The better to heat a country house. Economical heating of a country house: options and prices

Many people want to buy housing outside the city. But, when building a country house, a problem arises. How and with what to heat a country house? Usually, on the land plot there is no possibility of connection to central heating. Therefore, you need to think about which type is better to use.

A few years ago, every home owner tried to gasify his home. At present, the situation has changed a little. There are other ways to heat the house. And the prices for space heating have increased several times.

Therefore, many owners of private houses began to think about alternative methods of space heating. Below we describe the options for heating country houses.

When building a house away from the gas line, you can install a wood heating system. With this option, it turns out to be more profitable to heat a country house. How does a wood burning stove work?

The principle of operation of this design is as follows: you buy a stove, put firewood in it and melt it. When burning wood, the stove equipment heats up. It gives off its heat, and the air in the house warms up.

With a simple design, this heating method has a number of advantages:

• there is a rapid heating of the furnace equipment;
• does not require installation, pumps and pipes;
• reliability of a design allows to use this furnace for a long time;
• buying firewood does not take a lot of money.

Currently, modern ones are not like the well-known old potbelly stoves.

The design and mechanism of the stove are designed in such a way that the installation would give off a lot of heat and work for a long time from one load of wood.

A boiler can be built into this system. When buying a boiler, it is better to choose a design pyrolysis type. With such a boiler, heat will be generated by the combustion of pyrolysis gases. This type of boiler equipment operates without the presence of electricity.

Below we will understand how a solid fuel boiler works. At elevated temperatures and in the complete absence of oxygen, the fuel decomposes into gas and solid waste. In this case, it is possible to obtain the maximum heat recovery from fuel combustion.

Now let's write about cons this type of heating

• all furnace installations are large, so you have to think carefully where to put it; the weight of the furnace is quite large, so it will not be possible to mount the furnace on your own;
• you will need an additional covered room for storing firewood. It is very important that there is enough firewood for the entire heating period;
• if the furnace equipment is used improperly, its combustion products can be dangerous to humans;
• it is necessary to equip the pipe;
• with large areas of the house, the stove will not heat the rooms evenly.

Heating with coal

As we wrote above, you can heat a country house without gas using stove equipment. But, since the purchase of firewood in some regions is a complicated matter, you can consider the option of heating a country house on solid fuel.

The boilers of these furnaces have special sensors for temperature regulation. The use of coal during combustion reduces the amount of harmful volatile substances.

Consist of:

• heat exchanger;
• furnace in which the combustion process takes place;
• grate.

The heat exchanger is made from cast iron or become. Therefore, the markets are mainly represented by steel and cast iron. It should be noted that steel boilers have a low cost compared to cast iron boilers. The reliability of boilers made of these materials is very high, and if you wish, you are unlikely to be able to damage the furnace structure.

To the pluses coal stoves can be attributed to their durability and increased heat transfer. Such a heating system does not require electrical energy.

As for coal, it is better to buy it in advance and build a room for its proper storage.

Electric heating

If the country house is located in close proximity to the power grid, then you can heat the country house with electricity. It is worth noting that the country house will not be heated by an electrician, but by heated water.

How to arrange an electric heating system

The first thing to do is to buy a boiler for heating water.

The stores are presented, designed for different capacities, with one or more circuits. System with one circuit only heats the house. System with double circuit heats water for bathroom and kitchen. Usually, two boilers are installed. And in the summer, one of them is simply turned off. The second heats water for personal needs.

Types of electric boilers

For private houses, as a rule, wall or floor electric boilers are purchased.

Floor boilers are larger and heavier. Therefore, they must be installed on a horizontal surface.

The water entering the boiler heats up and expands. Due to this, the water pressure increases, and the liquid independently moves through the pipes to the radiators. heat up and heat the whole house. When the water cools down, it goes back to the boiler for heating. The whole system has a closed cycle.

Sometimes set boiler with forced water circulation system. But this will require an additional pump and tank.

If the house has electricity, but no water heating system is installed, other heating options can be used. Currently, various types of heaters powered by electric energy can be purchased in hardware stores. Usually buy oil

Heating is the largest energy expense in most homes. It accounts for from 35 to 50% annual electricity bills.

The most effective way to reduce these bills is to reduce the use of energy for heating.

The heating system replaces the heat that is lost through the walls, windows, floor and ceiling of your home.

