Many rural home owners choose gas boiler heating systems. Although installation is pretty time-taking, these systems do have some advantages. These include low natural gas price, simple connection to gas lines, and fairly simple operation.
Gas boilers are almost noiseless, and they heat up large residences in the most cost-effective way compared to other types of heating systems.
It is strictly forbidden to remove and/or repair gas equipment on your own. Any dismantling or repair work must be carried out by trained maintenance specialists.
Gas boilers can be classified in the following way:
- Floor standing and wall-mounted: in terms of convenience, wall-mounted appliances are a better alternative – mainly for privately owned residences. The biggest advantage of a floor standing gas boiler is high heating capacity and hence an opportunity to heat a large residence. These devices are widely used for industrial purposes.
- There are atmospheric and turbo gas boilers. To understand how a gas heater with an atmospheric appliance works, you can refer to a regular furnace, which gets air from the room and sends it into a specially designed smoke conduit with the help of natural draft. A turbocharged boiler features a fan and a sealed combustion chamber. Therefore, whatever the amount of air they take, it comes in from outside.
- There are single heat exchanger and combi boilers (primary+secondary heat exchangers). Single heat exchanger gas boilers are intended for space heating only, while a combi boiler can be used as an important element of a water supply system and provide hot water.
- Gas boilers may feature atmospheric and modulating burners. In the latter case, the capacity of operating equipment is adjusted automatically, which can significantly reduce fuel consumption.
- Gas boilers may feature electronic or piezoelectric igniters. The former is more convenient, because it ignites fuel in the combustion chamber without any direct human involvement; in the latter case, one has to press a button to launch a device.
- Gas-fired condensing boilers are a new type of autonomous heating equipment for homes and apartments. They boast high efficiency – much higher than that of conventional boilers. This efficiency level is achieved thanks to the use of heat generated by the combustion of liquid and thanks to the use of energy generated by gas combustion.
It is absolutely imperative that gas devices be equipped with self-diagnosis systems. These systems can analyze the state of boiler units and display error codes on a screen. They can diagnose about 90% of malfunctions.
Safety programs
Advanced models stop working in case of an electricity cutoff and are restarted automatically once electricity supply is restored.
In case of a gas supply cutoff, the automatic system blocks an electromagnetic fuel supply control valve. However, in this case the device will need to be restarted manually.
All advanced models feature energy-saving functions and antifreeze systems. The temperature of the heat carrier medium is controlled by special kinds of sensors. Once it cools down to 5°C, the device will restart to warm the heating system.
Also, there is a function that launches a pump once a day during summer seasons, when heating systems are not used. It prevents the jamming of the rotor, which may occur due to lengthy downtime.