Combined heating systems: how to use appliances and fuel

The rate of gasification of our settlements is still not able to satisfy the growing needs of the population. It often happens that they promise to gasify the village, but for some time its inhabitants will have to use a different type of fuel to provide themselves and their family a comfortable stay. For these purposes, owners of suburban real estate purchase equipment with which a combined heating system is created based on the use of different types of fuel. Another type of system is based on the use of several heating devices operating on the same fuel. Both options for combinations for a private house we will consider in this article.

Fuel combination

Currently, the home equipment market has a wide variety of offers, so there are plenty to choose from. Consider several heating systems that combine the possibility of using several types of fuel without a radical change of equipment: while one type of energy is absent, it can be replaced by another.

Gas and diesel

The heating method using a boiler, in which you can change one type of burner to another and switch to an alternative type of fuel, is quite common. The second type of burner is even included in the basic configuration of such a boiler. All issues that a consumer may have in the process of replacing burners of one type with others are usually covered in some detail in the instructions. The simplicity of this operation is based on the use of one common combustion chamber for these types of fuel.

One heating circuit can successfully combine two boilers that run on gas and diesel fuel, and there are options in which it is enough to replace the burner of the boiler to convert it to alternative fuel

Yes, diesel fuel and gas are completely different types of fuel, but combining their use can be considered successful even from a technical point of view. If the heat exchanger of such a device is made with high quality, it will serve its owners for a long time, and its operation efficiency will be as expected.

For the construction of a heat exchanger, steel or cast iron is often used. He himself can be both isolated and combined. Alternating use of gas and diesel fuel is considered economical. The device is not expensive when buying, and even in the process of operation it quickly pays for itself.

Gas and solid fuels

So, he will try to make such a heating system in which gas can be supplemented with solid fuel.To do this, you need to purchase a multi-fuel device (boiler) that can operate on coal or wood.

It looks like a heating system in which both gas and solid fuel are simultaneously used

A distinctive feature of such a boiler, which can operate with gas and on solid fuel, is its equipment with a special control device that ensures the safety of its operation. But nevertheless, experts say that nobody will give a 100% guarantee of the safety of using this boiler. Therefore, if you have chosen such a device, carefully monitor it during operation.

However, these boilers are relatively inexpensive and are in high demand among owners of small cottages.

You will learn about the types of combined boilers and how to choose the right equipment from our article:https://aquatech.tomathouse.com/en/otoplenie/kotly/kombinirovannye-kotly-otopleniya.html.

Solid fuel and electricity

In private households, combined heating is often found, in which the use of electricity and solid fuel can be combined. The operating range of such devices is 220-380 volts, while the power varies between 4-9 kilowatts. There are even models in which three phases can be switched.

Most often, boilers of this type are actively purchased by summer residents. Why? The answer is simple: it is not necessary to live in the country all year round. To make the house warm and comfortable, it is enough to turn on the boiler when you arrive at the cottage, so that it works for some time on solid fuel.

The combination of solid fuel and electricity in heating circuits is also not uncommon

An automatic mode can be activated, which will maintain all temperature parameters in comfortable ranges. The price you have to pay for the electrical system cannot be called small, but this fact should not confuse those who are configured for comfort, if it is impossible to achieve it in another way.

Solid fuel, gas and electricity

You can familiarize yourself with how such a combined heating system will look in practice by looking at the diagram below. It consists of two wall-mounted boilers and a boiler.

We can say that in this option the maximum versatility of fuel has been achieved. This technology is based on the fact that the heating function in it is provided not by one, but by several fuel sources. In this case, coal briquettes, wood, coke waste and lumber can be used as solid fuel.

This scheme uses all the advantages of fuel interchangeability. In case of interruptions with one type of heating, you can use another without compromising the comfortable temperature

Mixed heat sources

The system, in which mixed heat sources operate, helps a lot in a remote area, when it is not so easy to get to civilization. It is important that the pipeline is still there. In the event of interruptions in gas and electricity supply, it is this system that can help out in critical situations.

In the presence of mixed technology, it is possible, when there is nothing else, simply chop wood that will always be found in our country. This is where the opportunity arises to appreciate all the advantages that the use of alternative fuel provides.

The combination of pyrolysis and electrode boilers

To provide heating for a two-story country cottage only for the duration of the tenants' presence, one more system can be used. The combination of fuel in it does not provide the use of a single boiler, which can be heated by different types of fuel, but the use of a combination of different types of boilers.

For example, you can use a boiler, which is based on the pyrolysis principle, when the fuel is burned with insufficient oxygen and a temperature of 200-800 degrees Celsius.This process leads to the separation of wood into three fractions: pyrolysis gas, coke and solid residue. All three fractions burn much more efficiently than the wood itself.