Ways to economically heat a private house

The amount of energy required to replace the lost heat depends on four factors:

1. location of the house (in colder regions, consumption is higher);
2. the size of the building;
3. energy efficiency at home;
4. energy efficiency of the heating system.

The first factor is the main but it does not depend on you. The colder the weather outside, the more energy is required to maintain a comfortable temperature inside.

important and house size. A spacious room contains a significant amount of air that needs to be warmed up. Therefore, a large house requires large heating costs.

A great opportunity to save energy and money is to improve the energy efficiency of your home and its heating system. There are several ways to do this:

• choose the optimal type of heating system;
• improve facade insulation;
• repair the heat distribution system (air ducts and pipes);
• eliminate heat leakage through doors, windows and various cracks.

How to perform facade insulation

Thermal insulation of the facade in the form of its insulation is the main protection of the house from heat loss through the building body. Therefore, it is very important to insulate the largest part of the house in terms of area - the walls of the facade. Insulating materials reduce heat loss by providing a barrier between the interior of the house and the significantly different temperatures outside.

Houses use different types of insulation. The most common ones- polyurethane foam, polystyrene foam and fiberglass.

Polyurethane foam

Foam insulation is spray or injection foam.

• spray foam in a liquid state, it is distributed in the open spaces of a new house design. After that, the foam expands, fills the cavity and solidifies.
• injection foam pumped into existing cracks, crevices or other voids in walls. This makes this polyurethane foam indispensable for repairing the insulation of existing homes.

Styrofoam

Styrofoam happens with open or closed cells.

• Expanded polystyrene with open cells very light and flexible. When the polystyrene foam is foamed, the gas inside the cells escapes through holes in the cell wall. This process contributes to the creation of a light and flexible shape that compacts as it cures.
• Closed cell expanded polystyrene has a much denser and heavier structure. It forms a dense surface that is more resistant to weathering and temperature changes.

Fiberglass

Fiberglass is made from soda, limestone, sand and crushed glass and is supplied in slabs or rolls. It is placed in unfinished walls, floors and ceilings between pins, beams and crossbeams. Due to its fibrous structure, this material is excellent keeps air inside and prevents heat loss.

Photo 1. A piece of fiberglass. It is one of the most popular home insulation materials.

Efficient boilers for space heating

In order to efficiently and economically heat a house, it is necessary to choose high-quality heating equipment. Most often, boilers are used in this role.

You will also be interested in:

Condensing gas

Boiler operation with condensing gas allows you to use all the energy released during the combustion of gas. All boiler systems distribute heat to hot water, which gives off heat by passing through radiators or other devices in rooms throughout the home. The chilled water is then returned to the boiler for reheating.

In a conventional boiler, the heating system circuit is heated during the combustion of natural gas. condensing boiler uses the energy available in the products of gas combustion. These products contain water vapor. As the steam cools, it condenses and releases heat. The water in the heating circuit is heated by this energy. The evacuation of water released during condensation (condensate) is carried out through the sewage network.

Important! Natural gas is the most affordable source of energy. Therefore, the cost of operating a condensing boiler will be the most profitable.

Such a boiler is easy to operate, consumes less fuel than a standard gas boiler, and has efficiency, often exceeding 100%.

Pyrolysis

The pyrolysis boiler runs on solid fuel. In this case, not only the firewood itself is burned, but also the gases that are released in the process.

Therefore, the efficiency of such boilers is up to 90%. Firewood or special pellets made from dried biomass burn in one chamber, releasing pyrolysis gas.

Under the influence of high temperature, the gas enters another chamber through a special nozzle, in which it burns, mixing with oxygen.

The thermal energy released in this process is much higher than in conventional boilers and burn time is much longer. Therefore, pyrolysis boilers are called long burning boilers.

Such gas-generating boilers do not depend on the presence of a main gas pipeline, and can most effectively use purchased fuel.

solid fuel

The simplest boiler is a wood or coal boiler. He completely autonomous, and does not require any connection to the gas pipeline or electrical network, nor the cost of paying for gas and electricity. Just a standard body is enough, consisting of a firebox (or combustion chamber) and a blower, and ordinary firewood.

Firewood is burning in the firebox thanks to the air that is supplied through the blower. In this case, thermal energy is released. It heats a steel or cast iron heat exchanger in the form of a coil, located in the furnace, and increases the temperature of the coolant. Hot water gives off heat as it passes through the home's heating system. The chilled water is then returned to the boiler for reheating.

