You want to know exactly why your heating system burns more fuel than it should? Of course, yes, or you would not have found this article. Below are answers to questions that you have, or those that you did not know. I will explain (in certain technical terms) how your heating system will most likely cost more to heat your house or commercial building than you need and what you can do to reduce these costs.
Anyone driving a car knows that some cars use less gas than others. The same applies to heating equipment, and besides, as to gas off-road vehicles, some heating systems consume a dense amount of fuel. The difference between cars and heating systems are cars that offer many advantages besides the main transport. Cars have performance, comfort and visual appeal, and can also be a status symbol. Heating systems are hidden in the basement, attic, or cabinet, and their work and performance are a mystery to most not in the trade of heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) and still remain a mystery to many in the trade - the so-called “professionals” ( The term I use in this article is free).
To clarify, I can change the abbreviation of HVAC for heating and vice versa, but this article deals with heating systems, how they work, and how they often burn excess amounts of “fuel” —gas or oil.
Most building owners know how to install a thermostat, change air filters, and check the fuel level on the fuel tank sensor, but this concerns the amount of knowledge they have in the heating system. As a rule, building owners do not want to know how their heating system works; it seems too complicated and useless. They prefer to leave the technical aspects to service personnel they trust. Did I say "trust"? There are many reasons to test your confidence in your heating company, fuel supplier and general contractor if you have a new building built - residential or commercial.
First, do not think that the professional you hire to design, install, maintain or maintain your heating system is qualified to make the right decisions in this regard in the field of UWC trade. As in most professions, heating specialists are often the types that care less about the amount of fuel that the heating system consumes and costs the owner; their salary at the end of the week is more important for them. Most HVAC merchants have never attended school to learn countless facets of interconnected technology. Moreover, many of them have never finished school! But let's not be personal. Basically, traders gathered their knowledge through practical experience. Experience comes in two versions: good and bad. If on-the-job training was with lousy teachers, then the student will be a lousy student and will graduate to become a hopelessly old dog, unable to learn new tricks.
This is not only ignorance and bad attitude that have a hand in your fuel heater, although I would like it. The deliberate sale of terribly inefficient heating equipment plays a huge role. Unfortunately, American boilers and stoves are among the least efficient in the world, and continued sales of them ensures that fuel companies will find you a better customer - you will buy more fuel! Greed often leads to corruption, with much of the corruption going off with it. This is a serious reason why I am writing this publication.
I have no particular desire to be confrontational with specific companies, because I know them well, but I can no longer close my eyes, knowing that we are all heading for a dead end with our consumption of natural resources. Fossil fuels are limited, it is said that the planet is heating up, and polar bears, an extinction in 50 years is almost inevitable. But the more we consume, the more we separate our resources forever from the planet, and little remains to meet the needs of its inhabitants in the future. Should we consume until we prove that the human species is the most insidious parasite that the planet has ever known? Do we just take and return nothing? At the very least, we can take less fuel that we use to heat our homes, businesses, and industries and save money as we do.
As a prerequisite for understanding how your heating system works, it is important to understand the basic terms used in the industry, so let's start with the industry players, and then we move on to scattering the mystery surrounding more technical aspects.
Fuel Companies - “Fuel” is a generic term that I use to cover any type of fossil fuel, such as fuel oil, kerosene, natural and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), methane, butane, and any other types of petroleum-based gas that I may I did not list here. Distributors of these types of fuel have one goal: to sell (“sell”) as much fuel as they can, to the one who buys it at the highest price. Period! They do not have your best economic interests. These are well-known oil giants, whose names are depicted on tractor trailers pointing down the motorways; large publicly traded utilities and your local fuel company with a warm friendship. ads in the media. Fuel companies can benefit from inefficient design, installation and maintenance of heating equipment. They want to deliver as much fuel as possible at each delivery stop. I know, I used to supply fuel when I worked in fuel companies in the early 1980s.
HVAC Contractors - “HVAC” is a generic term that is often misused and misused. Companies that go under this heading tend to participate in the installation and maintenance of many areas of climate control indoors, and that’s wide! Not only HVAC means heating, ventilation and air conditioning, but also humidity control, indoor air quality and cooling. This player in the trade is likely to be more incompetent than fraud when it comes to the accurate design, installation and maintenance of heating equipment.
Plumbing & Heating (P & H) Companies - Many heat consumers have been caring for centuries, believing that Plumbers are the same as heating equipment specialists are not. The only thing that is connected with plumbing and heating is how the pipes are connected - threaded, brazed (twisted), welded, glued (cemented) and, more recently, compressed together with proprietary joints. P & H types rarely master heating technology. I can immediately install a heating system installed by a plumber. It’s one thing to be a master at pipelines, in which there are a lot of numbers, this is another problem, except how to know how the heating system of pipelines works.
Handyman - He knows a little more than a homeowner about heating systems.
