Trane Electric Furnaces: A Guide
Although gas is the most common heating fuel used in central air furnaces in the United States, some companies do produce and all-electric furnace which needs no propane, natural gas, or other additional heating fuel. Trane is one such company.
How does a Trane Electric Furnace Work?
A general feature of electric furnaces, including those produced by the Trane Corporation, is the thermostat. A thermostat is a simple device that functions much like a thermometer, measuring the current air temperature. Homeowners can use the thermostat to tell their Trane electric furnace what temperature they would like their home to be maintained at. Older furnaces used a spring mechanism in the thermostat, which was a simple lever that homeowners could manipulate. Inexpensive electric furnaces may still utilize this method, but newer furnaces and more advanced models will now be utilizing a digital thermostat that has an LED readout. By pushing buttons, homeowners set the desired temperature.
Thermostats are designed so that they can detect drops in temperature. When the temperature inside the house falls below the desired level, the thermostat sends a signal to the central air electric furnace to either switch on if it is currently off. In a multistage furnace model, the furnace may already be operating at low speed In this case, the thermostat’s signal will cause the furnace to switch up to a higher speed.
The Importance of the Heating Coil
The typical electric furnace contains a heating coil inside. This is the most important part of an electric furnace because it is responsible for producing the heat that fans and blowers will later force through the duct system of the house. The coil heats up when electric current passes through it, getting extremely hot – so much that it will glow a brilliant orange and is not safe to touch. This heated coil produces warmth for the house because it heats up the air surrounding it. The hot air can then be delivered to various areas of the house because it is blown through a system of ducts.
Trane Electric Furnaces Use a Duct and Vent System
The ducts terminate in various rooms of the house by means of vents. These are a clever innovation that allows the homeowner to decide if some rooms should be heated less or more than the house average. A little used guest room, for example, may not need to be maintained at the same temperature as the living room, where the family frequently gathers to watch television or play games. Homeowners can close off vents in order to route heat only into vents that are still left open. It is also possible to partially close a vent to reduce but not eliminate heating to a certain room.
In order to avoid making all air in the house stale as it is recycled through the heating system multiple times, some electric furnaces draw in air from the outside. Although this will tend to improve indoor air quality, this method does have drawbacks. Because air from the exterior of the house is much colder than room air that has previously been heated, using outside air dramatically increases the energy consumption of the unit.