Today, the most famous heating system for a private home is independent heating using a water heating boiler. Oil stoves, electric fireplaces, fan heaters and infrared heaters are commonly used as supplementary space heating.
The heating system of a private house is based on such elements as heating devices (radiators, batteries), a main pipe and a shut-off control device. All elements of the system are necessary to provide the premises of a private house with thermal energy, which enters the heating devices from the heat generator. The service life and performance of a heating system based on a water heating boiler directly depend on high-quality installation and careful use. But there is a factor that plays an equally important role - skillful calculation of the heating system.
Calculation of heating of a country house
Let's consider one of the simplest formulas for calculating a water heating system for a private home. For ease of understanding, standard types of premises will be taken into account. The calculations in the example are based on a single-circuit heating boiler, since it is the most common type of heat generator in the heating system of a suburban area.
As an example, we took a two-story house, on the second floor of which there are 3 bedrooms and 1 toilet. On the ground floor there is a living room, a corridor, a second toilet, a kitchen and a bathroom. To calculate the volume of rooms, the following formula is used: the area of the room multiplied by its height equals the volume of the room. The calculation calculator looks like this:
- bedroom No. 1: 8 m 2 × 2.5 m = 20 m 3;
- bedroom No. 2: 12 m 2 × 2.5 m = 30 m 3;
- bedroom No. 3: 15 m 2 × 2.5 m = 37.5 m 3;
- toilet No. 1: 4 m 2 × 2.5 m = 10 m 3;
- living room: 20 m 2 × 3 m = 60 m 3;
- corridor: 6 m 2 × 3 m = 18 m 3;
- toilet No. 2: 4 m 2 × 3 m = 12 m 3;
- kitchen: 12 m 2 × 3 m = 36 m 3;
- bathroom: 6 m 2 × 3 m = 18 m 3.
After calculating the volume of all rooms, it is necessary to summarize the results obtained. As a result, the total volume of the house was 241.5 m3 (rounded to 242 m3). The calculations must take into account rooms that may not have heating devices (corridor). Typically, heat energy in a home escapes from the premises and passively heats areas where heating devices are not installed.
Basic elements of heating systems. Click on photo to enlarge.
The next step is to calculate the power of the water heating boiler, which is based on the required amount of heat energy per m3. The indicator varies in each climate zone, focusing on the minimum outside temperature in winter. For the calculation, an arbitrary indicator of the proposed region of the country is taken, which is 50 W/m3. The calculation formula is as follows: 50 W × 242 m 3 = 12100 W.
To simplify calculations, there are special programs. Click on photo to enlarge.
The resulting indicator will need to be raised to a coefficient equal to 1.2. This will add 20% reserve power to the boiler, which will ensure its operation in saving mode without any special overloads. As a result, we received a boiler power of 14.6 kW. A water heating system with such power is quite easy to find, since a standard single-circuit boiler has a power of 10-15 kW.
Calculation of heating devices
The calculations are based on standard aluminum batteries. Each battery section produces 150 W of thermal energy at a water temperature of 70°C.
Having calculated the required heat energy for a separate room, you need to divide it by 150. The radiator heating calculator looks like this:
- bedroom No. 1: 20 m 3 × 50 W × 1.2 = 1200 W (radiator with 8 sections);
- bedroom No. 2: 30 m 3 × 50 W × 1.2 = 1800 W (radiator with 12 sections);
- bedroom No. 3: 37.5 m 3 × 50 W × 1.2 = 2250 W (radiator with 15 sections);
- toilet No. 1: 10 m 3 × 50 W × 1.2 = 600 W (radiator with 4 sections);
- living room: 60 m 3 × 50 W × 1.2 = 3600 W (radiator with 24 sections);
- corridor: 18 m 3 × 50 W × 1.2 = 1080 W (rounded to 1200 W, a radiator with 8 sections will be required);
- toilet No. 2: 12 m 3 × 50 W × 1.2 = 720 W (rounded to 750 W, a radiator with 5 sections will be required);
- kitchen: 36 m 3 × 50 W × 1.2 = 2160 W (rounded to 2250 W, a radiator with 15 sections will be required);
- bathroom: 18 m 3 × 55 W × 1.2 = 1188 W (rounded to 1200 W, a radiator with 8 sections will be required).
The bathroom needs to be heated better, so the average value is increased to 55 W.
Formula for calculating heating battery sections. Click on photo to enlarge.
In large rooms it is necessary to install several radiators with the total number of required sections. For example, in bedroom No. 2 you can install 3 radiators with 5 sections on each.
