Blue fuel is constantly becoming more expensive, but gas heating is still the most popular option for heating a private house. The main reasons: efficiency, ease of use and reliability of energy supply - the pipe is blocked much less often than the electricity is turned off. The price of fuel depends on the country and region of residence.
To make a gas heating system for a country cottage or cottage, you need to clarify a number of points in advance:
- To evaluate the possibility of connecting main gas or installing a tank for a reserve of propane-butane mixture - gas tank.
- Choose a heat source for burning gaseous fuels.
- Develop a scheme for efficient room heating.
Methods of gasification of a residential building
There are 3 options for supplying natural gas for heating purposes:
- connect to the nearest highway;
- to establish an underground (land) gas tank in the local area, to conduct a fuel supply pipe into the building;
- use fuel in cylinders.
Reference. Centralized gas supply networks supply methane, gas holders and cylinders are filled with a liquefied hydrocarbon mixture (abbreviated as LPG) propane + butane.
Each of these methods has its pros and cons. The easiest and cheapest option is to mount a gas cylinder ramp inside a metal cabinet installed outside the house. Permits and professional installation will not be needed - all work can be done with your own hands. The problem lies in the operation of the installation:
- in order to normally heat a house for 2-3 days, you will need a minimum of 4 cylinders plus two in stock;
- twice a week it is necessary to fill empty tanks with bottled gas - to carry and carry heavy containers;
- during transportation you can be stopped and fined by a police officer, the basis is the transportation of dangerous pressure vessels in a regular car;
- in winter, the cabinet with cylinders must be heated, otherwise propane will cease to evaporate, the cost of electricity will be added to the total cost of heating.
Preliminary conclusion. It is extremely inconvenient and expensive to heat a residential country house with propane cylinders. This option is suitable for a small cottage where autonomous heating is switched on periodically, 5-6 days a month.
How to conduct trunk gas
The procedure for connecting heating equipment to the external gas network in the post-Soviet countries is approximately the same. If the low-pressure line passes near the home (no further than 200 m), collect the following package of documents:
- design documentation - land plot planning (with all buildings), building passport;
- certificate of ownership;
- situational plan - part of the settlement scheme with a gas pipeline;
- a statement of the established form with personal data, residential address and other information;
- preliminary calculation of fuel consumption, m³ / h.
Reference. To calculate the hourly gas consumption, you need to know the thermal power Q (kW) and the efficiency of the boiler or convector. Use the formula:
Calculation Example. A two-story house with an area of 200 square meters is planned to be heated with an economical gas boiler with a closed chamber, productivity - 20 kW, efficiency = 92%. Fuel consumption in maximum combustion mode will be V = 20 / (9.2 x 92/100) = 2 m³ / h.
You provide the collected documents to the subscriber department of the organization - the gas supplier. After approval, you are given the technical specifications for the connection, which are the basis for the design of the external and internal fuel network.You order the project, coordinate with the service provider and proceed with the installation.
An important point. If gas equipment for the home can be installed independently, then the laying of pipelines and connection to the highway is carried out only by a specialized company. Upon completion, acts of completed work and the readiness of the facility for operation are drawn up. A detailed description of the procedure is given in the article on the installation of a dual-circuit heater.
The heat supply system of the cottage, which consumes trunk gas, is very convenient and profitable to operate (excluding countries where the price of fuel has increased 5-10 times). Now about the disadvantages:
- Unreasonably high cost of connecting to a centralized gas supply network. In the Moscow region The price of a service in Russia often reaches 7500 y. e. (more than 500 thousand rubles.), Residents of remote regions can keep within 1000. e.
- Bureaucratic red tape during registration of permits and conclusion of contracts.
- Dependence on an external source of supply of blue fuel. In recent years, users of the CIS countries have noted the supply of low-calorie gas, presumably diluted with nitrogen.
To install or replace equipment in a gasified housing, it is again necessary to contact Gorgaz to obtain permission and make changes to the project. Making individual heating in an apartment of a multi-storey building is a mission practically impossible.
Autonomous heating with liquefied propane
The device of gas independent heating involves placing an underground or elevated capacity on the adjacent site and laying a supply pipeline. For clarity, we give a more detailed list of design and construction works:
- Survey of the landscape and soils, development of an autonomous gas supply project that takes into account the installation of the gas tank - directly on the ground or in the pit. The underground option is more practical - the tank does not occupy the territory adjacent to the house, as shown in the photo.
