5,000 and $12,500, or an average of $7,500.

By having a contractor install both appliances at once, you might save money. When purchasing a heater and air conditioner together rather than individually at various periods, you may even be able to save money.

HVAC vs Furnace

A particularly made air conditioner that can heat and cool your house is known as an HVAC unit. It draws heat from the outside air and transfers it within, earning it the additional name of a heat pump. Gas heaters, on the other hand, produce a flame that warms the air using the radiant heating technique, often known as gas combustion.

A reverse cycle air conditioner draws heat from the outside air to warm the air within, whereas a gas heater produces heat energy. In the end, the latter technique is significantly more energy-efficient.

Is HVAC and the Furnace Are Same?

Not exactly, a furnace is a part of a building’s HVAC system that heats the air before distributing it through ducting to heat the structure. They might also be called boilers or heaters. Your furnace uses the heating cycle described below to warm your home: Natural gas or propane is ignited by the furnace’s burner. The flames heat a metal heat exchanger before the exhaust comes out of the chimney. As cold air enters, the heat exchanger heats it up.

Difference between Furnace and HVAC

Although they both technically heat a structure to keep it cozy and warm in the winter, there are fundamental differences between these two methods.

Of course, the primary distinction is that a furnace serves a single purpose. It is designed, as indicated, to transform fuel into heat and distribute it throughout the house. On the other hand, an HVAC system manages a wide range of operations that are used to heat, cool, ventilate, and regulate a building’s humidity.

A thermostat is used by both of these systems to track changes in indoor temperature. A furnace thermostat, however, merely transmits a command to produce either more or less heat. The thermostat in an HVAC system turns on components that may heat and cool your house, improve air circulation, and regulate humidity so that you always breathe clean air.

An HVAC system, which consists of three or four components, is more complicated and therefore more difficult to install than a furnace, which is only designed for one clear purpose, which is another important distinction for house and business owners. An HVAC system will cost extra to buy and install for the same reasons.

High-Efficiency Gas Furnace Vs Standard

Around 80% of the energy in the gas is converted into heat by standard-efficiency furnaces. Depending on the type, high-efficiency furnaces convert 90–97% of the energy from a gas into heat. Therefore, high-efficiency furnaces essentially require less fuel.

Furnace Filter Vs HVAC Filter

The operation of furnace filters and return air filters is the same. Before the air passes through the HVAC system to the rest of the house, both components purify the air as it circulates through the house. This procedure occurs whenever your HVAC system is operating.

It is significant to note that some homes employ a single filtration system or kind of air filter for both heated and cooled air since the filtering process is the same for air and furnace filters. In certain central air systems, a furnace filter won’t always have a designated place. This situation gives rise to the term “whole home air filter” for the air filter.

The heating and cooling units frequently use the same air handler and input vent air filters in central HVAC systems and newer heat pump systems.

Does HVAC System include a Furnace?

is the furnace the same as HVAC? The furnace is the component of your HVAC system that heats your home and may include a burner and fuel system, heat exchangers, a blower, and an exhaust flue. Furnace structures vary depending on brand and model, as well as how they are integrated into your full system.