Heating Techniques - This is who you want to work with in your heating system, but not necessarily with the fuel company. Heating appliances work for fuel companies and gas companies / suppliers. "Buyer, be careful!" Only half of these guys are qualified to work well in your system. However, only 10% are really good, master types who are rarely at a dead end and see the big picture - they understand the original design of the system, the service history pops up like forensic medicine, and they can make your system work with little or no than work.
The above list consists of standard players in the trade, but only fuel companies sell fuel, design, install and maintain heating equipment, which does not mean that all fuel companies are involved in all aspects of the heating trade, and I’m not saying that all fuel companies cheat their customers, most - no.
The case for burning less fuel can be easily made if everyone went to the ocean in a boat and saw that the repulsive depth of pollution in our atmosphere stretches across the water as far as the eye can see. I live on the Atlantic side of the States, and the prevailing winds blow away the earth, bringing smog that has formed throughout the country. Otherwise, watch the sunset and admire the orange and red hues, as they are the result of pollution and particles in the atmosphere that pollute the natural color of sunlight.
Let's take a look at what happens in our atmosphere and our lungs when we breathe, when fossil fuels burn. The by-products of burning types of gas and fuel oil include, but are not limited to:
1. Flue gas
2. Carbon dioxide
3. Nitric oxide
4. Nitrogen dioxide
5. Sulfur dioxide
6. Soot
7. Carbon monoxide
The exhaust of these compounds into the atmosphere of the Earth occurs consistently around the globe and is proportional to the amount of fuel burned by heating equipment, internal combustion engines and industrial processes. The more fuel we burn, the more we contribute to the total pollution of our home - the Earth. Why, then, burn more fuel than necessary?
The following terms and definitions are directly related to the devices and components of the heating system.
- British Thermal Unit (BTU) - The amount of energy needed to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. British thermal units are expressed as the ratio to the time -BTU per hour (recorded btus / hr., Or MBH, where M = Roman numeral for 1000; B = BTU; H = hour, therefore expressed as 1000s btus / hr. A typical heating cabinet has the heat output is 100,000 BTU and can heat a modern 3,000-square-foot house. It is necessary to calculate losses (see Definition of calculating heat transfer).
- chimney - Passages that direct combustion by-products from the heater.
- burner “They are of different types, but we will limit ourselves to discussing the Gun-Type, Sealed Combustion and Atmospheric, since they most likely belong to residential and commercial buildings.” The burners mix fuel oil No. 2, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas or natural gas with the atmosphere (air), then ignite and control the combustion of their relative types of fuel. Burners such as weapons can be seen protruding from the fronts of boilers and furnaces, and burn gas and oil. Atmospheric gas burners are like a gas burner under a water pot on a stove - they are open to the atmosphere. Water heaters, stoves and boilers use atmospheric and cannon-type burners. Hermetic combustion burners are their consummation obligations, the combustion process is hermetically sealed from the atmosphere in which they are installed, for example, a basement, an attic, or a cupboard. Sealed combustion burners transfer combustion air from outside air through a plastic pipe and release combustion products in the open air through a second pipe, usually PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or stainless steel. Cannon and atmospheric burners usually go out through the chimney or mechanical ventilation means, called "power-venter." While atmospheric burners are simple and inexpensive, burners with a Sealed Combustion burner are much more complicated and expensive. Atmospheric burners are medium types of efficiency, while burners with a burner are highly efficient.
- The combustion chamber - The combustion chamber or, simply, the chamber is almost always an integral part of the heating devices that use a gun-shaped burner and are internal to the furnace or boiler. Inside the chamber is a real fire when burning fuel. A viewing door or window allows a technical partial overview of the burning process inside the chamber.
- Boiler - Pig-iron or steel heat-generating vessel that uses water as a heat carrier to heat the space to the desired temperature. The boilers included a burner that facilitates fuel combustion. Boilers may include a camera, but not always.
- bake - The stove includes a burner, most likely a combustion chamber, a heat exchanger, a fan or a fan, and air ducts connected to it. The blower pulls the “return air” out of the conditioned space through the “return duct” and pushes it through the shallow side of the heat exchanger. When reliable cold return air comes into contact with a very hot heat exchanger, the moving air raises heat and is directed to the occupied space through the supply channel, as well as to diffusers and recorders placed in heated rooms. For reference, the stoves have replaceable air filters, boilers do not.
- Heat exchanger - A device that transfers heat from one medium (fire and flue gas) to another. The flue gas contains heat that is transferred through a barrier of steel, cast iron, aluminum or stainless steel (before leaving the device and up the chimney) into the coolant separated by a barrier of the heat exchanger. For our discussion, air, water, and steam are coolants related to this article, which transfer heat from the combustion to the space in a heated building.
- Conditional space - The space inside the building - residential or commercial - with heating or air conditioning. We will consider the heating of conditional space in this article.
- hydronic - Hot water or steam heating technology.