- Earthworks, reinforced concrete slab pouring - capacity anchors.
- Installation of a gas barrel and safety and shut-off valves - taps, pressure gauges, pressure regulator (liquid propane pressure inside the tank - 15 ... 18 Bar), level gauge, relief valve and a device that shuts off the flow during high-speed LPG leakage.
- Organization of anti-corrosion anodic-cathodic protection of the tank.
- Laying a plastic pipeline through the trench into the house, installing a basement equipped with a compensator for the extension of the polyethylene gas pipeline.
- Wiring of the internal network, connection of gas-using equipment - boilers, hot water supply columns.
- Commissioning activities, commissioning, gas tank refueling.
An important addition. Before installing the LPG tank, you must obtain the permission of the district architect and agree in writing on the location of the tank with its neighbors. A package of documents - a building passport, a site plan, a certificate of ownership and various certificates at the request of the architectural department. Unauthorized construction is unacceptable - the object will not be put into operation, no one will fill the gas tank without permission.
Doing it yourself will not succeed in doing the full range of work - you will have to hire a specialized company. Turnkey construction costs start at 1,500 y. e., which is comparable to connecting methane. What pitfalls await you when choosing a capacity and paying for installation services:
- One tank refueling should be enough for the entire cold season, otherwise you will have to buy expensive fuel in the middle of the heating season. For heating a one-story house with an area of 80 ... 100 m², a small barrel of 2.7 ... 3 m³ is enough.
- Please note that the gas tank is filled at 85% so that there is room for separation of the vapor phase.
- It’s more correct to take a horizontal barrel - you don’t have to bury it deeply, and the LPG evaporation mirror is three times larger than inside a vertical vessel. The latter option is accepted for execution in cramped conditions.
- Some works, for example, an anode-cathodic protection device, are not included in the standard package of services and are paid separately. Concluding a contract with an installation organization, find out a list of additional work.
Tip. It’s better not to buy frankly cheap gas tanks, such tanks are made from used metal vessels. The service life of the restored capacity is 10 years, of the new one - at least 25 years.
Conclusion. Both options - heating the house with liquefied and natural gas - are expensive to implement. Methane uniquely wins in operating costs, and LPG in autonomy. But if you propose another choice - gas or electric heating, then the latter will obviously lose at the average cost of a kilowatt, even taking into account the preferential night tariff.
Choosing heating equipment
To burn gas for heating private houses, 4 types of heat generators are used:
- hot water boilers;
- gas convectors and fireplaces;
- infrared heaters;
- heat guns.
From the name it is clear that boiler gas appliances are designed to work with water heating systems - radiators or underfloor heating. Infrared devices heat objects and exposed surfaces that transfer heat to indoor air. Fireplaces, convectors and fan heaters - units are purely air.
Heat gas guns and infrared heaters are practically not used for the full heating of residential buildings. Such equipment is ideal for small country houses and outbuildings - greenhouses, sheds, construction sites and so on. Therefore, we propose to focus on stationary heat sources - boilers and convectors.
Varieties of water heaters
Gas boilers are able to work with any water systems - underfloor heating, radiators, floor convectors and skirting heaters. In cottages of a large area on 2-4 floors, a more modern solution is often implemented - the device prepares a coolant for air heating units - water heaters or fan coil units.
According to the principle of action, boilers are divided into 3 groups:
- Atmospheric with an open chamber operate due to the natural draft occurring in a chimney of a certain height (4 ... 6 meters or more). The air required for combustion is drawn into the furnace from the boiler room, the efficiency of the apparatus is in the range 86 ... 90%.
- Closed-chamber turbos are more economical. Here, air is forced into the sealed firebox by a fan connected to a double-walled coaxial chimney. Natural traction is not required, unit efficiency reaches 93%.
- Condensation heat generators are similar in structure to turbocharged models. The difference lies in the design of the burner and the main heat exchanger of a cylindrical shape. In low temperature mode, the boiler uses the latent heat of gas combustion, which makes the efficiency increase to 96%.
Comment. 99% of all heaters are capable of burning main gas and LPG without loss of efficiency. To switch to a liquefied mixture, it is enough to replace the nozzles of the burner and adjust the settings of the automation, you do not need to redo anything.
All types of boilers are offered in floor and wall versions. Most stationary models operate without being connected to the mains, while the wall-mounted versions are mini-boilers equipped with an integrated circulation pump and an expansion tank. To provide the house with hot water, two-circuit modifications with a flowing heat exchanger are produced.
