What is a Water Boiler?

Water boilers are different than water heaters. They don’t actually boil water- rather, they turn water into steam, since steam is an efficient and inexpensive way to transport heat. They heat up water that already exists in your home, turn it into steam, and push it throughout your home for various heating needs.

What Are Boilers Used For In the Home?

Since steam is light, inexpensive, and a safe medium to transport heat, water boilers are an ideal choice for the home. They can keep a hot tub warm, steam clean your carpets, or even heat the water in your shower.

What Are the Advantages of a Water Boiler?

Water boilers come with a slew of benefits. They include:

• Energy efficiency: they are much more efficient than regular forced air systems. Water is a better thermal conductor than air is, so it heats up faster and stays hot for longer periods of time
• Comfort: boiler systems heat homes more comfortably because of their ability to do it evenly. Warm air will naturally rise to the ceiling and fall as it cools, but boilers make sure all the heat stays by the floor of the room
• Cost-effective: if you get a high-efficiency boiler installed, you can save a lot of money on your energy bills
• Programmable: water boilers can work with programmable thermostats so you can set different zones in your home to different temperatures at different times of the day
• Cleaner air: harmful pollutants such as dust, pollen, or allergens won’t be able to enter a water boiler, and no new dirty air will enter your home since water boilers warm existing air 
• Quiet: water boilers are considered the quietest heating option

Signs Your Water Boiler Needs to be Repaired

Without a properly working water boiler, essential heating functions in your home won’t be able to be carried out. Some ways to know if your boiler needs a repair or replacement include:

• No heat in your home: this could be due to a variety of reasons, such as air in the system, valve failure, or thermostat issues
• Water leakage: with many different sources of possible water leakage from a water boiler, a professional will be able to know where it’s leaking from and how to repair it 
• Loud noises: a boiler should be virtually silent when it working, so if there are loud clanging, gurgling, whistling, or otherwise odd noises coming from it, chances are something is wrong
• Pilot light not staying lit: this could be due to several different reasons, but is certainly a safety issue, so it should be looked at immediately by a professional
• Low water pressure: boilers need to stay at a certain level of water pressure for safety purposes. If they drop below it, a safety switch will automatically turn it off. A professional will be able to assess why there is low water pressure and how to bring it back to a stable level