The calculator shows that the total power of the radiators was 14.8 kW. This means that a 15 kW water heating boiler will cope with providing heating devices with heat energy.
Selection of pipes for the heating main
The main supply supplies coolant to all heating devices in the house. The modern market provides a choice of three types of pipes suitable for the main pipeline:
- plastic;
- copper;
- metal.
The most commonly used are plastic pipes. Click on photo to enlarge.
The most common type is plastic pipes. They are an aluminum drain covered with plastic. This provides the pipes with special strength, since they do not rust from the inside and are not damaged from the outside. In addition, their reinforcement reduces the coefficient of linear expansion. They do not collect static electricity and do not require much experience to install.
Metal-based main pipes have many disadvantages. They are quite massive, and their installation requires experience with a welding machine. In addition, such pipes rust over time.
Copper main pipes are the best option, but they are also difficult to work with. In addition to installation difficulties, they have high prices. If calculating the cost of heating easily fits into your budget, choose this option. In the absence of the necessary material resources, plastic pipes will be the best choice.
How is a heating system installed?
First you need to equip the heating devices. As a rule, radiators are mounted under windows, since hot air prevents cold air from entering from the windows. Installation of heating devices is carried out using a hammer drill and a level. No special equipment is required.
When installing heating devices, it will be necessary to maintain a uniform height for placing radiators, otherwise water will not be able to reach higher areas and circulation will be disrupted.
Welding of plastic pipes. Click on photo to enlarge.
Having installed heating devices, it is necessary to lay pipes to them. To install them, you will need tools such as construction scissors, a soldering iron and a tape measure. Before starting installation, you need to measure the total length of the pipes being laid and calculate the presence of all plugs, bends and tees. Plastic pipes usually have notches with auxiliary lines, which helps to carry out installation correctly and accurately.
It is important to know: when connecting pipes with a soldering iron, do not separate them after unsuccessful soldering, otherwise a leak may occur. You need to work with a soldering iron carefully, having previously practiced on pieces of pipe that will no longer be needed during installation.
Additional devices
If you rely on statistics, a heating system with passive circulation can effectively heat a room area not exceeding 110 m2. For large rooms, you will need to equip the water heating boiler with a special pump, making the circulation of the coolant adjustable. Some manufacturers produce heat generators that are already equipped with a pump.
Following the above recommendations, you will be able to make an individual calculation of the heating system of a private cottage, as well as calculate the cost of the proposed equipment. Installing a water heating system does not require a lot of labor (2-3 people) and special installation skills.
The heating system of private houses can be compared to the human circulatory system, where the boiler is the heart, and the arteries and vessels are the pipelines. Correctly made calculation of the heating system of a private house is a guarantee of high-quality heating, coziness and comfort in rooms that have a beneficial effect on the life of any person.
Once again, we draw your attention to the correct calculation of the heating of a private house. This process must take place responsibly, because if mistakes are made, the functionality and quality of the heating will depend on them. In addition, capital costs for operation and installation largely depend on the parameters obtained in the calculations.
In most cases, for private houses, ordinary water is chosen as the coolant, and the systems themselves can be either open or closed. The durability and quality of heating operation depend on the correct calculations and selection of equipment. We will look at most of the necessary parameters in this article.
Boiler type and its role in heating calculations
It is difficult to imagine the correct calculation of a heating system for a private home without choosing the type of heat source. This issue must be decided based on what energy resource is available in the region of installation and which one is the best choice in terms of price.
Boilers running on electricity, diesel, coal and natural gas are in great demand. The last option is the most preferable from a financial point of view, but, unfortunately, it is not always possible due to the lack of connection to a gas pipe.
- Electric boilers. Such equipment is not particularly popular in our country, because electrical energy costs a lot. In addition, for high-quality operation of an electric boiler, it is necessary to equip a stable and reliable power supply system;
- Solid fuel heat sources. Our domestic market is rich in devices with automatic and manual loading of flammable materials. Units with automatic loading are more expensive because their battery life is much longer and they are more practical to use;
- Gas boilers. These devices are distinguished by their high efficiency, high degree of automation, and safety. This option is a priority if the house is connected to gas distribution networks. Such equipment has small dimensions with high performance.
It should be noted that the price of gas is only growing every year, so it is worth thinking about automation and energy saving systems. But, despite the high price of fuel, these boilers are the most in demand;
- Liquid fuel units. Such equipment operates on waste oil or diesel fuel and has a high level of performance, practicality and availability of the fuel itself. These heat sources can be installed in country houses or cottages, but it must be remembered that they will require additional construction of a fuel tank.
