Any private house needs high-quality heating due to some peculiarities of our country's climate. Usually in many villages, a good old stove is used for this, which also acts as a stove and oven. Moreover, in the role of the latter, it is even better than the electrical counterpart. But some prefer to use a natural resource for benefits. And here the question may arise sharply about how much it will be required and how to calculate the gas consumption. This is what our article will be devoted to.
The calculation of gas consumption is influenced by many factors, which we will consider below. In addition, we will try to determine at least the average fuel consumption without involving specialists. At the same time, consider some of the advantages of gas heating.
Advantages of gas heating
Natural gas is today an excellent fuel in terms of economy and convenience. And since it is an inexpensive source of energy, gas heating can compete with electric heating in terms of rationality. In addition, the efficiency of some modern equipment already exceeds 100%. And this suggests that gas boilers are more in demand formarket.
Some time ago, gas boilers and convectors were expensive, but the situation has changed, and now such equipment has become affordable. Gas is easily transported, and if certain rules are followed, it can be considered a safe fuel. In the room where the modern gas boiler is located, there are no unpleasant odors, and gas consumption is carried out in an efficient manner. You can also observe the absence of dust and debris, which eliminates the need to remove the ash.
But the most important thing lies in the operation of the equipment - some models are almost completely automated, which allows you to minimize maintenance. Control elements regulate the temperature regime, ensuring uniform heating throughout the entire heating period. And since safety is above all, enough attention is paid to this moment in the production of gas heating equipment. All that is required of the consumer is to make the necessary settings.
Why gas?
Why not?! This natural fuel is highly efficient in terms of combustion due to the low sulfur content in the composition. Thanks to this, the boiler is less polluted. In addition, the walls of the unit are not subject to corrosion, which increases the life of the equipment. And the consumption of gas during combustion is accompanied by the release of a negligible amount of harmful substances into the atmosphere.
Liquefied gas has gained great popularity, which is distinguished by improvedproperties. It can be delivered in cylinders to any place where there is no central gas pipeline, which greatly facilitates the living conditions for a large number of consumers.
Heat loss
Before you start calculating the consumption of natural gas, you need to know about the so-called heat losses - those areas of the house where the heat goes outside. Usually future owners deal with this issue at the design stage. But, unfortunately, as practice shows, due attention is not always paid to this moment. After all, if the house will lose most of the heat, then the increased costs will call into question the efficiency of gas heating. Money will just go down the drain.
Let's list the most vulnerable areas through which heat loss occurs in the house:
- walls;
- joints;
- windows;
- door;
- roof;
- gender;
- building dimensions.
Poorly insulated walls are also the reason why gas consumption increases, as warm air will escape through them. And not just in large, but rather in huge quantities. And the fact is that the walls have the largest area. So isolation plays a big role. Depending on what the house is built from, the necessary heat-insulating materials with the desired thickness are selected. With wooden buildings (logs, glued beams), the situation is much simpler, since in this case you can do without additional thermal insulation.
If wall joints are badperformed, then a lot of heat can also go through them. And if the shape of the house is complex, this point should not be overlooked.
The degree of heat loss through windows depends on their size and number. The more of them in number and size, the more heat will go outside. The quality of the windows themselves also matters. Plastic products with multi-chamber double-glazed windows (2, 3, 5 or more) have gained great popularity. When choosing windows for your home, you should be careful, as there are many fakes on the market, the quality of which is much worse. In addition, the installation of metal-plastic windows is important - with poor-quality installation, increased gas consumption by the boiler is inevitable.
As everyone knows from school, warm air is light and rises. Therefore, good thermal insulation is needed not only for walls, but also for the roof. This process is not easy, especially if the design of the house is quite complex, but necessary.
As far as the floor is concerned, this does not mean loss of heat, but rather the discomfort of a cold surface that is not insulated from the low temperature of the earth.
The size of the house is also a factor in heat loss. A tall building requires more powerful equipment, since it is not easy to provide such a house with the necessary amount of heat.
What should be considered?
