How does my natural gas heater work?
Question:
I just moved to a new apartment and we have a natural gas heater. It is a square gray thing in the wall with a pipe attached to it. How does this natural gas heater work? Does it circulate through the walls and warm all the rooms? It doesn’t seem to because when we close doors the rooms get cold?
Also, how expensive does it get? We have been keeping rooms closed that we don’t use during the day to conserve heat but do we really need to do that?
Answer:
Sounds like you have a unit heater, that is one that doesn’t have any ducts attached to it that force warm air into other rooms. It only heats the room it is installed in. You will have to keep the doors open on the rooms you want to get warm. If it has a filter, make sure it is clean, if not replace it. The cost of running any furnace depends on the size of the apartment and how well it is insulated. If the windows leak a lot of cold air into the dwelling, you can buy kits of shrink plastic that cover and seal the windows. I have a bedroom that I don’t use at all and I keep the door closed, it has to save a little money by not heating it.