Space heating with Natural Gas
Now that Old Man Winter has breezed into town, it’s more important than ever to make sure your home can keep him at bay. While central heating is a great way to heat up the whole house, there’s also something to be said for a more targeted approach to staying warm. There are plenty of advantages to natural gas space heating.
Space heating can help homeowners get the most out of those non-central spaces like garages, basements, and sunrooms. It is inefficient to heat a basement centrally, for example. “Many people try to heat a basement from their central furnace because that's a simple way to do it,” said Jeff Oliver, National Heating Solutions Manager at Rinnai America Corporation. “But . . . the basement is a completely different environment, so a form of space heat would allow you to centralize the thermostat and the source of heat in that space.”
Sunrooms are also unique environments, usually requiring less heating than the main house. Garages, for their part, should be heated to according to how they will be used. “With space heat, a lot for the determining factor is how you want to use that space,” said Oliver.
As to which kind of space heater will work best, it depends on the type of space and the BTU need of the space. An electric space heater, for instance, probably can’t heat a big basement or garage.
Oliver recommends the Rinnai wall furnace, a fully modulating gas furnace, which some people use as a supplemental heater to their main living space. A much more expensive option is a modulating central furnace with a zoned system.
Any kind of modulating gas-fired unit will create a more comfortable environment than an electric space heating solution. Electric heaters’ main advantage is the lower initial cost. However, gas heaters offer a lower cost of operation over time.