Advice. If you have any controversial issues or problems when calculating with your own hands, we advise you to seek help from professionals. This will save you time for a small fee.
Some nuances about heat sources
If your building does not have access to gas, then you have only three options:
- Liquid fuel boiler;
- Heat source on coal;
- Electric generator.
The first two are more preferable options. The liquid fuel heat source has one big advantage. It can change burners to gas ones and run on natural gas. The choice of burners is quite large, and you can choose the one you need for any boiler model.
One big drawback of solid fuel boilers is the lack of high-quality mechanisms for implementing automation. Therefore, you need to be prepared for the fact that you will have to load fuel into the firebox every 5-6 hours. There are mechanisms that independently load fuel into the firebox from the bunker. In this case, human intervention is not required for more than a day, but in the future you will have to replenish the bunker yourself.
On the market you can find solid fuel boilers that can be equipped with heating elements, that is, they can be converted into electric ones. Such equipment is more preferable due to the ability to operate on reserve fuel.
Electric boilers have both advantages and disadvantages; you can read more about such equipment in a specialized article on our website.
Characteristics calculation
After choosing a heat generator, you can begin to calculate its power and system characteristics.
Once the type of heat source has been selected, you can begin to select its power and general heating characteristics. It should be noted that it is performed using a very simple method (formula).
To perform preliminary calculations, it will be sufficient to multiply the area of the room by the climate power. The result obtained during multiplication is divided by 10.
This is the most primitive formula, with which you can make fairly accurate calculations in the presence of a small number of known parameters.
- Room area. At first glance, it may seem that this parameter is the most elementary for calculations, but this is not entirely true. Typically, the area of all rooms in which heating is intended is selected. This can be a big mistake, because all rooms in the house that have at least one wall facing the street will be heated.
In most cases, a thermal calculation of the heating system is made, taking into account only rooms with external walls. A small reserve of power from the heat source and other elements is taken, which will provide the house with heat even in the harshest winter;
- Climate power. When calculating the heating system, it is impossible to do without this parameter. The parameter is taken based on the regions in which the house is located. For example, for central regions this coefficient is 1.3-1.6 kW, for southern regions it is 0.8-0.95 kW, and for northern regions it is even higher - 1.6-2.2 kW.
An example of calculating the power of a heat generator for a house in the central part of Russia with an area of one hundred and thirty square meters:
Nk=130*1.2/10=15.6 (16) kW
Advice. For installation, you need to choose boilers with a power reserve. Experts explain this by the possibility of increasing the area and number of consumers, as well as the quality of heat supply in harsh winters.
How to correctly calculate the number of battery sections
Heating calculations include mandatory calculations of the number of battery sections. This can be done thanks to the existence of a simple formula: the area of the rooms in which the radiators will be installed must be multiplied by one hundred and divided by the power of one radiator.
- Room area. Basically, all heating devices are designed to heat only one room, and, therefore, the total area of the building is not required. There may be an exception when next to the room that will be heated there is another room without heating;
- Number 100, which appears in the formula for calculating the number of battery sections for a heating system, is not taken “from the head”. In accordance with the requirements of SNiP, one square meter of living room requires about one hundred watts of power. This load is sufficient to create the required temperature;
- If speak about power of one heating battery section, then it is purely individual and depends only on the materials of the radiators. If the parameters of the heating radiator are unknown and it is impossible to find out, then you can take it equal to 200 W - since this figure corresponds to the average power of one section of a modern heating device.
Having received all this data, you can proceed to the calculation of the heating batteries themselves. If we take as a basis a room with dimensions of about thirty square meters, and with a power of one section of one hundred and eighty watts, then the number of battery sections can be determined as follows:
n=30*100|180=16.7=17
Advice. As when selecting a heat source, it is necessary to select the number of sections with a small margin; this step allows you to provide a small power reserve.
It cannot be said that for rooms that are located in the corner or ends of buildings, the result we get must be multiplied by a factor of 1.2. This allows you to obtain optimal values and obtain the exact number of sections for heating devices.
Radiator materials: many models
The price, design and operating features of any heating system greatly depend on the materials from which the batteries are made. We would recommend avoiding steel radiators right away. Although they are affordable, they have low power. It's less than a hundred watts.
Heating devices made of cast iron are more reliable and also beautiful in appearance (you can see this for yourself thanks to photos and videos in our website gallery). But, despite the advantages, their power is not much greater than that of steel ones - about 120 W. But even such indicators are not critical, provided that the heat losses are not excessive.