Calculate how much gas is consumed - the process is not so complicated. It is not necessary to involve experts in this field, but you need to take into account some parameters that will act asinitial data:
- The intensity of the equipment. If the house is poorly insulated, and a large amount of heat goes outside, then the equipment will work at full capacity most of the time.
- Heating period. I mean the time factor. Those owners who come only for the summer or on weekends should not worry about how the gas boiler works. Gas consumption in this case will be minimal. But those owners who live in houses on a permanent basis will have big expenses.
- Building area. Everything is clear here.
- Type of heating equipment. Some modern models of boilers are capable of operating in automatic mode, able to control the temperature and degree of heating. If necessary, they can stop working for a while, in which case the savings are obvious.
You should also consider the following. Based on generally accepted standards, it takes 1 kWh of heat to warm up a room with an area of 10 m2 to a comfortable temperature.
Calculation
As an example for calculation, let's take a house with an area of 100 m22, and for convenience, let's denote the amount of heat in kW by Q. Using the remark just mentioned above, we calculate that 10 kW / h of heat is needed for our house. That is, we divide the area of \u200b\u200bthe house by 10 and get the result (in this example, the number is also 10). It is easy to calculate (average) how much this energy will be needed for one month: Qm=10 x 24 x 30=7200 kW.
Usually the heating period lasts 7 months, but the boiler does not always operate at full capacity around the clock. Basically, the peak of power occurs only in the winter. Also, it all depends on where you live. Therefore, we can safely divide the result in half: Qavg=7200/2=3600 kW.
It remains to make a further calculation of gas consumption for the entire heating season: Qos=3600 x 7=25200 kW. As a rule, in custom boilers 1 m3 of fuel is equal to 10 kWh. Using this, we calculate the volume of gas that will be needed throughout the entire heating period V=Q/10=2520 m3.
In a similar way, you can make calculations for a house of any other area. And having learned these average indicators, you can estimate the financial costs.
One nuance
This calculation is an average. In practice, the calculated result may seem higher or lower. This is due to the presence of a number of different factors, and the deviation of the actual consumption from the calculated one is not uncommon. In addition, it is not so easy to comply with the figures obtained on paper. And saving money is even more difficult. However, some tips may come in handy.
Economical ways to optimize consumption
These tips will help to some extent optimize the cost of gas for heating. First of all, it is worth buying only reliable and high-quality equipment. Accordingly, it is not worth saving on this. As for power, you should choose a boiler according to personal needs. Do not think that a large supply will be beneficial, ratheragainst. Equipment with high power, operating in medium mode, will nevertheless consume a lot of fuel.
The same applies to a low-power boiler that will constantly work hard. Both options are not suitable, and the best would be to choose equipment with a small margin of performance (about 25-30%). Then you don't have to worry about the gas flow rate of the boiler.
If good thermal insulation was not provided during the design of the house, it is not too late to carry it out later. As discussed above, a lot of heat can escape through the walls and roof.
The purchase of automatic equipment, although it will cost more, will result in savings. It would not hurt to also consider installing gas sensors, which will detect a timely fuel leak.
Autonomy as a rational solution
With the help of autonomous equipment, gas savings can be achieved, and the more technological and sensitive it is, the more significant the result will be. This is achieved through numerous sensors and controllers. Receiving all the necessary information from them, the equipment makes the optimal setting of the heating level. Modern models have a remote control, or a smartphone or a personal computer / laptop can act as its analogue. It is convenient to use them to determine how large the gas consumption is or whether it is within the acceptable range.
If the heating equipment is equipped with a timer, then you cansave on gas even more. With it, you can reduce the operation of the boiler to a minimum at night or at a time when everyone is usually at work and no one is at home. Comfort will not suffer. It is estimated that a 1 degree drop in temperature saves up to 3-5% of natural fuel.
Result
Building a good heating system takes time. However, not everyone has it, and therefore a good way out of the situation would be to contact specialists in the relevant field. The given independent calculation will be average, but if accuracy is important, then professionals will determine a more accurate gas consumption rate. And on their basis it will become clear how expedient it is to use gas heating.
