To keep warm Vacation home, cottage or cottage, you need fuel. Well, if it is possible to connect to the gas pipeline. What to do if it is not? Let's try to understand the pros and cons of other heating methods.
Heating with electricity
High price. If natural gas is the cheapest source of energy, then electricity is, if not the most expensive, then one of the most expensive. One kilowatt-hour of electricity will cost . For comparison, kilowatt-hour natural gas costs, and propane-butane -. For a year, this difference can result in tens and hundreds of thousands of rubles of additional expenses.
Insufficient selection. The general availability of electricity (unlike natural gas, it is really everywhere) does not mean at all that there will be enough energy to heat the whole country house. The power consumed by the heating system will not be pulled by any suburban power grid. If the network fails, solving this problem is almost as difficult as building a main gas pipeline.
Disadvantages of electric heating
- High price.
- Voltage drop in the network in cold weather.
- Insufficient electricity supply.
Heating with liquefied gas
Propane-butane is a liquefied gas, which is filled with gas-powered cars and well-known "country" gas cylinders Red. It gives the best combination of price and comfort after natural gas.
For autonomous heating of a private house with gas, it is necessary to install an underground gas tank on the site. One gas tank holds several thousand liters of liquefied gas. This volume is enough to heat the house for many months. When the gas tank is empty (this happens once or twice a year), it will be replenished by special refueling cars.
Low price. Propane-butane costs one and a half to two times cheaper than electricity or diesel fuel: per kWh versus electricity and diesel fuel.
In practice, this means the difference between - how much heating costs 100 square meters liquefied gas for a year - and - a much more significant amount that would have been required to shell out if using diesel fuel.
Convenience. Like natural gas or electricity, propane-butane is supplied to the heating system without human intervention. This is not firewood or coal, which you need to throw up several times a day. Liquefied gas does not require regular loading and constant supervision. The gas tank needs refueling once or twice a year, and this is done by a specialist, not a homeowner. It may be necessary to clear the snow in winter so that a filling truck can drive up to the site. This is the worst thing that can happen.
Doesn't take up space. The gas tank is located underground. You can walk on it, herbaceous plants and even bushes can grow above it. During operation, the gas heating system does not emit a noticeable odor. No comparison to firewood, coal, pellets or diesel fuel, which will take up space on the plot or in the house to store.
Disadvantages of heating with liquefied gas
Heating with diesel fuel
For heating with diesel fuel, a tank will also be required, and the cost of installing it will be comparable to the cost of autonomous gasification of a house. At the same time, unlike propane-butane, diesel fuel cannot be called cheap.
High price. Diesel fuel is the most expensive source of energy used for autonomous heating of a private house. A kilowatt-hour of diesel fuel costs . Even electricity is a little cheaper. It will probably be difficult to spend more on heating.
Bad smell. This is an inevitable property of diesel fuel. A strong smell will follow the unfortunate owner of a diesel tank everywhere. The house will smell like in a garage, and on the site - like from a working tractor, and nothing can be done about it.
Problems when using low-quality fuel. The use of low-quality diesel fuel can lead to serious damage to heating equipment. Those who use liquefied gas and gas tanks AvtonomGaz do not have such a problem: the quality of propane-butane does not affect its consumer properties.
Disadvantages of heating with diesel fuel
- High price.
- Sometimes you have to clean the snow for winter delivery.
- Strong smell in the house and on the site.
- Use of storage space.
Heating with coal or wood
Firewood and charcoal have the same disadvantages. They need to be loaded very frequently (so often that a large house might need a stoker), they require regular ash cleaning, and they take up a fair amount of yard space to store. In addition, they also emit a strong odor.
Firewood needs to be loaded into the heating system three to four times a day. During the season, this will take at least hours. More than three working weeks of continuous physical labor worked out from start to finish. Not surprisingly, many people prefer to find a stoker. However, this in turn affects the price. Taking into account the payment of the stoker, the annual heating of a house of 100 square meters with the help of firewood will cost. This is more than the same amount for diesel fuel () or electricity ().Coal is not particularly better in this sense. It must be loaded into the heating system two to three times a day, that is, a little less than firewood. As a result, the time spent (and, accordingly, money, if you have to pay the stoker) turns out to be slightly less than when using firewood, but the difference is insignificant: for heating a house with an area of 100 square meters, taking into account the payment of the stoker.
In fairness, it should be noted that this problem has a partial solution. There are special boilers with a bunker, in which coal is refueled not several times a day, but only once every three to four days. This is a significant improvement compared to refueling every few hours, but against the background of propane-butane or even diesel fuel, it looks rather pale.
Warehouse place. A feature of firewood is the need for a large room for storage and drying. So that up to 40% of energy is not spent on evaporation of moisture, they must be dried for three years. A large room will occupy a part of the site, which otherwise could be found more useful application. Coal storage also requires a significant area.
Danger of poisoning. An unpleasant smell is a constant companion of any type of solid fuel, but in this case we can talk about a threat not only to the sense of smell, but also to life. If the boiler room is located directly in the house, when using solid fuels, the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning cannot be completely excluded.
Disadvantages of heating with wood or coal
Fuel pellets made from peat and wood waste, differ from firewood in higher density and calorific value. This is the most profitable and comfortable solid fuel, but all its advantages outweigh the already familiar disadvantages: the need for frequent loading, a strong smell, a large room for storing bags of pellets.
