Do-it-yourself installation of steam heating in a private house

With the external well-being of city apartments, every modern city dweller has a secret desire to build his own country house. Maybe this is the call of the ancestors who settled in the open spaces, or maybe just fatigue from the city crowd and noisy neighbors. Of course, a country house should be comfortable - no one wants to freeze at night under a blanket or go to the toilet in the yard. The most important element of home improvement is heating. There are many modern options for creating autonomous heating in private country houses. One of the most reliable and effective ways to heat the premises of a private house is steam heating. Let's look at how to correctly install all the necessary elements so that everything functions as efficiently and economically as possible!

 

Steam heating scheme in a private house

Steam heating scheme in a private house

Types of autonomous heating systems

In general, the modern construction business and building guides offer a lot of options for creating autonomous heating systems suitable for use in country houses.

First of all, any heating system is distinguished by the name of the coolant, through which heat from boilers or boilers is transferred to heating radiators located directly in the premises of your house. So, according to the type of coolant, the following systems can be distinguished:

  • With a liquid heat carrier: it can be ordinary water with additives or antifreeze.
  • With the transfer of warm air (thermal curtains)
  • With an open fire (for example, an ordinary fireplace)
  • Steam heating systems.

Heating systems with an open fire or with the transfer of warm air have a local effect. They heat the room only around the place where they are located themselves. This may be the way out for a small house located in a warm region, but in our country it is necessary to heat the whole house with high quality (unless, of course, you want to huddle with the whole family in one room).

Steam heating scheme without pump

Steam heating scheme without pump

Therefore, when building a country house consisting of at least several rooms, and even more so of several floors, it is necessary to design and build a heating system that has a separate heat carrier heating boiler and a developed heat transfer system. One of the reliable and effective options is the transfer of heated steam, that is, steam heating. A pleasant bonus is the fact that you are quite able to install all these types of heating systems with your own hands, it is not so difficult, and we will help you with this!

The essence of the steam heating system

Consider how you can design and build a steam heating system in a private house.This is a system with a fairly solid history, which has been used almost from the very beginning of the creation of centralized heating systems.

If you understand the essence and features of the steam heating system in a private house, then it is quite possible to do it yourself, while having minimal technical skills. The principles of its operation are very simple - heated water vapor is transferred through pipes from the boiler, gradually cooling, and then back into the boiler.

Structural elements of a steam heating system

The structural elements of a steam heating system depend on its design:

In a single-circuit system, the hot coolant is supplied exclusively for space heating,

In a two-circuit system, the coolant is also used for domestic purposes - that is, to obtain warm water for washing.

Please note that the steam heating system provides for a very high temperature of the coolant. In some elements, the temperature of the heated steam can reach thousands of degrees. As a result, such a system must be equipped with reliable pipelines and heating radiators that can withstand high temperatures and pressures. If you conduct steam heating in the house using low-quality materials, the minimum damage that you will receive is a breakdown of the system. Now imagine that the failure occurred in the winter, do you want to take that risk?

Piping wiring diagram

Piping wiring diagram

In the project of a steam heating system, it is possible to lay the upper or lower wiring of the pipeline system - this is not important, but in any case, the entire structure will include vertical and horizontal elements.

Boiler for steam heating

The key to the steam heating system in a private council will be a heating boiler. It is from his competent choice that the efficiency and reliability of the system largely depends. It should be selected on the basis of an engineering calculation, which should take into account the volume of air in the rooms to be heated and climatic conditions.

heating boiler

heating boiler

The power of the boiler must correspond to its tasks:

So for heating a house with an area of ​​\u200b\u200bup to 200 square meters. meters, it is necessary to install a heating boiler with a power of at least 25 kilowatts.

If you plan to increase the heating area to 300 square meters, then the boiler power must also be increased to 30 kilowatts.

With a dwelling area of ​​​​600 square meters - choose a boiler with a capacity of 60 kilowatts,

And, finally, when heating a mansion or other large structure with an area of ​​​​1200 square meters, a boiler with a capacity of 100 kilowatts is needed.

The type of fuel that the heating boiler of the steam heating system will use is generally not important. You can install a boiler with a gas burner, with an electric heating element, with an oil burner, or a good old coal boiler. Preference can be given only to combined boilers, since when using them you can easily switch from one type of fuel to another.

Any boiler for creating a steam heating system will have several single parts - a firebox, an ash pan and a burner. But, in addition, boilers for steam heating systems can be fire-tube, smoky, or a combination of them. Together with the boiler, a system of measuring instruments, a block of automatic fuses and a piping system are mounted.

Installation of pipelines

When installing a steam heating system in a private house, several types of materials can be used.

pipes

pipes

So, the steel pipeline has the highest indicators in the field of reliability and strength. Its installation must be carried out exclusively using a welding machine. However, when in contact with heated water vapor, steel corrodes very quickly, which significantly reduces the service life of such systems.

In a steam heating piping system, galvanized pipes or pipes made of stainless steel can be used. Due to the peculiarities of the material of manufacture - such pipes are connected by sections on the thread. This is a fairly reliable and long-lived system, but compared to a steel pipeline, it has an increased price.

Also, when creating steam heating systems, copper pipelines can also be used. This material is very reliable and practically does not react in any way to the presence of heated steam. Between themselves, copper pipes are assembled into a single system using a small blowtorch. Such a pipeline can even be placed in a strobe in the wall, its service life is very, very high. That is why such systems are very expensive and are used, as a rule, exclusively in luxurious mansions.

We draw a scheme of steam heating

In order for your autonomous steam heating system to serve you faithfully, first of all, you need to draw up its competent project. It must be calculated to the smallest detail and even include such information as the length of the pipes used and the number of connecting elements of all configurations (twins and tees).

During the operation of the steam boiler, the water vapor created in it enters the steam turbine or the reduction-cooling unit.With the help of these devices, steam is extracted, which is supplied to the heating devices. They can serve as convectors, radiators, ribbed or simple smooth pipes.

After passing through the heating devices, the steam gradually cools, turning into condensate and follows back to the heating source. The movement of steam and condensate can occur both by gravity (such systems are called closed), and with the help of a circulation pump (such systems of steam heating are called open).

piping scheme

piping scheme

Since the heated steam in the system has a rather large penetrating power, it can be delivered to heating appliances using pipelines of a rather small diameter, and since steam is not supplied under high pressure in well-designed systems, the walls of such pipelines should not be particularly thick.

A little advice

With all the reliability of a well-designed and built steam heating system, the reliability of construction materials will play a significant role in its service life and trouble-free operation. Therefore, purchase only certified equipment tested by competent organizations.

A good steam heating system can be an economical and reliable way to keep your home warm.

Video: Heating scheme of a private house: horizontal and vertical



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