Heating Options for your Wisconsin Home

There are a variety of methods employed by Wisconsinites to keep their homes and spaces warm in the winter months. These methods include furnace or boiler systems, indoor or outdoor wood stoves and pellet heaters, solar heat, geothermal heating, electric baseboards, and radiant floor heating systems. Depending on the size of your home, your budget, and your desires, any one of these home heating options could be perfect for you. Here’s a quick overview of each home heating system to help you decide how to heat your space this coming winter.

Furnaces and Boiler Systems

This is the method most used by American homes. Furnaces force heated air throughout your home by way of a ductwork system while the boiler method uses hot water or steam to keep your space warm. These systems vary in efficiency, particularly depending upon the age of your system.

Woodstoves and Pellet Heaters

Indoor or outdoor wood stoves and pellet heaters are not what they used to be: the new generation that represents this off-the-grid heating style is cleaner burning, more efficient, and more powerful than its predecessors. Many are choosing this route of heat due to its ability to keep utility costs down.

Solar Heat

Solar heat is a clean, environmentally friendly option that boasts government and taxation benefits in the form of rebates and potential monetary rewards.

Geothermal Heat

Geothermal heating harnesses the relatively stable temperature of the earth below to heat your home. The advances in this technology have made it an accessible and affordable heating option for residential and commercial properties.

Electric Baseboard and Radiant Floor Heat

Both of these methods of heating your home use electricity to control the temperature of your space. The advantage of these best heating systems for home is that you can control room to room temperatures dependent upon usage and the time of day.

No matter which method you choose to heat your home this winter, Earth Energy Systems WI is here to help and can provide you with more information to help you decide if your current system needs improvements (heating installation, furnace repair, ductwork revamp, etc.) or if you need a fresh, efficient best heating system installed. Contact us today for more information on home heating options!

Why an Outdoor Wood Stove Should be on Your Radar

I know, I know—it’s not quite mid-July. Why am I breaking the unspoken northern-dwellers rule of pretending winter is a season far, far off in the distance? Why would I bring up outdoor wood stoves when temperatures are still hovering in the 80s and 90s?

One word: preparedness. Being prepared for the upcoming winter season may not be the first thing on your mind the week after celebrating the Fourth of July, but this is the perfect time to get your home equipped for the cold that is coming.

About Outdoor Wood Stoves

Let’s talk about outdoor wood stoves. An outdoor wood stove is a wood burning unit placed outside of the home that that heats via a boiler system. This heat is transferred underground into your home and distributed throughout by way of your furnace blower. Simple, effective, and efficient.

Advantages of Wood Heat

Why would you choose to heat your home with wood rather than a conventional propane, electric, or natural gas option? A primary reason homeowners choose this route is financial. Most of your winter utility bill can be eliminated with a wood burning stove and multiple buildings on your property (think garage or shed) can be heated with one stove. Outdoor wood stoves are therefore an excellent choice for folks looking to heat outbuildings as well as their home in a budget friendly, affordable manner.

Considerations to Make

Some considerations to make when thinking about installing an outdoor wood stove: do you have access to wood? Do you have space to install the unit? And if you live in a suburban area, you’re going to want to be sure that the unit you choose is neighbor friendly. Cheaper units tend to emit more smoke than better models, which obviously becomes an issue when neighbors are in close proximity.

Here at Earth Energy Systems, we want to help you stay ahead of the game and be prepared for each coming season. Outdoor wood stoves are one of your heating and cooling options and we’re here to serve you. From Luck to Grantsburg, Danbury to Siren, Spooner to Hayward and beyond, Earth Energy has all of your Wisconsin heating and cooling needs covered. Contact us today!

5 Facts About Geothermal Heating and Cooling

We’ve talked a bit here on the blog about geothermal heating, what it is, what it does, how it works; that sort of thing. Our goal was to give you an overview of the technology and a basic understanding of what it can do for your home or business as well as the environment. Big picture: it’s an incredible step forward in green energy that ever more individuals are tapping into.

Here’s the rub: as with any new advancement in tech, there are naysayers that spread myths and cloud the masses’ vision. We want to help clear away the fog a bit and give you some facts often misunderstood about geothermal heating and cooling.

Fact 1: Geothermal is quiet

People often assume this technology is loud and obtrusive, but the reality is quite the opposite. These systems are quiet and have no exterior equipment to ruffle your noise-sensitive neighbor’s feathers.

Fact 2: Geothermal heating and cooling systems last

In the past, as with all things new and progressive, there were systems that failed due to improperly sized loops and differing learning curve issues. We’re beyond that today, and these systems can now last for generations.

Fact 3: Refrigerant is not pumping through your loops in the ground

Most geothermal heating and cooling systems use water, not refrigerant, in their underground loops. No need to worry about refrigerant leaking into your soil.

Fact 4: Geothermal heats and cools

Geothermal is not just for heating purposes! Because of the way the earth conserves and maintains temperature, your home or office building can stay comfortable year round with geothermal. This is an all in one comfort maintaining system.

Fact 5: You can afford a geothermal system

Again, new technology has it’s pitfalls, and one of them is the initial expense. However, not only has geothermal heating and cooling been around long enough to have established itself outside the realm of “newness,” it has garnered attention from local and federal energy conservationists and can be credited to the point that you’re paying the same as you would for conventional.

This, all while doing your part to save the planet. Feel like a superhero yet?

You should! Contact Earth Energy Systems today for all of your heating and cooling needs and talk to us about geothermal heating and cooling. We are your resident air conditioning and heating experts, no matter which route you choose to keep your space comfortable.