Greeks and Romans warmed residences with underfloor fires that heated the stone or marble floor, which in turn heated people and objects in the room. Radiant heating also has ancient origins. The blower fan continuously draws cooled air out of rooms through the return ducts, reheats the air at the burner, then pushes the hot air through the supply ductwork to all living spaces. The development of electric blower motors to “force” air through ductwork, brought about the basic system we all recognize today: A central furnace heating air with a burner flame or electrical resistance coils and a motorized blower fan. Forced-air heating was not particularly forceful and limited to passive methods-hot air slowly rising through metal pipes under its own convective force-up until the late 19th century. When applied to more modern structures, however, ancient Romans utilized stone air conduits to move heated air from a central fire to the rooms of a villa, relying on the natural convection principle of heat to distribute the warm air. Heating air to warm an enclosed space dates back to the first fire built in a cave. Interior heating poses one central question: Do I heat the air itself or heat another medium (such as water) and convey that substance through the house? Forced-air heating and radiant heating each answer that question in different ways, each with its own pros and cons. Likewise, the economics of installation and the expected service life of the equipment also play a part. Comfort, energy-efficiency and safety are major issues when choosing a heating method for a home. Today, of course, we have other concerns besides simply survival during a cold winter. In one way or another, and at different times in human history, people have had a similar choice to make when deciding how to make a structure warm and livable. The choice between forced-air heating and radiant heating is not a new phenomenon.
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