Electric boiler

Electric boiler operation similar to the operation of other boilers: the water in it is heated, and then circulates in the heating system circuit and radiators.

Water is heated in these boilers using electric current. It provides high performance and excellent heating rate.

In addition, the installation of an electric boiler does not require large expenditures for the installation of expensive equipment, the presence of a chimney and a large room.

Warm floor

Underfloor heating is the most old form of central heating. Even the Romans used an underfloor heating system that warmed buildings and baths. Today's underfloor heating system is gaining more and more popularity in Russia.

Underfloor heating is a system that heats a house through a heated floor covering. Exists two types of such system. In the first type warm water heats the floor, passing through the pipeline laid under the floor ("wet" system). In the second floor becomes warm with electric coils placed under it ("dry" system).

Concrete floor slabs heat up, and heat is radiated from under the floor into the room. "Wet" system can be connected to a gas boiler for heating water. This will help to significantly save on cheap gas fuel.

Attention! For this type of heating massive building work is required. Therefore, its installation is best done during the construction of the house.

Infrared heating is one of the most economical ways

The infrared spectrum is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This form of radiated heat is the most basic. It's the same 100% natural heat type, which radiates and absorbs the human body daily.

Photo 2. Installation of infrared heaters under the roof of the house, this installation method allows you to completely warm up the room.

The peculiarity of infrared radiation is that it heats objects and people in its path. without heating the surrounding area. This makes infrared heating much more efficient than convection. The convective heat generated by conventional radiators and central heating systems only heats the air.

Warm air is distributed throughout the room, circulating uncontrollably and leaving objects in the room cool. Infrared heating radiates direct heat and heats everything. This type of heating brings long-lasting, comfortable warmth to the house, consuming less energy.

Infrared heaters can provide targeted heat anywhere, no matter the distance. This means that there is no need to spend electricity to heat a room of any, even the largest area, and heat is not lost due to air circulation.

Solar collectors - cheap and economical

Solar collectors use the heat of sunlight to heat water, which then goes inside the building. They consist of a panel of heat-absorbing material into which mixture of water and antifreeze to collect heat. This mixture then heats the water in the hot water system, so solar collectors must be integrated into the existing heat distribution system.

Photo 3. Solar collectors installed on the roof of the house. Devices must be placed at a certain angle.

Such thermal systems can be useful not only in warm climates. Even a small increase in water temperature dramatically reduces the amount of energy needed to heat it. Solar collectors create favorable conditions for the start of any heating systems. It means that less energy is used overall.

This article is about how to heat a house if there is no gas. In it, I am going to talk about possible alternatives to gas heating, evaluate them on a number of key parameters and offer the reader the most profitable and practical solutions. Let's get started.

Gas is the cheapest heat source. Only here it is not everywhere.

Can you see everyone

Here is a complete list of possible heat sources for a home without gas:

• Solid fuel (wood, coal, pellets);
• Liquid fuel (diesel fuel, used engine oil);
• Electricity;
• Solar heat recovered through solar collectors;
• Liquefied gas (from a gas tank or cylinders). If main natural gas is not connected to your settlement, this does not mean that you cannot use a gas boiler for heating or.

What do we evaluate

By what parameters do we compare possible solutions?

There are only three of them:

1. Minimum operating costs (that is, the cost of a kilowatt-hour of thermal energy);
2. Cost of equipment;
3. Ease of use of the home heating system. It should require as little attention as possible from the owner and maximum time to work offline.

Comparison

Operating costs

Here’s how our members will line up when evaluating their cost-effectiveness:

1. The undisputed leader is solar heat. Collectors convert it into heating of the coolant for free. Electricity is consumed only by circulation pumps;

As a rule, solar collectors are used only as an auxiliary heat source. Their problem is unstable thermal power: it varies depending on the length of daylight hours and the weather.

