Heating And Plumbing
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.
Combination boilers, usually referred to as ‘Combis’, are the most commonly found boilers in the UK. They operate in a similar way to a traditional ‘gas geezer’ whereby water is heated on demand and there is no heat storage facility. This means they are extremely compact and ideal for new house builds where space saving is often at a premium.
In recent years hybrid versions of combination boilers have evolved whereby a small amount of water storage is provided within the casing of the boiler. These are known as storage combination boilers. 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. The network of plastic tubes is run through the timber floor joists and a heat reflective tray directs heat upwards. A manifold valve enables different zones for each room to be created. Wet under floor heating is invariably used in timber framed housing and volumetric construction where extremely high levels of thermal insulation means that lower temperature heat sources are effective in providing comfortable levels of heat. All under floor heating is designed to give continuous heat and not to be operated as an ‘on demand’ style of system as one might use with conventional central heating.
If you are looking for further news articles, information or suppliers of Underfloor heating systems orheating systems then the Construction Centre can fulfill your requirements.
