Central heating is very much thought of as a modern-day convenience. However it has been dated back to the ancient Greeks. A system of central heating provides heat to the interior of (or a portion of) a house or factory etc.

It is believed that in around 350 BC the homes of the wealthy and the Great Temples in the ancient times of Greece were heated by warm air that was circulated through flue systems in the floor. Today, because we have electricity to power blowers, forced-air systems warm billions of homes all around the world.

The way these forced-air systems work is that they pull air into their piping systems, send it through a furnace to heat and filter it, and then send it back out into the room. Different sizes of each model are available to fit every room size.

These systems are sometimes used with an AC (air conditioning) unit, air filter and a humidifier. The pipes themselves will normally be made from metal wrapped in insulating foam to keep in as much heat as possible.

Central heating is different to local heating because the generation of heat happens in one place, such as a furnace room. The most commonly found way of generating heat involves combusting fossil fuels in a furnace or boiler. The heat then gets circulated, usually by air that is being forced through pipe work, by steam thats being pushed through piping or by water thats being forced through piping.

In the parts of northern Europe where they have cold weather most of the time anyway, they have very little need for air conditioning, and so most new houses will have central heating pre-installed.

Steam heating systems powered by gas, oil, or coal can are used in parts of the US, Europe and Russia, more so in bigger buildings. Systems of electrical heating are less commonly found and are only used in areas of cheap electricity.

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