There are combined versions of heaters designed for the use of gas, firewood and coal, or supplemented by an electric heater. The combination of a solid fuel chamber with a gas increases the size and weight of the product, but reduces the efficiency of fuel combustion. Another thing is the addition of a heating element that does not take up much space and does not affect the efficiency of the boiler.
Consideration of each type of natural gas heat generators is a rather extensive topic that deserves a separate description. Here we give some recommendations for choosing a boiler for gas heating of the home:
- Take the thermal performance of the unit with a margin of at least 20% of the calculated one. If you plan to heat water for domestic hot water, increase the power by 1.5–2 times.
- Choose a heat generator according to your financial capabilities. If a chimney is built in the house, purchase an inexpensive atmospheric boiler, in the absence of such a supercharged apparatus. Installing a chimney from a sandwich costs more than a turbocharged model along with a coaxial exhaust outlet.
- A double-circuit version of the heater is quite enough for one draw-off point. In order to use hot water in two bathrooms at the same time, it is better to put a single-circuit unit plus an indirect heating boiler.
- Under a gravity heat supply system, take a non-volatile floor boiler, for example, a budget version of the AGV type.
- For work with floor heating and a closed system, any wall-mounted heat generator is perfect. The choice of manufacturer and the number of heater functions depends on your budget.
- When installing individual heating of a house in an apartment building, choose a wall-mounted turbocharged version of a gas boiler with a coaxial chimney.
Condensing heat generators continue to be a luxury for the average homeowner due to the price being too high. The second negative point is the complex control electronics, which will cost a lot in the event of a breakdown, for example, from voltage drops in the mains.
The use of gas convectors and fireplaces
We combined these types of heaters, since they work approximately the same way - they burn gas and heat room air. In appearance and method of smoke emission, the convector resembles a parapet boiler - the apparatus is placed close to the outer wall, the pipe is led outside through the building structure. A fireplace needs a traditional chimney.
Reference. Unlike convectors, a gas fireplace emits infrared heat into the room, creating a comfortable atmosphere in the room. In this regard, the unit resembles a classic stove equipped with a transparent panoramic firebox door.
Features of gas convective heating:
- heaters are located in every room except the corridor;
- air temperature is regulated directly on the room heater;
- outside, fuel pipes connected to the gas network or LPG tanks are supplied to the apparatus;
- fuel combustion efficiency lies in the range of 85 ... 90%;
- there are no piping and batteries inside the house.
A fireplace is an expensive product, you can’t arrange such devices in all rooms. A decorative gas hearth is located in the living room, acting as a source of heat and home comfort.
In our opinion, the use of convectors is justified in small houses with 2-3 living rooms. Larger cottages are best heated with boilers. Causes:
- How many living quarters, how many heaters will be needed. Under each, it is necessary to break through the wall and establish a coaxial gas outlet.
- Instead of the usual batteries, window sills will be occupied by more bulky convection heaters.
- Outside the walls of the building will have to build gas pipelines. Increased requirements are imposed on these works; you cannot fulfill them yourself.
- So that the pipelines do not spoil the appearance of the building, you will have to sheathe the walls with siding or insulate using the “ventilated facade” technology.
- The internal wiring of the water network can be hidden and mounted without the involvement of employees.
A clear drawback of air heating appliances is the inability to heat the lower zone of the room. An alternative solution - electric underfloor heating + gas convectors - will cost too much.
Finally, about water heating schemes
For the distribution of heat in the rooms of a country dwelling, 4 basic schemes are used:
- two-pipe dead end;
- single-tube annular, otherwise - "Leningradka";
- collector (radiation);
- gravity or gravity.
Note. As a rule, the first three circuits are made closed, that is, the system operates under overpressure. When it is necessary to ensure the non-volatility of heating, an open type gravity wiring is mounted.
The two-pipe heating scheme of a private house with a gas boiler is the most versatile and easy to install. 2 pipes are laid from the heat source to the batteries - supply and return pipes, if necessary, the system is divided into floor branches, as shown in the figure below.
If you plan to assemble the circuit yourself, definitely accept the two-pipe version for execution. Other types of wiring harder to calculate and install correctly. "Leningradka" is limited by the number of radiators, the trunk of the radiation system must be laid in the floor. The pros and cons of various schemes are detailed in our other material and described by the master in the video.