- Forced hot water (FHW) - FHW heating systems include boilers (or sometimes water heaters) connected by pipes to heating “terminal blocks”, such as radiators, baseboard convectors, hot water coils in the air flow, and radiant floor heating tubes. Forced hot water systems replaced hot water systems (GHW) that were disposed of on the day of their popular use. Water is heated in the boiler and then circulated or forcibly supplied with a pump. through the pipes connecting the boiler with the terminal blocks, where heat is returned to the space to be conditioned. The temperature of the hot water decreases with the cooling of the air in the room that surrounds the terminal devices, and the water returns to the boiler for reheating and re-circulating in a continuous cycle, which stops only when the room thermostat satisfies for a longer time.
- Forced hot air (FHA) - As in the FHW, the heat exchanger inside the furnace receives the heat generated by burning the fuel and transports it into the occupied space of the building, but through the passage of heated air inside the feed and return channels. Forced hot air illustrates the use of a stove, while forced hot water uses a boiler.
- Steam - This system is a “hydronic” cousin of forced hot water. Both transfer heat through water or water vapor - steam. Both include boilers that transfer heat from the combustion process to the coolant — water or steam. Both include pipes and terminal blocks. Steam is created when the water in the boiler boils and converts to steam if it is continuously heated. Imagine a pot of water on the burner. A stove burner (gas or electric) heats the pot with water over it. Staying long enough over the heat, the water boils and evaporates upwards. In the boiler, steam rises into volumetric pipes forward to cast-iron radiators or baseboards. Steam tends to balance with the atmosphere. Hot steam has more pressure than colder air, so it rushes to the near exit in the steam system to a low pressure atmosphere in the conditioned space. Press the Schrader valve stem on your car tire and the high pressure air rushes into a low pressure atmosphere - this is the same as the steam in the heating system. Strategically located ventilation openings on radiators and condensate return lines allow air above the plumbing in the steam system to exit the system through them, but stop when the steam comes in contact with its internal mechanisms. Steam is the least efficient type of heating, as the water temperature must be raised above 212 degrees Fahrenheit. While the water temperature in the hot water system can be modulated depending on the outdoor temperature. The warmer it is outside, the lower the temperature required in water with forced hot water.
- Heat pumps, electric heated boilers and baseboard element, wood and coal boilers and furnaces, solar and any other types of systems not manufactured by petroleum are not included in this article.
- Restrictive control - Этот контроль также упоминается как «aquastat» в системах FHW и «Управление вентилятором и лимитом в системах FHA». Гибридные гидравлические системы - паровой котел с контуром FHW (зона) также включали Предельные элементы управления. поддерживать низкие температуры и высокие пороговые значения температуры в отопительной системе. Ограничительные элементы управления имеют разные типы и имеют множество приложений, для которых требуется определенный тип Limit Control. причина от неэтичных топливных компаний, поэтому ваша система сжигает максимальное количество топлива, которое может нагревать ваша система отопления.
- Сопло - Устройство в масляной горелке, которое пропускает через него определенное количество топлива и преобразует жидкое топливо в пар, который может смешиваться с воздухом и воспламеняться. Сопла имеют 3 способа категоризации: количество топлива, которое проходит через него в галлонах в час (GPH), 100 фунтов на квадратный дюйм (PSI) давления топливного насоса; угол распыления паров масла, выходящий из его отверстия; и образец распыления - сплошной, полый или где-то посередине. Эти спецификации написаны как пример типа 1.00-80-B. Это означает, что 1 галлон масла пройдет через сопло при 100 фунтов на квадратный дюйм, 80 градусов - угол распыления пара, а «В» - код для твердого вещества. Слишком высокий GPH, и ваша горелка будет перегревать вашу печь или котел и слишком часто запускать и останавливаться - «короткий цикл».
- Отверстие для горелки - Как и в масляных горелках, газовые горелки имеют дозирующие устройства, и они называются отверстиями горелки или «спуском» горелки. Неправильное отверстие горелки в газовой системе может быть смертельным, поскольку газ взрывоопасен, а когда он не горит должным образом и в правильной пропорции к воздуху, выход может быть неэффективным и совершенно опасным. Газовые горелки имеют по крайней мере одно отверстие, но могут иметь много, иногда слишком много, как вы увидите позже в этой статье.
- Расчет потерь тепла - Существуют программные программы для принятия ввода данных относительно конструктивных характеристик здания, таких как окна и типы дверей, размеры и U-значения, R-значения структуры изоляции, размеры помещений и внутреннее тепловое усиление, как люди и приборы. Как только эта информация вводится в программу, программное обеспечение вычисляет, сколько БТЕ необходимо в самый холодный день года, чтобы нагреть здание до расчетной температуры, скажем, 68 градусов. Точных коротких сокращений для расчета потерь тепла нет. В любое время, когда новая система отопления спроектирована, ей прежде всего должен предшествовать точный расчет потерь тепла. Для всего, что связано с надлежащим оборудованием, а также для определения размеров и выбора компонентов, основаны на генерации и / или пропускной способности BTU. Диаметры труб ограничены тем, сколько БТЕ энергии они могут транспортировать с водой в качестве теплоносителя, так же, как размеры каналов ограничены в том, сколько БТЕ можно транспортировать с воздухом в качестве среды.
