|
home /
home
library /
interior projects /
moving heat
from room to room
Moving Heat from Room to Room
Heating systems are tricky business. It
is important to know and understand the characteristics
of your heating system and the different functions it serves.
Venting, distribution of heat, flue gas condensation, and
air quality are all areas that need to be carefully evaluated.
Not to mention the individual parts that makes up your heating
system. Parts include boilers, pumps, burners (furnace),
pipes, fans, zones, circulators, and thermostats. It is
essential that you know how all of these parts work together
in order to gain full control over how heat moves from room
to room.
Creating Heat
In most cases, a furnace or burner is the
main source of heat within the house. They operate by drawing
in the air from rooms through ductwork or surrounding space.
The furnace then filters and heats the air. This heated
air is circulated back into the rooms, rising to higher
levels and producing warmth. A furnace can either be sealed
combustion or non-sealed combustion. Sealed combustion draws
air from a duct that goes from the furnace to the outside.
Non-sealed combustion draws air from the surrounding space,
the house itself.
Moving Heat
Forced hot-air heating works by drawing
air inside a heat exchanger, where it is warmed with a flame
of natural gas, propane or fuel oil, or with heated electric
coils. A fan or blower then sends the warmed air through
the house ductwork. The fan is timed to cycle off shortly
after the burner shuts off. The timing of the fan is crucial
for keeping cold air from being pushed through the system
and for keeping the hot air from backing up.
The fan pushes the air so that it circulates
and enters individual rooms through a vent or register in
the floor or wall. Keep in mind, indoor air moves continuously
through the system, so a furnace filter is used to contain
dust other airborne particles.
Certain homes operate on a heating system
that uses water to move heat, measured in Btu's (British
Thermal Units) from a heat source (boiler) to the heated
space. This is typically referred to as a hydronic system.
Two common systems include "hot water base board heat" and
a system that uses cast iron radiators or tubing in the
floors, ceilings or walls to circulate heated water. With
hydronic heat, a boiler works by heating water and moving
it through pipes or tubing to radiators, where it warms
the surrounding air. The boiler fires and heats the water
to an average temperature of 80�F to 85�F for radiant floors
and 180�F to 200�F for baseboard heat.
Controlling Heat
A thermostat, circulators and zone valves
are used to control hydronic heating systems. They are installed
on the supply pipe to push or prevent hot water from entering
a given loop. Older hydronic systems generally have a slow
speed circulator that is mounted on the side of the boiler.
This device is used to pump water from the heating units
toward the boiler. More modern systems use small individual
circulators, one for each heating zone. These circulators
are used to pump water away from the connection to the compression
tank or expansion tank. A thermostat is used to turn on
the circulators or zone valves in each heating zone.
Forced air heating systems are controlled
by fans and dampers. Fans circulate the hot air through
ductwork that travels into individual rooms. Dampers are
used to prevent hot air from entering certain zones.
|