Conclusion
If we are talking about high-quality and efficient heating, which can provide uninterrupted heat to any private home or shopping center, then it is better not to save money when buying radiators. Buy anodized or better yet vacuum batteries.
Anodized devices are perfectly protected from the effects of corrosion, so they have a long service life - at least thirty years. The instructions for such equipment guarantee the heat transfer capacity of the element to be at least 220 W.
Vacuum heating radiators are the last word in heating technology! They are the most economical of all types of existing batteries. They are universal in terms of choosing a place for installation and can be installed both in residential and commercial premises.
Batteries made from non-ferrous metal are also considered high-quality and economical. There is a large selection of aluminum and copper devices of various capacities and sizes on the market. To create a specific design, vertical batteries are manufactured that can fit well into limited spaces.
Thanks to this article, you have already learned how to calculate heating in a private house and are convinced that there is nothing complicated in the process of these calculations. All examples in this article require a minimum number of parameters and allow you to perform calculations quickly and accurately.
By applying the figures obtained in practice, it is possible to build a good and functional heating system, both for public buildings (supermarkets, educational institutions) and for residential buildings (apartments, private houses, cottages).
The water heating system has recently become increasingly popular as the main method for heating a private home. Water heating can be supplemented with devices such as electric heaters. Some devices and heating systems appeared on the domestic market quite recently, but have already managed to gain popularity. These include infrared heaters, oil radiators, underfloor heating systems and others. For local heating, a device such as a fireplace is often used.
However, recently fireplaces perform more of a decorative function than a heating one. Its durability and efficiency during operation depend on how correctly the design and calculation of the heating of a private house was carried out, as well as the installation of a water heating system. During operation of such a heating system, it is necessary to adhere to certain rules in order for it to work as efficiently and efficiently as possible.
The heating system of a private home is not only about components such as a boiler or radiators. A water-type heating system also includes the following elements:
- Pumps;
- Automation means;
- Pipeline;
- Coolant;
- Adjustment devices.
To calculate the heating of a private house, you need to be guided by parameters such as the power of the heating boiler. For each room of the house, it is also necessary to calculate the power of the heating radiators.
Boiler selection
The boiler can be of several types:
- Liquid fuel boiler;
- A gas boiler;
- Solid fuel boiler;
- Combination boiler.
The choice of boiler that will be used for heating a residential building should depend on what type of fuel is the most accessible and inexpensive.
In addition to fuel costs, it will be necessary to carry out a preventive inspection of the boiler at least once a year. It is best to call a specialist for these purposes. You will also need to perform preventative cleaning of the filters. Boilers that run on gas are considered the easiest to operate. They are also quite cheap to maintain and repair. A gas boiler is suitable only in those houses that have access to a gas main.
Gas is a type of fuel that does not require individual transportation or storage space. In addition to this advantage, many modern gas boilers boast a fairly high efficiency rate.
Boilers of this class are distinguished by a high degree of safety. Modern boilers are designed in such a way that they do not require a special boiler room. Modern boilers are characterized by a beautiful appearance and can successfully fit into the interior of any kitchen.
Today, semi-automatic boilers running on solid fuel are especially popular. True, such boilers have one drawback, which is that they need to load fuel once a day. Many manufacturers produce boilers that are fully automated. In such boilers, solid fuel is loaded autonomously.
You can also calculate the heating system of a private house in the case of a boiler that runs on electricity.
However, such boilers are a little more problematic. Apart from the main problem, which is that electricity is quite expensive now, they can also reboot the network. In small villages, an average of up to 3 kW per hour is allocated per house, but this is not enough for a boiler, and it must be taken into account that the network will be loaded not only with the operation of the boiler.
To organize the heating system of a private house, you can install an liquid fuel type boiler. The disadvantage of such boilers is that they can cause criticism from an environmental and safety point of view.
Boiler power calculation
Before calculating the heating in the house, this must be done by calculating the power of the boiler. The efficiency of the entire heating system will primarily depend on the power of the boiler. The main thing in this matter is not to overdo it, since a boiler that is too powerful will consume more fuel than necessary. And if the boiler is too weak, it will not be possible to heat the house properly, and this will negatively affect the comfort in the house. Therefore, calculating the heating system of a country house is important. You can select a boiler of the required power if you simultaneously calculate the specific heat loss of the building for the entire heating period. Calculation of home heating - specific heat loss can be done using the following method:
q house =Q year /F h
Qyear is the heat energy consumption for the entire heating period;
Fh – area of the house that is heated;
In order to calculate the heating of a country house - the energy consumption that will go into heating a private house, you need to use the following formula and a tool such as a calculator:
Q year =β h *)