1. In second place is a solid fuel boiler that runs on wood. Yes, yes, I am aware that we are in the 21st century. Such are the Russian realities: in the absence of main gas and with a short daylight, firewood is still more economical than all other heat sources and provides the cost of a kilowatt-hour of 0.9 - 1.1 rubles;
2. The third place is shared by pellets and coal. Depending on local prices for energy carriers, a kilowatt-hour of heat obtained by burning them will cost 1.4-1.6 rubles;
3. Liquefied gas from a gas tank provides the cost of a kilowatt-hour of 2.3 rubles;
4. The use of cylinders increases it to 2.8 - 3 rubles;

1. Diesel-fuelled liquid fuel boilers generate heat at an average cost of about 3.2 r/kWh;

Waste motor oil with the same calorific value is 5-6 times cheaper. If you have a permanent source of mining, this type of fuel can successfully compete with main gas.

1. Explicit outsiders are electric boilers. The price of a kilowatt-hour of heat obtained by heating water with a heating element or any other direct heating device is equal to the cost of a kilowatt-hour of electricity and, at current tariffs, is approximately 4 rubles.

I emphasize: the so-called economical electric boilers (induction or electrode) are fiction. Of course, they work, but the method of heating water does not affect the cost of a kilowatt-hour of thermal energy.

Induction electric boiler. Its undoubted advantage is reliability. But in terms of economy, it is no different from a device with heating elements.

Installation costs

How much will it cost to make heating in the country or in a country house?

In order not to introduce confusion due to the scatter of the parameters of the heating system, I will compare the average cost of heat sources of the same rated power - 15 kW.

• Gas boiler - from 25 thousand rubles;

Without a gas pipeline, the owner will have to invest in the equipment of a gas station or gas tank, which will increase costs by another 150-250 thousand.

• Pellet boiler - from 110,000;
• Electric boiler - from 7000;
• Solid fuel boiler - 20000;
• Liquid fuel (on diesel fuel or mining) - from 30,000;
• Solar collectors with a total capacity of 45 kW (three times the power reserve compensates for downtime at night) - from 700,000 rubles.

It is obvious that a reasonable balance of the cost of a kilowatt-hour of heat and the heating equipment itself is provided only by firewood and coal. A good alternative to them - used oil - cannot participate on equal terms in our competition due to the inaccessibility of this energy carrier.

Free solar heat, in fact, turns out to be prohibitively expensive at the installation stage: the cost of the thermal energy accumulator will be added to the exorbitant costs for the collectors themselves.

Ease of use

Laziness, as you know, is the engine of progress. You want to heat your home not only cheaply, but also with minimal time and effort.

What about different heating options with autonomy?

1. Electric boilers are leading. They work indefinitely and do not require maintenance from the word "absolutely". The coolant temperature can be controlled automatically using a remote electronic thermostat. Electrical equipment allows you to program daily and weekly cycles (for example, reduce the temperature during your absence);

1. Gas boiler with gas tank provides autonomy for several months, or even for a whole season. It differs unfavorably from an electric boiler in the need to remove combustion products, so the location of the device is tied to ventilation, a chimney or external walls of a private house;
2. autonomy liquid fuel appliances limited only by the volume of the fuel tank;

A separate room has to be allocated for a diesel boiler. The reasons are the high noise level during the operation of the burner and the smell of diesel fuel.

1. The use of several cylinders connected in parallel reduces the autonomy of heating equipment to a week;
2. Approximately the same amount of time a pellet boiler can work on one load;
3. Solid fuel boiler needs its laying every few hours and periodic cleaning of the ash pan. This period can be increased by limiting the heat output with a covered air damper, but at the same time, incomplete combustion of the fuel will reduce the efficiency of the device and, accordingly, increase the owner's heating costs.

What is the result? And in the end, comrades, we have to choose between the limited autonomy of a pellet boiler with its rather high cost, the continuous kindling of a solid fuel appliance and the exorbitant cost of thermal energy from an electric boiler.

The main problem of solid fuel heating is frequent kindling.

loopholes

How can you heat a living space, combining acceptable autonomy with low operating costs?

We can go one of two ways:

• Try to increase the autonomy of the system with a solid fuel boiler;
• Minimize electricity costs.

Now - more about each possible solution.

pyrolysis boiler

This is the name of a type of solid fuel appliance that breaks the combustion process of coal or firewood into two stages:

1. Smoldering with limited access to air (the so-called pyrolysis). With incomplete combustion of fuel, a combustible mixture of volatile hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide CO is formed;
2. Post-combustion of pyrolysis products in a separate furnace. It is usually located under the main one and ensures its heating to the temperature required for pyrolysis.

What gives such a scheme?

