Sunday, January 16, 2011

Heating and Plumbing Accessories

By Paul Myers


The range of gas boilers available is currently vast but recent changes to the Building Regulations has meant that recently all boilers are required to be high efficiency boilers or Condensing Boilers. Condensing boilers basically employ a design so that more heat is recovered from the gas energy that is inputted into the heating system.

Typically heat is recovered from the flue gases; the water vapour in the exhausts gases is cooled by the incoming air, thus causing the vapour to form into a liquid state, hence the term condensing. Condensing boilers tend to work at their highest efficiency at lower temperatures so boilers are often designed to feature fully modulating operation at low temperatures, ensuring the output matches very closely to the heat demand.

Most natural gas boilers are suitable for Propane LPG fuel options and require only a change of burner nozzle. Many boilers are now able to run in conjunction with solar panels where gas forms the secondary top up, heat source. Solar smart combi boilers are now being produced by many boiler manufacturers. Other new features available are economisers, or top box gas savers, where even more heat is recovered from flue gases by incorporation of a secondary heat exchanger.

Oil fired condensing boilers are available but due to high oil prices these tend to only be the boiler of choice where natural gas is unavailable. Oil fired boilers either have aluminium, cast iron or high molybdenum stainless steel heat exchangers.

Typical output capacities of combination boilers are 24kw, 28kw and 35kw but this varies with each boiler manufacturer. The efficiency of the boiler is reflected by the SEDBUK rating and ideally one should be seeking a SEDBUK, A or B rated boiler.

Wet under floor heating systems are ideal for new build construction and ideally run at relatively low temperatures of about 40 degrees centigrade. This makes such systems extremely compatible for use with heat pumps as the main source of heat.




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