Lehigh Valley Burkholder's Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning Creating comfortable environments.

What is a gas furnace and how does it work?

A gas furnace is a device that produces heat powered by liquid propane L.P or natural gas. Furnaces in general are used in the home for warmth, they are used in industry for a variety of purposes such as making steel and heat treating of materials to change their molecular structure. Today, the gas furnace is still the most popular form of home heating equipment.

We are proud to provide gas furnace service and installation needs throughout Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and surrounding areas.  For over 50 years, Burkholder’s HVAC has completed hundreds of installations and delivered award-winning service to residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers throughout the Lehigh Valley. 

If you are interested in learning more about gasfurnace and our maintenance plans, don't hesitate to give us a call at 610-965-9736. We're happy to answer any questions you may have.

History of the Furnace.

Central heating with a furnace is an idea that is centuries old. One of the earliest forms of this idea was invented by the Romans and called a hypocaust. It was a form of under-floor heating using a fire in one corner of a basement with the exhaust vented through flues in the walls to chimneys. This form of heating could only be used in stone or brick homes. It was also very dangerous because of the possibility of fire and suffocation.

Furnaces generate heat by burning fuel, but early furnaces burned wood. In the seventeenth century, coal began to replace wood as a primary fuel. Coal was used until the early 1940s when gas became the primary fuel. In the 1970s, electric furnaces started to replace gas furnaces because of the energy crisis. Today, the gas furnace is still the most popular form of home heating equipment.