• Flexible power adjustment by simply changing the speed of the blower fan;

• Maximum efficiency in the entire range of power values ​​(since the products of incomplete combustion of the fuel are burned out in the second chamber of the furnace);
• Autonomy at 10-12 hours. It is achieved precisely by limiting the rate of combustion of solid fuel.

Upper combustion boiler

Another step towards increasing the autonomy of solid fuel heating equipment was made by the engineers of the Lithuanian company Stropuva. They just transferred the process of smoldering fuel from the grate to the upper part of the furnace. As a result, with an increase in the volume of the bookmark, it is not the thermal power of the boiler that increases, but the duration of combustion.

How was this result achieved?

The boiler is a vertical cylinder with a telescopic air duct ending in a massive steel disc with fins (it is called a staskoblin). As the fuel filling burns out, the air duct descends under its own weight, at each moment of time providing air supply directly to the fuel smoldering area.

The same disk separates the region of fuel smoldering and the region of afterburning of products of incomplete combustion, turning the upper combustion boiler into a kind of pyrolysis. A small amount of ash remaining on the surface of the firewood is carried away by an ascending stream of hot gases.

The maximum autonomy was shown by the Stropuva coal-fired boiler. On one tab, he worked for 31 hours.

Heat accumulator

Is it possible to heat a country house with an ordinary solid fuel boiler without spending a significant part of the day on kindling and cleaning it?

Yes. A heat accumulator will help with this - a conventional water tank with thermal insulation and several outlets for connecting heating circuits. Water has a fairly high heat capacity. So, a tank with a volume of 3 m3, when the coolant is heated by 40 degrees, accumulates 175 kWh of heat, which is enough to heat a house with an area of ​​about 80 m2 during the day.

How to install a heating system with a heat accumulator with your own hands?

It forms two circuits with forced circulation:

• The first connects the boiler heat exchanger to the battery;
• The second combines a heat accumulator with heating devices - radiators, convectors or registers.

As a result:

• The boiler is fired up once or twice a day and operates with a fully open damper, at rated power (and, accordingly, with maximum efficiency);
• The rest of the time, the heat accumulator gradually releases the accumulated heat to the house.

Such a scheme will also help to heat the house at minimal cost to the owners of electric boilers, but only if there is a two-tariff meter. At night, during the minimum tariff, the boiler heats the water in the tank, and during the day the accumulated heat is gradually released by radiators.

Warm floor

Underfloor heating systems turn the entire surface of a finished floor covering into a heating device.

For heating can be used:

• A pipe with a heat carrier laid in a screed;

• A heating cable laid in a screed or in a layer of tile adhesive under the tile;
• Film heater - a polymer film with high electrical resistance current-carrying paths. The heater is placed under a finish coating of sufficient thermal conductivity - laminate, parquet or linoleum.

A warm floor allows you to reduce heating costs by 30-40% compared to convection devices - radiators or convectors. Savings are achieved through the redistribution of temperatures: the air is heated to a maximum of 22 - 25 degrees at floor level, while the temperature is minimal under the ceiling.

With convection heating, for a minimum comfortable +20 at floor level, the air under the ceiling will have to be heated to 26 - 30 degrees. Heating affects only heat leakage through the ceiling and walls: they are directly proportional to the temperature difference on both sides of the building envelope.

I used film heaters to heat the floor under the work tables. With a ridiculous consumption of electricity (an average of 50-70 watts per square meter), they provide subjective comfort during operation even at a room temperature of 14-16 degrees.

infrared heaters

Conventional heating heats the air in direct contact with the heater. However, with a relatively small area of ​​the heating element and its high temperature, another method of heat transfer begins to dominate - infrared radiation. It is he who is used by infrared heaters, positioned as devices for economical heating with electricity.

Why is infrared heating better than convection heating?

Placed under the stream or on the wall, the device heats the floor and all objects in the lower part of the room with radiant heat. The effect is about the same as when using a warm floor - below the air temperature is maximum, under the ceiling - minimum.

Not only that: the radiant heat warms the skin and clothes of the people in the room. It creates a subjective feeling of warmth, which allows you to reduce the comfortable temperature in the room from 20-22 to 14-16 degrees. We have already found out how the temperature difference with the street affects heating costs.

At -10 outside the window, a decrease in the average temperature in the room from 25 to 15 degrees will reduce heat consumption by (25 - -10) / (15 - -10) \u003d 1.4 times.

