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How a Home Heating System Works

A typical home hot-water heating system is actually two systems in one.  One is the Boiler system, the other is the Delivery system.  The Boiler is what actually generates the hot- water used to heat your home.  The Delivery system brings the hot- water from the Boiler to the radiators / convectors.  It is important to understand that when we refer to a Hot-Water Heating System, we are not referring to the hot tap-water that you use to wash and cook with.  The water may or may not be heated by this heating system.

The Boiler usually consists of:

*  A Burner - Which is fueled by either gas or oil, is used to generate hot-water by heating the water-filled boiler tank.

*  An Internal Thermostat - This device, often called an Aquastat, controls the temperature of the water in the boiler-tank by cycling the burner on and off.  The Aquastat normally has two settings, a low and a high.  The low setting is the temperature at which the burner would be turned on, the high setting is the temperature at which the burner would be turned off.

*  Boiler-Tank - This is a reservoir of water that is heated by the burner.  This hot-water is the medium used to convey the heat produced by the boiler to the house.

*  A Hot Tap-Water Coil - This is used if the Boiler is also heating hot tap-water, and is immersed within the boiler- tank.

The Delivery system usually consists of:

*  A Space Thermostat - This is used to monitor the temperature in the room and determines when the Delivery system is activated.

*  A Circulator Pump - This is usually controlled by the Space Thermostat.  When on, the pump takes hot- water from the Boiler-Tank and circulates it through the radiators / convectors.

*  Radiators / Convectors - These have hot-water circulating through them when the circulator pump is on.  They are what conveys the heat from the boiler's hot-water to the air in the room.

*  Piping - The pipes carry the boiler's hot-water to and from the boiler and radiators / convectors.

What is a "Maintained"  type Heating System?

In older systems and those that also provide hot tap-water, the burner is continuously cycled on and off to keep or maintain the hot-water in the boiler at a certain temperature.  Hence the name "Maintained".  This type of system is more wasteful of fuel since it uses fuel even when heating isn't needed.

What is a Multiple-Zone Heating System?

It is a heating system that has multiple Delivery systems, each one serving a different area or zone of the home.  It is used to conserve energy and improve comfort by heating only the zone that requires it.  Depending upon the system design, in addition to multiple Thermostats there may also be multiple circulator pumps and/or isolation valves.  The number of zones is determined by a number of factors, some of which are:  The physical layout and size of home, cost, payback period, etc.

How It All Works Together:

Let's assume that this is a single-zone "Maintained" type heating system and that the Boiler is providing hot tap-water.

What's happening is this:  The Boiler's burner is being turned on and off (cycled) repeatedly by the Aquastat to keep the water temperature in the boiler-tank at a certain value.  When heating isn't needed and no one is using hot tap-water, the on/off cycling is slow and methodical.  When heating is needed or when someone is using hot tap-water, the on/off cycling changes; the burner's on-time gets longer, the off-time shorter.  This happens primarily because the water being returned to the boiler-tank is colder.  The reasons for this are as follows:

When Heating the Space - The Space Thermostat senses that the room temperature is below its low-setting and starts the circulator pump.  When the circulator pump is running, hot-water is taken from the boiler and circulated through the radiators/convectors, which give up their heat to the air.  This air heats the space.  The water leaving the radiators/convectors, however, has been cooled by the air and returns to the boiler-tank colder, which causes the Aquastat to cycle the burner.  When the temperature in the space rises above the Space Thermostat's high-setting, the Circulator Pump is stopped.  Weather conditions also affect the burner cycle by increasing the need for heating as it gets colder outside.

When Using Hot Tap-Water - the water being drawn from the tap is replaced by cold water from the fresh water inlet.  This indirectly cools the water in the boiler-tank causing the Aquastat to cycle the burner.

The above heating cycles repeat themselves over and over again.

Why does the Burner Cycle On and Off?

For one simple reason; the Boiler develops more heat than the Delivery system can use.  This causes the Aquastat to cycle the burner on and off; or the water will be over- heated.  An important fact to remember about heating systems is that the Boiler is purposely over-sized for what is needed.

Typically, an Engineer specifies a Boiler that has the capacity to generate heat 1.5 to 2 times the amount necessary.  The reason for the over-sizing is that after the Engineer has calculated  the amount of heat that should be needed to warm your home, additions are made to the calculation to: compensate for the natural degradation of the heating system due to aging, to provide for the possibility of future expansion to the home, and as an added safety factor to ensure adequate heating.

Over-sizing is wasteful.  Would you try to kill a fly with a cannon?  Of course not, it's an overkill and can not be done as efficiently as a fly-swatter.  The same thing for your Boiler.  It can not provide small amounts of heat efficiently!  Just as stop-n-go driving results in less gas-mileage than highway driving, the increased cycling caused by over-sizing a Boiler is similar to stop-n-go driving; it's very wasteful of fuel and money.

Cycling is the Boiler's worst enemy.  If the Heating system is normally over-sized for even the worst days, anytime it's warmer out, the Boiler is even more over-sized.  The Boiler is being operated at its most efficient level when the on-times are the longest, the off-times the shortest.  Over-sizing of the Boiler causes the complete opposite effect.  Over-sizing increases Burner cycling, air pollution, and maintenance requirements.  It also wastes fuel and shortens Boiler life.

How to Improve the System:

It would seem that the best way to operate your heating system would be to have the Boiler generate only the amount of heat necessary and produce this heat at the same rate that the Delivery system can use it.  Unfortunately, the controls necessary to achieve this on residential heating systems are extremely complicated and cost prohibitive.

The Solution to the Problem:

Intellidyne's Energy Saving products address the short-comings of residential heating systems, and provide a cost-effective means to reduce fuel consumption and save money.  Just as the automotive industry increased gas mileage by incorporating computerized controls, Intellidye has done the same thing by enhancing the 50-year old technology that is still being used to control your heating system today; with their innovative computerized products.

Contact the Utility Directly to Purchase Products: 

Freeport Electric

220 West Sunrise Highway

Freeport, NY  11520

(516) 377-2235

For Further Info:

Intellidyne Products