Gas. or blue fuel is an excellent energy carrier and therefore it is very often used in various heating devices. The most common such device is a gas boiler.
Gas heating boiler
There are several types of heating boilers operating on natural mains or liquefied gas, and each of them differs in its characteristics, has its own gas consumption. One of the main characteristics is the gas consumption for the operation of a gas boiler. Perhaps this characteristic will be more important to you than the appearance of the heater. Ultimately, the cost of the gas consumed is included in the price of the heating device you purchase.
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The main factors affecting the gas flow in the boiler
A gas-fired heating device can consume working material with varying intensity. The following factors may influence this:
- Thermal power generated by the device,
- Efficiency or completeness of conversion of the internal energy of the gas into heat,
- The load with which the heating device operates at a particular point in time. So in winter, gas consumption in boilers can increase.Also, the consumption of gas boilers for heating running water with its active use is increasing.
- A significant impact on energy consumption in gas boilers has the amount of heat loss in your room. Poorly closed doors, uninsulated windows and walls, drafts on the floor or ceiling - all this will negatively affect the gas consumption in your heating boiler, inevitably lead to increased costs and hit your wallet.
How to calculate gas consumption for heating for a certain period?
gas consumption calculation
The easiest way to understand the amount of gas consumed over a certain period is to use a simple example. Suppose we have the task of building gas heating for a house with a heated area of one hundred square meters. Approximately one hundred watts of thermal power of the heating device should be consumed for each square meter of the heated room. Thus, our planned house for heating will require a power of about 10 kilowatts (10,000 watts). With the constant operation of heating equipment for a full month of work, you will use up 7200 kilowatts. But in fact, heating equipment (unless your house is located in the far north) will not work for more than half of the full day. Consequently, about 3600 kilowatts will be spent on heating our house per month. Depending on the climatic conditions prevailing in your area, you will be able to calculate the required amount of thermal energy that will be spent on heating your home during the cold period.
In a good gas boiler, about 0.1 cubic meters of gas will be consumed to generate one kilowatt of thermal energy.Based on these figures and the cost per cubic meter of gas in your area, you can easily calculate the required amount of gas to heat your home.
Naturally, this calculation will be quite approximate and may vary both up and down depending on a variety of conditions.
We determine whether there is an excess of gas in our heating system?
Gas meter
Let's define the main signs that will indicate that gas overruns will occur in our heating system. The presence of these signs should force the prudent owner to take measures to improve the efficiency of the heating gas boiler:
- In the room where the heater is located, overheating of the ambient air is recorded. Also, a similar symptom may be overheating of the outer surface of the heating device. However, the products of combustion that exit the boiler are not superheated. In order to increase the efficiency of the boiler in this case, it is necessary to install an air duct that will move the heated air to the heated rooms. Keep in mind that heated air tends to move upward. Thus, it would be better if the heated room is located above the installation site of the gas boiler. In other cases, you will have to arrange forced circulation of heated air. Please note that the heated air must be taken from the upper part of the boiler room and distributed to the lower part of the room to be heated.
- Also, a negative sign may be overheating of the combustion products of the heating boiler. In this case, it is necessary to adjust the settings of the heating device or completely replace it.
How to achieve economical gas consumption?
In order to use the incoming energy resources more economically, you should take the following measures:
- Purchase a heating device with an increased efficiency,
- Modify the heat exchanger of the heating system. The built-in circulation pump significantly increases its efficiency. In order to ensure uninterrupted operation of the pump, place a water filter in front of it,
- As a matter of course, the heat exchange unit with forced air circulation must be installed in systems with universal power supply that can operate on any type of fuel.
- When installing radiators, make sure that there is a heat-reflecting surface on the wall behind it. Bare concrete will reduce the efficiency of a running radiator by about 30 percent. A good solution would be to install fans at the bottom of the radiators that move warm air deep into the room.
- Installing automatic control systems on heating devices significantly increases their efficiency. But such automation requires, as a rule, a constant connection to a source of electricity.
Use of economical condensing gas boilers
The principle of operation of a condensing gas boiler
Modern modernization of gas heating boilers has significantly increased the efficiency of their work. The latest innovation in gas heating equipment are condensing boilers. They use the higher calorific value of the energy carrier, and consume about 17 percent less gas. In some cases, gas savings when using condensing boilers can reach 33 percent.
The "higher heat" of combustion products when using modern gas boilers is achieved by summing the combustion energy of the gas itself and the energy of steam condensation in heat exchangers.
In a conventional gas boiler, after passing through the heat exchange unit, the heated water vapor breaks out, and therefore its thermal energy is not fully used.
condensing gas boiler
However, the condensing boiler also uses latent heat energy, which the condensing steam is able to give off. Water vapor passes into a liquid state, releasing part of the thermal energy.
Despite the fact that the effect of energy release during the condensation of steam has been known for a long time, it was only possible to implement it in serial devices after the industry learned to use corrosion-resistant materials. A condensing gas boiler shows a significantly lower gas consumption compared to conventional devices.
How to choose the right gas boiler with the lowest gas consumption per hour: training video
