When you hear the word ‘furnace’, you may initially think of old technology like the large “gravity fed” furnaces of the early 20th century. But in modern, forced-air HVAC systems, furnaces feature far more advanced technology and play a larger role in your indoor comfort year-round.
Often matched with split-air conditioning systems, today’s furnaces not only do a great job of keeping your home warm during the winter, but the furnace fan, or blower, is also used to assist the air conditioning system in circulating cooled air during warmer seasons.
A gas furnace produces heat through the combustion of natural gas in its burner. The heat produced from this process passes through a heat exchanger. Air from your home’s return air ducts is blown over the heat exchanger and warms the air. The furnace’s blower then blows the warmed air into the ductwork, which carries and disperses it throughout your home.
As part of a forced-air, split system, furnaces benefit from air filtration afforded when air is drawn out of rooms and pulled through an air filter. Whenever the system is running, this cycle repeats, continually filtering and cleaning the air in your home.