How to choose a gas boiler for heating a house

More than half of the boilers on the modern market are gas boilers. They have earned such popularity due to many advantages, among which profitability, convenience and simplicity of management, efficiency, noiselessness, small size, practicality and many others. In those houses where the gas pipeline is connected, such boilers become the best option for organization heating in the home, and sometimes also, they cope with the function of supplying hot water. The modern range of gas boilers is so large that anyone can find the right model. It is important only to immediately determine the requirements for the boiler: it must be single-circuit or double-circuit, floor or wall, volatile or autonomous.

It should be noted that even though a gas boiler occupies a central place in the heating system of a house, gas pipeline deserves attentionwhich should be as safe as possible. Typically, residential buildings are connected to low pressure gas pipelines, but many private houses can be connected to medium pressure gas pipelines, and then you can not do without gas control points with shutoff valves. It can be represented by cranes, butterfly valves, valves, but still the most popular and universal remain gate valves. If you need them when installing a gas pipeline, you only need to buy quality products from reputable manufacturers: a striking example is the avk gate valve on the official website. All pipeline valves presented by Enziteko are distinguished by the best technical and operational indicators, meet all standards, and are constantly tested, so you can safely trust them. In addition, the company's specialists are ready to advise each client the best option, based on prevailing conditions. Experience and constant development, advanced training, allows employees to always give the right advice and provide quality project support. Only the fact that the specialists of "Enzhiteko" participated in the reconstruction of numerous engineering networks of the largest enterprises in Russia and abroad, says a lot. To all this it is worth adding a wide range of products, a flexible pricing policy, the availability of discounts and advantageous offers. An individual approach is being established for each buyer, and after the purchase and installation of any pipeline valves, its warranty support is provided.

When there is confidence that everything is fine with the gas pipeline, it is worth moving on to choosing the gas boiler itself.

Single or double circuit?

The difference between these two types of gas boilers is probably familiar to many and follows from the name. So, single-circuit able to heat water only for heating system, and double-circuit due to the presence of another heat exchanger or even boiler heats water for a hot water system. It is necessary to proceed when choosing solely from one’s own needs and needs.

Since a single-circuit boiler heats only the heat carrier for the heating system, an indirect type boiler can be connected to it in order to get a hot water supply.Installation of a single-circuit boiler, as a rule, requires the use of an expansion tank, a safety valve, and a circulation pump, which ultimately makes the device massive enough, therefore a separate room is often allocated for it - not every kitchen has a place for such a system. And the whole installation process is more complicated and time-consuming than in the case of a double-circuit boiler. If you choose a boiler with built-in equipment, and use a hinged boiler for hot water, such a kit will have a more aesthetic appearance, and it will take up much less space, so it can accommodate in the kitchen.

Double-circuit boiler - The best option when you need to provide a house or apartment with heating and hot water, but at the same time you do not have extra space for installing two different devices. Double-circuit boilers are compact floor or wall units the size of a cabinet. At the same time, floor models are more interesting in terms of capabilities than their wall-mounted counterparts. The latter are great for small apartments and houses: they take up less space, and do not have more heating power. Floor boilers can have a capacity of up to several hundred kilowatts, which means that they can provide heat to a huge house or even an institution, and at the same time heat water for hot water supply at speeds up to 33 liters per minute, and this is more than enough.

Double-circuit boilers also differ in the type of heat exchanger on separate and bimetric. A separate heat exchanger heats separately water for radiators and for the water supply system. Such devices are less sensitive to the composition of water and more durable. Bimetric heat exchangers use, as it were, one tank for heating water for two circuits, are more dependent on the quality of the water, and with its increased stiffness can quickly fail.

Floor or wall?

Today, most boilers designed for single-family homes are wall mounted. Boilers of high power, more than 30 kW, are executed in the floor version, although there are floor boilers with a fairly small power. In general, there are options for every taste, and the choice depends on personal requirements.

Wall mounted boilers differ in compact sizes: they can be installed without any difficulties in the kitchen and in the bathroom, and at the same time do not clutter up the room. A whole boiler room with a burner, pumps, emergency group, expansion tank, etc. is hidden in a small box. It is very convenient to control such devices, and, as a rule, you can adjust the temperature of the coolant that enters the batteries and the temperature for hot water if the boiler is double-circuit. In this case, you can choose a special summer mode when heating is carried out only for the hot water supply system, and only if the taps open. But most models of wall-mounted boilers are highly dependent on the supply of electricity, therefore, living in areas with regular problems with the availability of electricity, the choice of such devices should be treated with extreme caution.

Wall-mounted boilers can be single-circuit or double-circuit, and the water in them is heated according to the flow principle. Since such devices are constantly at eye level, it is important that they are attractive in appearance, so manufacturers are trying to develop the most stylish design.

The power of wall-mounted boilers is much less than floor-mounted and ranges from 12-42 kW. Choosing a device with a large margin of power is not worth it, because its price will be higher, and you won’t be able to take advantage of all the advantages, and you can run into breakdowns.

