Central heating design

Article about designing CH systems.

Heat requirements

• Discuss + links to whole-house heatloss calculators
• Discuss + links to energy conservation articles

Heat Sources

• single source
  • gas or oil boiler

Discuss types of boiler, combi/conventional choice etc asper Ed's Boiler Choice FAQ with additional discussion of

• • • combined range+boilers
    • CHP (Microgen, Whispergen)
  • electric
    • peak rate v. off-peak
    • standalone electric boilers
    • thermal store

• multiple sources
  • sources (additional to above):
    • ranges (Aga, Rayburn etc) with back boiler
    • wood burner with back boiler
    • solar thermal hydronic
    • ground source heat pump
  • combining sources:
    • thermal store
    • neutral-point mixing things
    • controls

Heat Emitters

• radiators
  • output specifications Delta-50 and Delta-60
  • locations wrt heat losses - under windows v. inside walls
• fan-assisted e.g. kickspace
• underfloor
  • other radiant e.g. in wall, in ceiling (I kid you not!)

Controls and Zoning

• Y-plan, S-plan, pump-plan
  • number of zones
• Programmer + room stat v. progstat (link to article on progstats (tbd))
  • location of thermostats
    • hall or living room - no external heat sources
• TRVs
• mixed rads + UFH layouts

Pipework

• materials
  • plastic
    • barrier v. non-barrier (link to Mr Hepworth's article in uk.d-i-y)
  • copper

• pipework layout
  • pipe sizes v. heat-carrying capacities + noise
  • microbore - easy install + balancing
  • tree + branch ([28]-22-15-[10/8]) - good for balancing
  • dual loop - inherently balanced but rarely practicable
  • random - bad for balancing but sometimes necessary

Installation

• routing
• installation in solid floor
• joist notching
• drain-off points
• plastic v. copper or chromed pipetails
• pressure testing
• flushing