Central heating - What is central heating
Central Heating
means heat provided from a central source. Even
the Romans had central heating, this was in the form of an
open fire under the floor. The heat from the fire was
channeled through large ducts built into the floor giving a
type of under floor central heating.
Most modern central
heating systems use water as the medium to get heat from the
central source (boiler)
to all the areas to be heated. The correct term
for a boiler
is a heat generator because the water is not “boiled”,
although water in a modern central heating system can reach
100 deg.°C and above, the normal running temperature is
about 78 deg.°C
There is no such thing as
a standard central heating system, you can tailor the
system to suit your needs and, if working correctly, it
should look after itself with regards to turning itself on &
off automatically, should use no more fuel than necessary
for your needs and always have the house at the correct
temperature. It should also provide all the hot water you
need, when you need it.
A centrally heated house
will normally be cheaper to run than any other form of
heating. For instance independent fires, even just one fire
can be more expensive to run than a well designed central
heating system.
A water based central heating system
consists of basically the boiler, the
radiators
and the interconnecting piping. The
boiler heats
the water and (normally) a pump circulates the water through
the pipework and radiators and back to the boiler. There are
a number of different arrangements of boiler, pipework and
supply to the radiators; each systems has its own advantages
and drawbacks
The most commonly used and perhaps most cost
effective and efficient system for hot water and central
heating is the combination of a boiler and radiators. The
efficiency of this partnership is greatly increased by the
use of thermostatically
controlled radiator valves (TRV's). These allow each room to
be set at the required temperature and react to changes in
temperature caused by sunshine or other extraneous factors.
Before deciding to go ahead and have a
boiler/system fitted or replaced it may be advisable to find
out what type of central heating system you have. Before you
contact anybody you should decide what you want from your
system – as this will make it easier for your central
heating installer to understand what you require from a
system. Boilers are available for all types of heating
systems and try to match every customer requirement. If you
are unsure about what central heating system you have it is
a good approach to ask somebody to help you understand what
central heating system you have.