Floor boilers more suitable for rooms where there are problems with the supply of electricity, as they are often equipped not with electric but with piezo ignition.In addition, they are very easy to operate, can maintain a given water temperature, they have reliable automation, which allows you to turn off the gas supply if the flame in the burner goes out. But they cope with hot water a little worse than wall-mounted boilers: it is difficult to set the desired temperature, and it is difficult to call an economical heating system.

Floor standing boilers are more powerful than wall mounted boilers. By the way, the final power largely depends on the type of burner selected, and in such devices it can be atmospheric or inflatable. The first are supplied, and the boiler in this case has a capacity of 10-80 kW, but sometimes a little higher. An inflatable burner allows you to achieve power of several hundred and even thousands of kilowatts, but it must be purchased separately.

As is clear from the key characteristics of floor boilers, they are installed in rooms with a large area. In small houses and apartments, its use is also unjustified by the fact that such a boiler will occupy a place on the floor.

Boiler power

Boilers of all overpowered types may have different capacities. The choice of a device with a certain power value should be based primarily on the area of ​​the house. If you turn to specialists for help, they will carry out the most complete calculations, take into account all the factors and derive the optimal boiler power. But you can try to cope on your own. So, for every 10 sq.m of area you need 1 kW of boiler power. Everyone can divide the known area of ​​the house or apartment by 10 and round the result up. Further to the result, it is better to throw another 25% of the power, and already look for the unit with the desired value.

If the house is characterized by increased heat loss, then another 25% should be added to the received power. But in this case, does not interfere with the warming of the home, change the windows and the door, in general, to do everything so that the house is economical, and to pay less for gas.

As for hot water, then low-power boilers (up to 15 kW) on average heat about 12 liters of water per minute, which is enough for a small family. If 4 or more people live in the house, it is better if the boiler can heat 15 liters of water or more per minute, which is possible for devices with a capacity of more than 20 kW.

A wish take the boiler more powerfulIn order not to bother with calculations, it can lead to undesirable consequences. A device that does not operate at full power can also fail quickly, just like a device operating in overloaded mode. The reasons for this may be a lot, for example, the use of a pulse mode instead of a continuous one, because a powerful boiler quickly heats the room, and then the automation turns it off, chimney cools down, condensation forms there, which ultimately leads to the need for repair.

Type of ignition

In order for the boiler to start heating water, it is necessary to set fire to gas. The most ancient and conservative way is to bring a match. Now there are few such boilers on the market, and the need for matches has been replaced piezo ignition. It is enough to press the button, as it produces a spark, which is necessary to start burning. Simple and convenient, but not very economical, and also takes time to manually turn on the boiler. But it is this option that is independent of electricity and most suitable in those places where there may be problems with the supply of electricity. But since breaks on power lines are not uncommon in snowy winters, such a boiler becomes a very attractive option.

Boilers with electric ignition more convenient to use, more economical. They are equipped with a water flow sensor along the line, which provides information about the need to light the burner.

Condensation or conventional boiler?

Conventional boilersMost of them on the market burn fuel without using its latent heat: the products of combustion, together with warm water vapor, simply go into the chimney and are eroded. But all this heat can be taken away and used in the heating system, which is realized in condensing boilers. In such devices, the exhaust gases are cooled, and the efficiency of the entire boiler increases and sometimes reaches more than 100%. This may look strange, but it follows from simple calculations according to approved methods, which were adopted even when condensation units were not yet available. The value of this indicator is explained by the fact that the same resource is actually used twice to obtain heat. If you do not go into details, then we can say that condensing boiler approximately 10-17% more profitablethan usual, which means that it will use as much less gas, which is a serious basis for savings, especially in winter, although initially such devices will cost more.

Traction type

Boilers can also differ in type of traction. So, if the house already has a traditional chimney, then you can choose a device natural draft. In this case, the combustion products are discharged through a chimney of a certain height. There are boilers with forced draft, they are also called turbine, because in their design there is a small fan (turbine), which allows you to divert all combustion products through a small pipe, led, for example, into the wall. If the house does not have a chimney, then this option will be optimal, since it will save on its design and construction.

Control system

You can adjust the temperature using the usual mechanical thermostat with several modes: the user sets a certain mode, and the water in the system heats up to the set temperature, after which the heating stops. When the water cools, the burner switches on again at the set power and heats the water. After turning on such a boiler for the heating season, you can not turn it off, but simply change the temperature regime.

More advanced are electronic thermostats: with them you can accurately set the temperature that is needed in the room, and even take into account the dependence on the time of day. Such devices are more economical, convenient, always create the optimal microclimate, but also cost significantly more.

Finally, it is worth noting that a gas boiler is an equipment of increased danger, therefore, it requires special care and safety precautions. Although almost all models are equipped with protection against extinction of the flame, from a drop in gas pressure and other mechanisms, nevertheless, before the start of each heating season, the device must be inspected and tested, and for this, specialists must be involved.