Heating and Cooling Concerns

The heating and air-conditioning systems in your house are just as vital as the plumbing and electrical systems.  They can also be extremely expensive to fix if they break down.  Any proper home inspection will include a thorough examination of these components.  Depending on which part of the country you live in, the heating aspects of this section will be the most important.

There are many different kinds of heating units.  Each has a different set of potential problems, and this is because each of them operates in a different way.  For example, a forced air system has a central furnace that uses oil or gas to keep air which is then forced through ducts by a fan until it is blown into various rooms in the house.  This system works very well because you can heat various rooms in any house quickly.  The disadvantage is in the fact that dust particles as well as the heat are being blown around as well.  As well, forced air is not very good at radiant heating. This means that while it quickly warms the air in the rooms, it takes a long time to heat the walls and floors.

There are other concerns with the forced air system as well. One of these is the fact that the system needs a thermostat to control the heat.  It is important that the home owner check the thermostat regularly to ensure that it is working properly.  You will want to turn the dial all the way from one position to the other and make sure that you hear the heater go on in the basement.  There are several other things that you need to look into to ensure a forced air system is working properly.

One of the first things you will need to check is that the height of the ducts is at an appropriate level.  Heat naturally rises, so in the ideal situation the ducts that bring the heat into a room would be on the floor. This would mean the warm air would slowly rise to fill the room.  Unfortunately, many of the newer homes have the ducts further up the walls or even in the ceilings.  While this is a good position for air-conditioning, this is not the best idea for heating. As well, you'll want to take a good look at the ductwork.

Years ago, the ductwork was always insulated so that the heat traveling from the furnace was kept warm on its way to distant rooms in the house. When inspecting ductwork in today's homes, you'll want to make sure that the metal pipes are insulated.  If they are not your heating bills will be significantly higher than if they had been.  Although replacing ductwork is not as expensive as it was in the past, it is still a costly adventure that you might be able to avoid if you do a proper inspection beforehand.