In addition to the pyrolysis boiler, you can use the electrode. This is a flow-type heating boiler, powered by electricity. The coolant in it is heated as a result of ionization and the movement of ions to the poles of the electrode. Energy is released when the electrodes oscillate. When heated in the ionization chamber, the pressure of the coolant increases. It turns out that the electrode boiler becomes not only a heating device, but also a circulation pump.

The pyrolysis boiler can be combined with an electrode electric device, in the general scheme they will perfectly complement each other

The combined operation of these two devices can, even in the absence of owners, support the operation of the heating system. Gradually, it was the idea of ​​creating such a scheme that attracts universal attention.

So, the use of different types of fuel allows you to switch from one of them to another in the event that any interruptions occur.

Read about the varieties of pyrolysis boilers in our review:https://aquatech.tomathouse.com/en/otoplenie/kotly/piroliznye-kotly-otopleniya.html.

How to combine heating appliances?

We are used to the fact that in urban apartments, central heating radiators are widely used as a heating device. It is they with centralized heat supply that provide coziness and a comfortable temperature in our homes.

Radiators and Underfloor Heating

Recently, warm floors have been added to radiators, which work either on water or on electricity. Indeed, in this case, the level of comfort increases significantly due to the fact that the heating occurs under our feet, and then the heat rises up.

It is worth remembering that the presence of a warm floor does not force us to completely abandon radiators. The combination of these two types of heating appliances is the same combined option private house heating systemswhen the necessary harmony and comfort is achieved. The following proportion is considered optimal: 70% of the heat in the house comes from the underfloor heating, and only 30% from the central heating batteries. To get this way, you need to heat the coolant for the floor to 60 ° C, and the one that enters the radiators - to 75 ° C.

If the combination of a warm floor and heating radiators is based on the use of electric energy, the batteries will be electric and the floor will be heated using a special cable

This combination system typically uses:

• Electricity For this, a special heating cable is placed in the subfloor, and electric batteries are used in the premises.
• Coolants. Pipes are laid under the floors, and conventional radiators are installed in the rooms.

When a heat carrier is used as heating energy, a variety of pipes can be used. As the material for them, copper, metal plastic, polyethylene and so on are used. It is important to correctly calculate the need for pipes, make a reasonable laying scheme, and when calculating, do not forget about the pump power, pipe thickness and hydraulic resistance. Similar calculations are accompanied by the establishment of the need for radiators for a particular room.

Using water as a heat carrier, we will use pipes for a warm floor. And we will have the most common heating batteries - with hot water inside

To reduce the costs associated with the operation of combined systems, it is possible to install the same radiators only where there is a real need for them: they are not needed in pantries and in some other rooms for technical purposes. But with the onset of real frosts, it is better not to save on your own health, but to warm the room at full capacity. But what is the collector for this combination:

Learn more about installing such a home heating system from our material with instructions:https://aquatech.tomathouse.com/en/otoplenie/razvodka-otopitelnoj-sistemy/radiatory-plyus-teplyj-pol.html.

Warm walls

Another possible combination in a heating system: you can use wall heating together or instead of a warm floor. As in the case of floors, tubes are laid in the wall structure through which the coolant will circulate. When the walls are heated, the heat will spread evenly, although there will be no strongly heated surfaces in the room.

When making warm walls in your home, you should remember that hammering nails in them to decorate them with pictures or sconces, you must be extremely careful

Heat is distributed mainly through infrared radiation. Such flows are very favorably received by our body. If heated water is used as a heat carrier, then the pipes are connected in separate branches using a radiation scheme.

By the way, the walls can be used not only for heating, but also for cooling the room. If in winter we need warmth, then in hot summer none of us will refuse the coolness that will remain in the room if cold water is passed through the pipes. Such cooling will be very handy.

Other combined systems

You can hardly find an exhaustive list of combinations and combinations of heating devices and coolants. And you are unlikely to need it. After all, the choice of combination depends entirely on your own capabilities and needs. And these factors are individual. Turning to specialists, you can find only your best option.

And then, for example, in the off-season you will melt a fireplace that will solve all problems quickly and efficiently. In winter, he will play a more decorative function, and the main burden will fall on the heating system with a boiler that runs on liquid fuel and heats the radiators.

Such a fireplace, of course, causes pleasant associations and in a private house it is always appropriate, especially if in winter time the main heating is provided by a completely different, much more powerful heating device

In the south of our country, a combination of a gas boiler and a solar collector is often used. They are combined into a single heating system, which is equipped with automation. If there are a lot of sunny days during the year, such a scheme will be effective. During the summer, domestic water heating will be performed without gas equipment. The northern regions have different priorities. For example, in Sweden, the use of heat pumps is very popular, allowing you to use the heat of the earth to heat your home.

We hope that the options described in this article will help you navigate the variety of offers and make the right choice.