What Is an HVAC System?

HVAC–heating, ventilation, and air conditioning–is a term used to encompass your home’s heating, cooling, and ventilation system. There are a wide variety of HVAC system types. The design and equipment are chosen based upon the home design, climate, and other factors.

There are a variety of whole-home Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) solutions available to work collaboratively with your HVAC system to create Healthy Air in your home. The quality of the air inside your home is influenced by the ventilation system but not the heating and cooling systems.

A technician installs a white AprilAire whole-home humidifier onto a metal HVAC furnace duct in a basement.

HVAC Breakdown:
How Your System Works

HVAC systems typically include heating, venting, and air conditioning units that are combined to keep your home at a comfortable temperature all year round.

Diagram of a house showing a basement furnace (A), an indoor air handler (B), and an outdoor AC unit (C) connected by ducts.

Heating

There are two common ways to heat your home with an HVAC system:

Furnace Heater
A forced air furnace heats air using gas or electricity. The furnace blower circulates heated air through the air ducts in your home.

Heat Pump
Heat pumps keep your home warm by pumping in heat from outdoor air without burning fuel like a furnace, and don’t require pilot lights or exhaust vents. In much colder climates, a heat pump may be combined with a furnace to heat homes on colder days.

Ventilation

Ventilation in your HVAC system includes floor, wall, and ceiling vents, ductwork, and other ventilation shafts that help to move fresh, outdoor air throughout the system and your home. Ventilation helps to normalize the temperature in your home in tandem with the heating and air conditioning portions of your HVAC system.

Air Conditioning

Warm air inside your home is circulated over coils in the furnace containing refrigerant to absorb the heat, cooling the air. As the refrigerant warms, it circulates to coils in the outdoor unit where a large fan dis-spells the heat. The continuous circulation of the refrigerant cools the air in the home.

Common HVAC Terms

Are you in the process of buying a house and not sure what you’re looking at when you get to the home’s furnace room or utility closet? Maybe you’ve been in your home for a few years but still don’t quite understand the meaning of HVAC and the system that is in place to heat and cool your environment. We’ve compiled a list of common HVAC-related terms that you should know. Check out our blog, or contact an AprilAire HVAC pro to help you identify the type of HVAC system you have and assess its effectiveness and energy efficiency.

IAQ for a Healthy Home

Indoor Air Quality is more than heating and cooling—it’s about adding the components like ventilation, purification, and humidity control to create a Healthy Home environment. Now that you understand the basics of how your home’s HVAC system works, how do you keep the system maintained and running efficiently? AprilAire knows just the experts who can help with that!