Heat pumps

What is a heat pump?

Structurally, it is identical to ... a conventional refrigerator. The design of this device allows you to take heat from a colder medium (soil, water or air) and give it to warmer air inside the house.

How is this achieved?

This is what the cycle of operation of any heat pump looks like.

1. The compressor compresses a gaseous refrigerant (usually freon), turning it from a gas to a liquid. In full accordance with the laws of physics, it heats up;
2. Freon passes through a heat exchanger, where it gives off heat;
3. The expansion valve is next in the path of the refrigerant. With a sharp increase in volume, freon returns to a gaseous state and cools sharply;
4. Passing another heat exchanger, it takes heat from a warm environment compared to the cooled freon;
5. The heated refrigerant returns to the compressor for a new cycle.

As a result, electricity is spent only on the operation of the compressor, and for each kilowatt of its electric power, the owner receives 3-6 kilowatts of thermal power. The cost of a kilowatt-hour of heat is reduced to 0.8-1.3 rubles.

Moreover, all types of heat pumps fully possess the advantages of electric heaters:

• They do not require maintenance and removal of combustion products;
• They can be programmed for daily and weekly cycles, further reducing heat consumption.

There are a few things a potential heat pump buyer needs to know about these appliances:

• The warmer the low-potential source of thermal energy, the higher the COP of the device (coefficient of performance, the number of kilowatts of heat per kilowatt of electric power when working for heating);
• COP also increases when the temperature of the internal (located in the house) heat exchanger decreases. That is why heat pumps usually use low-temperature heating - underfloor heating or convection appliances with an increased fin area;

• The lower temperature of the external heat exchanger is limited by the freon phase transition temperature and cannot be lower than -25 degrees. That is why heat pumps operating according to the "air-to-water" and "air-to-air" schemes can be used for heating only in the southern regions of the country;
• The Achilles' heel of geothermal and water pumps is the high cost of installing outdoor heat exchangers. Vertical ground collectors are immersed in wells several tens of meters deep, horizontal ones are laid in pits or trenches, and their total area is approximately three times the heated area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe house.

A water heat exchanger requires a non-freezing reservoir or a well with a sufficient flow rate. In the latter case, the manufacturer's instructions prescribe to drain the waste water into another well - drainage.

A special case of a heat pump is a conventional air conditioner. In heating mode, it uses the heat extracted from the outdoor air by an external heat exchanger. COP of a modern inverter split system reaches 4.2 - 5.

The main source of heat in my house is the split systems installed in each room. How profitable is it to heat a house with air conditioners and how much will it cost to buy and install them?

Here is a short report:

• Two floors with a total area of ​​154 m2 are heated by four inverter air conditioners - three with a capacity of 9000 BTU and one with a capacity of 12000 BTU;
• The cost of one air conditioner at the time of purchase ranged from 20 to 25 thousand rubles, depending on the model and manufacturer;
• Installation of one inverter cost an average of 3.5 thousand rubles;
• Electricity consumption in the winter months is about 2000 kWh. Of course, electricity is spent not only on heating: an electric stove, a washing machine, lighting, computers working around the clock and other equipment make their contribution.

In the photo - the external unit of the split system responsible for heating the attic.

Conclusion

As you can see, even in the absence of mains gas, the house can be heated at moderate cost and without much discomfort. As always, the video in this article will offer additional information to your attention. I look forward to your additions and comments. Good luck, comrades!

We calculated the cost of obtaining 1 kWh of heat from various types of fuel, as well as the costs for the entire heating season, plus the payback period of heating systems.

It is generally accepted that the most profitable heating option is main gas. But not everyone can say for sure how quickly its connection will pay off, even if the gas pipe has already been laid along the border of your site. Therefore, the question “the cheaper it is to heat a house” will be very relevant. To answer it, we have prepared two tables and a chart. The first table collected information on the cost of obtaining 1 kWh of heat from various types of fuel at prices at the beginning of 2016. The diagram shows fuel costs for one heating season. And in the second table - the payback period of heating systems in comparison with an electric boiler.

Table of the cost of obtaining thermal energy for heating from various types of fuel

* - taking into account the density of stacked chopped firewood and the density of the wood itself
** - taking into account the efficiency at average temperatures around -5 ° C, which corresponds to winter near Moscow
*** - the average value of tariffs for MO was taken in proportions 2/1.

