In this conversational episode, Derek Cole and William Skipper break down a home heating system into three essential components: the heat source, the heat distribution system, and the control system. They explain what each component does, give practical advice on maintaining the heat source (checking fuel tanks, preparing for power outages, having backup options), describe how the ductwork and blower move heat throughout the house, and clarify that the thermostat or zone controller is the interface that tells the system when to fire up. The hosts also share real‑world troubleshooting anecdotes—such as homes without gas or electricity during storms—to illustrate why each component must be functional before calling a service technician. The segment ends with a sponsor plug for onehouraircarolinas.com.
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Hey, this is Derrick Coleman with William Skipper. Welcome to the Comfort Experts, and today we're talking about how your heating system works. And there's 3 basic components that if one of them goes down, you don't have any heat. We're talking about your heat source, the heat distribution, and your control system. So William, first let's talk about the heat source.
Heat source is whatever is actually providing the heat in the house, creating the heat, whether it is gas pack, gas furnace, uh, oil furnace, heat pump, whatever type of system that you possibly have, that is your heat source.
Yeah, we've gotten a few calls in the past, we've gone up to the house with no heating and they had no gas, um, or it was hurricane season, power went off, and, and we get a call, hey, I don't have any heating. Well, you don't have electricity and you don't have any gas as well. So make sure you have the heat source taken care of before you place that call. So as simple as, if you have LP, just check your tank, make sure you're ready for the fall and the winter, make sure you're filled up, ready to go. And if you have a heat pump and you don't have power, yes, you will not have heat as well, unless you've got some wood set somewhere you can start a fire with. Wood or backup generator, piece of paper. Yeah. So now we got the heat source, we need to talk about Distribution, William.
Distribution is going to be your duct system. It's going to be the blower in whatever type of unit you got that is going to take that heat from its source and take it to the location that you want to— your bedrooms, your house, you know, the whole house. That's going to be— that's, that's your distribution system.
Yeah, we're talking about the basic components. So if you have a heat source and no distribution, that doesn't do any good either. And third and last, we talk about the control system.
Controls is basically your thermostat. Thermostat, your zone controller, whatever you got in your home that you go and mash and turn it on, that's your control system.
Yeah, so if you got your heat source, you got your distribution, but you don't have the thermostat working properly, then it's not going to give the call for heat and it's not going to distribute the heat. For more information, visit us at 1houraircarolinas.com.
Today's episode was brought to you by the Comfort Experts. See us for all your heating and air conditioning needs. For more information, visit onehouraircarolinas.com. That's onehouraircarolinas.com.
