The boiler serves as the basis for the heating system. It is his performance that directly affects the ability of the communications network to provide the home with the required amount of heat. If you correctly and competently calculate the capacity of the heating boiler, then this eliminates the need for unnecessary costs associated with the acquisition of additional devices and their operation. In the preliminary calculations, the selection of equipment will be correct, that is, its heat transfer laid down by the manufacturer will help in maintaining its technical parameters.
Base for calculations
The calculation of the power of the heating boiler is a rather significant point. As a rule, this parameter can be compared with the entire heat emission of the heating system, which is designed to provide a house with a certain size, with a given number of floors, as well as the corresponding heat engineering properties. To equip a small private or country house, there is no need to purchase a very powerful boiler.
Autonomous heating and boiler power are calculated depending on the area - this is the main parameter if the building's heat engineering is considered according to the regional climate. In this case, the most important parameter is the area of the house.
What affects the calculation?
If you want to calculate the capacity of the heating boiler as accurately as possible, then for this you can use the methodology provided by SNiP II-3-79. In this case, when conducting professional calculations, the following factors must be taken into account:
- the average regional temperature in the winter season;
- properties of insulating materials used for the erection of building envelopes;
- type of wiring of the heating circuit;
- the ratio of the areas of supporting structures and openings;
- information for each room separately.
Subtleties of the calculation process
So, the calculation of home heating should be based on the house plan, which serves as the most important document for the calculation. For the result to be as accurate as possible, it is also necessary to use information such as data on the number of units of digital and household appliances, since it also releases heat into the room in a certain way. However, autonomous heating can be organized without the need for such accurate calculations, and purchase everything with a small margin. This will be the right decision. Most often, the capacity of heating boilers is rounded to a certain value, so the purchase of equipment 20-30% more powerful than necessary is the right solution to the problem.
Required Parameters
In the most primitive calculation method, this approach is used: for every 10 square meters of premises of a qualitatively insulated structure with a standard ceiling height, 1 kilowatt is required to organize heating. If you are calculating the capacity of a heating boiler, which is also used for hot water supply, then for the correct calculations you need to add at least another 20%.
For an autonomous heating circuit having unstable pressure in the boiler, it is necessary to add a device, which will increase its power reserve in comparison with the calculated value by at least 15%.
Heat loss accounting
Regardless of whether the calculation of the power of an electric heating or gas boiler is performed, the operation of the entire system is associated with a certain percentage of heat loss. Ventilation is necessary, and if the windows are constantly open, then for the whole house heat loss will amount to 15% of the energy. With poor wall insulation, approximately 35% will be required to compensate for this shortcoming. Window openings make it leave 10% of the heat, and when using old window frames - even more. In the absence of floor insulation, another 15% of the valuable heat will go into the ground or basement. The roof is a heat loss of 25%. Before calculating the power of the heating boiler, it is necessary to take all this into account and display in the calculations.
Simple formula
In any case, it is required to round off the heat engineering calculations, as well as to increase the value obtained in order to provide a certain margin. That is why to determine the required value, you can use a fairly simple formula:
- W = S x W beats., Where
- S represents the total area of the heated building, taking into account the rooms of residential and domestic purposes in sq. m;
- W is the power of the heating boiler, kW;
- W beats. represents the average specific power used taking into account a specific climatic territory (this characteristic is based on many years of experience in various heating systems in the regions).
When you multiply the area by the specified indicator, you can get the average power value. It is adjusted based on the features mentioned above.
Electric boilers
Before you purchase any equipment, you need to clarify its main characteristics and how they correspond to the features and requirements of your system. Calculating the power of an electric heating boiler is a complicated procedure, but you need to know this parameter, since it will tell you whether the device is suitable for your specific case or not. In the case of such equipment, power is a paramount parameter, since this is due to limits set by regional power plants. If this value is exceeded, then the likelihood of the operation of restrictive automatic machines is high, because of which the house can be disconnected from the supply of electrical energy. When choosing equipment of this class, you should be based on the permissible power, not trying to exceed it, and also correctly calculate the necessary indicators of the boiler.
At the moment, on sale you can find equipment with fixed and modulated power. It is preferable to samples in which the value is constant, so that you can avoid power outages due to exceeding the limit, which often happens with devices with modulated indicators. The choice of this type does not affect the economic indicators of energy consumption. This characteristic only affects the amount of energy that the heating system receives from the boiler.
The meaning of the results
In an electric heating apparatus, electric heating elements are used inside the heat exchanger. They are responsible for the power of the entire unit. Heating of the coolant is carried out during the operation of the heating elements and then by means of a circulation pump, which supplies everything to the system. For such boilers, as well as other devices of this category, the power is calculated in kilowatts, while here we are talking about the parameter of the heating elements. Depending on the number of heating elements, this parameter can be in the range of 2-60 kW.
What affects power?
The operating parameters of electrical devices can be different, among them one of the most important is the thermal characteristic necessary to compensate for the heat loss of the building and provide hot water. Calculation of the capacity of the heating boiler in this case is based on data such as: heated area, heat-insulating qualities of the building, materials of floors and walls, surface area with glazing. This set of parameters should definitely be taken into account when conducting heat engineering calculations for each house, as well as to clarify the energy required for the preparation of hot water.
Electric boiler only for small rooms?
Many are convinced that this type of apparatus can only be used to ensure normal temperatures for small houses, so their power is very limited. But this is an erroneous statement. At the moment, on sale you can find boilers that are able to provide heating of houses with an area of up to 1000 square meters. In this case, the question arises regarding the appropriateness of using such equipment. In such cottages, most often they are installed as backup power sources that work when the main one fails. Small rooms allow the use of equipment with a small capacity. These are single-phase and three-phase boilers. Devices whose power is more than 6 kilowatts can be multi-stage. With their help, it is best to save energy, since you can not use them constantly in the autumn-spring period.
Calculation of the power of a gas heating boiler
Such equipment has a whole range of advantages over electrical. These are economical and highly efficient devices that provide the proper level of heat transfer. Until recently, the installation of gas equipment required a special room - a boiler room. At the moment, this is not so urgent requirement, since there are many models with a closed combustion chamber. The calculation of the power of a gas heating boiler is made taking into account the following significant parameters: area of the room; specific power of the boiler per 10 square meters, corresponding to the climate in the region. Calculation of heating by area is the most common practice. For specific power in zones with different climate conditions, there are established values: Moscow Region 1.2-1.5 kW; Northern areas 1.5-2.0 kW; southern areas 0.7-0.9 kW. Most often, for convenience, an average value of 1 is used, which is 1. It turns out that a power of 1 kilowatt for every 10 square meters is usually preferred. m room.
conclusions
Typically, the calculation of the capacity of the heating boiler and heat loss of a building is carried out at the design stage. To ensure the efficiency of the heating system, special conditions must be observed - the arrangement of the corresponding room, which will be equipped with ventilation and a chimney. Now you know how to calculate home heating.