The data in the table is sorted by the cost of heat generated by burning each type of fuel, converted to kWh. We deliberately did not sort the list taking into account the efficiency of boilers, since there may be options. Although the bulk of high-quality boilers for different fuels have an efficiency of 80%. We will also leave aside questions of the convenience of using a particular type of fuel. Of course, the most trouble-free here will be electricity, a heat pump, as well as main gas, albeit to a lesser extent. In other cases, there will be more trouble.

Next, we will calculate heating season cost for the Moscow Region, based on a house insulated according to SNiP with an area of ​​100 m 2. We will conditionally accept that it is necessary to actively heat from November to March (150 days a year). At the same time, with an average temperature difference of 25 degrees (we take the average temperature of all five months as -4 ° C), the total heat loss will be approximately 2.3 kW. Those. per day for heating such a house you need to spend 55.2 kWh. For the season - ~ 8280 kWh.

Costs for the heating season for different types of fuel for an insulated house 100 m 2

The most profitable types of fuel are coal and gas. The most expensive is electricity.

Now let's count payback periods of heating systems for different types of fuel. Suppose that the house has water heating with an electric boiler with a capacity of 9 kW (15 thousand rubles). Let's take this as the base case. To switch to main gas, you need to replace the boiler (15 thousand rubles), install a chimney (30 thousand rubles) and connect to the main (from 50 to 400 thousand rubles, we used 200 thousand for calculations). To switch to coal, wood or pellets, you also need to install a chimney and replace the boiler with an appropriate one (40 thousand rubles for a regular one and ~ 80 thousand for a boiler with automatic feed), plus prepare a storage room. For liquefied gas, in addition, you will need a gas tank with an installation (190 thousand rubles). And for the heat pump - the system itself with the installation (~ 350 thousand rubles). At the same time, we will assume that the owner carries out further ash removal and maintenance of the systems independently.

Payback period of different heating systems in comparison with an electric boiler

Everyone should draw the conclusions from this table in accordance with their needs and capabilities. We will only make a reservation that for houses with a larger area than we took into account, heating with electricity is not applicable, since electric boilers with a power of 10 kW or more already require connection to a three-phase 380 V network. Also, payback calculations will be slightly different for houses with an area of ​​​​more than 200 m 2.

Important note! All calculations in the article are given without taking into account ventilation losses, which, for one reason or another, are usually absent in small country houses. If we follow SNiP in this matter, when the air in the room of the configuration under consideration should be updated about once an hour, then heating costs should be approximately tripled! But in practice, ventilation, if you do not forget about it, is provided by supply valves and vents, which in the end can increase the costs shown in the diagram by 1.5 times. Accordingly, this will lead to a decrease in the payback period in the table.

It is realistic to provide a cheap and efficient heating system. The electric convector is built on the principle of natural air circulation. From the heater, warm air moves upwards, thus stimulating the movement of air inside the room, and ensuring uniform heating. However, the convector is effective only in a warm climate, when the temperature does not fall below 10-15 degrees.

pros

• No forced air blowing. Even in the cleanest home, there are solid particles that lie on surfaces. By artificially blowing warm air out of a heater, this dust becomes part of the air we breathe. Natural air circulation is not so active, therefore, dust does not rise into the air.
• Small size with sufficient power. The heating elements of convectors heat up quickly, converting electricity into heat with an efficiency of up to 80%. In addition, there is a system of operation in different modes, as well as thermostats that allow you to work not constantly, but only when the air temperature drops.
• Mobility that allows you to move the convector around the room, to places with maximum cold supply.
• The possibility of creating a heating system exclusively with the help of convectors or using them as an integral part of a more complex heating system.
• The electric heating element does not heat up more than 100 degrees, and the body - 60 degrees. They have an increased level of protection against moisture, which allows the use of the convector in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Minuses

• The disadvantages of electric convectors is the installation of heaters in every room of the house.
• In addition, if you turn them on at the same time, then there is a possibility of exceeding the limits of permissible power.

However, the minuses can be turned into pluses by installing a relay for turning on the heaters in turn. The relay will allow you to create a stable temperature in the house, reduce energy costs and stay within the allowable power. There is one more argument in favor of a system of convectors - they will not fail all at once. Replacing one or two appliances without losing heat is not difficult.

In the photo there is an electric convector from Nobo, Norway

Method 2 - tubular electric heaters

Heat is transferred from a tubular electric heater to a liquid-based heat carrier. Usually, water and oil are used as a coolant, sometimes antifreeze. The principle of the device of heaters is the same as that of electric kettles, therefore they are also called heaters and oil radiators. In fact, this is a boiler placed in a vessel with water. The efficiency of such devices is quite high, and heat loss for heating is minimal.

pros

• The undoubted advantages of tubular heaters include their safety, reliability of operation and versatility of use.
• They can be used in both gaseous and liquid media.
• Not explosive, and not afraid of vibrations and shocks.
• Tubular heaters are available in a variety of design solutions, which allows you to economically heat a private house with electricity without violating the aesthetics of the interior.

Minuses

Heating elements have a high cost due to the expensive metals that are used in production. Since scale forms on the tubes, it is necessary.

A tubular radiator is a thin-walled metal tube with a spiral inside, so if you do not need particularly high temperatures, then you need to take a heater with carbon steel tubes. If the device must produce a consistently high temperature or work in an aggressive environment, then you need to take a device made of stainless steel.

Pictured is a do-it-yourself tubular electric heater

Method 3 - warm floor

As the only source of heating, they are chosen to free up usable area, i.e. arrange heating without the use of radiators. In addition, the uniform distribution of heat in the room helps to reduce dust in the air. I recommend buying electric floors in the form of heating mats - this will greatly simplify installation.

Method 4 - electric boiler with heating element

Popularity is determined by their safety, low cost and reliability. Most consumers stop at heating element boilers - they are much cheaper than electrode and induction boilers, and they are easy to maintain.

However, due to the use of a thermoelectric heater (TEN), such heating cannot be called the most economical. In addition, before buying, I recommend clarifying the operating mode of local power networks - perhaps the networks will not be able to cope with the load you need and the purchase will be in vain.

Pictured is an electric boiler KOSPEL, Poland

Method 5 - induction boiler

This is a transformer with two types of winding. The resulting eddy currents follow a short-circuited coil, which is the boiler body. In this case, the secondary winding receives energy, which is converted into heat, which heats the coolant.

Induction boilers quickly heat up the house, can operate at low voltage and do not contain parts that fail. The efficiency of such a boiler is almost 100% and does not depend on the period of operation.

The photo shows an induction boiler EPO Evan for 9.5 kW, Russia

Method 6 - electrode boiler

Inside there are electrodes, which act as a heating element. When current passes through a liquid, heat is released. This means that in electrode boilers there is no actual heating element on which scale could form. The absence of scale will greatly facilitate operation.

Electrode boilers are highly reliable and operate much longer than tubular heaters. In addition, they are small in size, which is very convenient for a small residential building. The disadvantages include high requirements for the liquid used as a coolant. Water must be subjected to special treatment. Often, antifreeze should generally be exclusive - from the device developer.

In the photo, the Galan electrode boiler, Russia

Method 7 - infrared heaters (most economical)

Infrared heaters are considered the most economical of all types of electric heaters. They do not need heating elements and pipes with water. Infrared heaters heat objects, not the room. Then the air is heated from the heated objects. If an electric boiler can be compared with a kettle, then an infrared one can be compared with a microwave.

Infrared panels are especially popular. They are installed on the ceiling or on the walls of residential and industrial premises. Since the heating area is increased, the room becomes warm faster than usual. You can use such a panel as an independent source of heating or as an addition to an existing system. The infrared heater is well combined with electrode boilers. For example, an infrared heater can only be turned on in spring and autumn, when it is too early to turn on the main heating, or when it suddenly gets cold outside.

Pictured is a GROHE infrared panel, Germany

conclusions

1. It is generally accepted that heating a house with electricity is not a cheap pleasure. This, of course, is true, if we mean only payment by tariffs. However, the cost of equipment, as well as the cost of its maintenance and repair, must be added to the price of heating.
2. If we compare bills for electricity, firewood, coal, pipes, boilers and other equipment, we can conclude that private electricity heating is cheaper than stoves and other systems alternative to gas heating.
3. In addition to money, there is another argument in favor of electric heating - it is time saving: turn it on, leave it and forget it. The only downside is a sudden power outage.

Watch the video below on how you managed to make cheap heating with electricity of a large private house.