Low price. Pellets are surprisingly cheap: only per kWh. If they didn't have to spend so much time loading, they would become the cheapest type of fuel. But time still has to be spent, albeit less than when using coal or firewood. Pellets should be loaded at least once a week, and taking into account the work of the stoker, this type of fuel can be considered average in cost, but by no means the cheapest: for heating one hundred square meters during the year.
Disadvantages of heating with pellets
Energy prices are steadily rising, so an increasing number of suburban residents are thinking about how to heat their homes inexpensively and efficiently. Most often, homeowners are concerned about what options are available for heating a private house and country house, which boiler has the highest efficiency, which boiler to choose for the heating system, how to install the heating system correctly, what types of heating exist without gas and which of them are the most economical.
FORUMHOUSE advises a different approach. First, we determine the type of fuel, and already “under it” we select a heating system.
From our material you will learn:
- What are the costs of a heating system?
- What type of fuel can be called the most affordable;
- What does a comfortable heating system mean;
- Can heating with electricity be cheap;
- What can become the basis of an economical heating system.
What are the costs of a heating system?
How much a particular heating method will cost depends on many factors. Only by calculating all the costs (it is also necessary to take into account the increase in fuel prices in the long term), you can decide on the most cost-effective heating method. For this it is necessary to take into account:
- fuel cost;
- the cost of its delivery;
- The cost of heating equipment;
- The cost of its installation;
- The cost of its operation;
- The average monthly air temperature in winter period time;
- Way of living in the house: mode "cottage" or permanent residence;
- Availability of communications connected to the site (gas, required electrical power);
- The degree of insulation and energy efficiency of the home.
Thinking about choosing a heating system and considering different variants heating in the house, first of all, you need to answer yourself the question: not “how”, but “what” will you heat your home. Expenses for the heating season depend on the type of fuel, its cost and availability.
Consider the following situation: at the moment there is no main gas, as a more economically profitable type of fuel, or its connection will be too expensive. What to do in this situation, what type of fuel to choose: firewood, liquefied gas, coal, pellets, fuel briquettes, electricity, even - there are a lot of options. Let's see which type of energy carrier will be the most preferable.
Conclusions:
- It will be correct to choose a heating system after a competent calculation. This is the only way to achieve a balance between efficiency, economy and convenience;
- A country house must be well insulated, all heat losses must be minimized, otherwise the lion's share of energy will go to heat the "street";
- Approximately, the required power of heating equipment is calculated by the formula: 1 kW of energy is required to heat 10 sq.m of the house area;
- The efficiency of the heating system largely depends on the availability of a particular type of fuel;
- To obtain the maximum effect, it is necessary to combine different types of heating systems and energy carriers. It cannot be said that if these conditions are met, we will get heating cheaper than gas, but we will be able to save significantly. combined heating system. And here -
At the present time, many owners of suburban private houses or cottages are increasingly having to look for an alternative to gas as the main type of fuel to heat their homes. The reasons are different: for some, natural gas becomes too much expensive pleasure, someone has the opportunity to use other energy sources, while for someone the main gas is simply not available due to its total absence nearby. Then the question arises - what is the economical heating of a house without gas and what kind of fuel is better to use then?
Alternative energy carriers
There is no single answer to this question, since each individual case has its own nuances. For example, on your land plot a lot of old large trees grow, which just ask for a firewood boiler.
Option two: in exchange for certain services, the customer is ready long time supply you with diesel fuel or coal. It is clear that in such situations you will lean towards these types of energy carriers and not pay attention to others. In the long run, this will be a mistake, since sooner or later such sources will run out and you will have to look for other ways to heat a country house or buy the same fuel, but at a generally accepted cost.
Let's try to develop some kind of universal methodology for determining the optimal energy carrier for heating a home, which will suit each individual case. First, let's make a reservation that the technique will help determine for yourself the most cheap heating without gas, we do not take it into account.
Just as we do not take into account various high-tech and exotic species heating, inaccessible to ordinary citizens. This includes heat pumps, solar panels, wind turbines and different kinds machine and vegetable oils. Then how to heat the house if there is no gas and the above sources? We have at our disposal: 
- ordinary firewood;
- eurofirewood;
- pellets;
- coal;
- diesel fuel;
- liquefied gas in cylinders;
- electricity.
For each of these energy carriers, it is necessary to calculate the costs for the entire cold period, then it will be clear what is cheaper to heat the house.
Important! Before starting calculations, it is necessary to bring the units of measurement of the amount of fuel into line, that is, to prevent confusion between volume (m3) and mass (kg). It is recommended that all types of energy carriers, except electricity, be reduced to units of mass - kilograms.
Calculation of heating costs
To find out what is the most economical heating of a country house, it is recommended for clarity to draw up a simple plate of this form:
In this table, the second column is filled in based on the cost of each type of fuel in your region, or your individual price is entered in it. The third column for the convenience of calculations is already filled. The cost of 1 kW of thermal energy is easily determined by dividing the price of 1 kg of fuel (column 2) by its specific calorific value (column 3).
The fifth column is filled in based on the fact that the average heat output in a private house with an area of 100 m2 per season is 5 kWh, and the duration of the heating season is 180 days (5 x 24 x 180 = 21600 kWh).
It is clear that the designs of houses are all different and the area will be different, as may be the length of the season in your area, so you will need to make appropriate adjustments. Multiplying the data in columns 4 and 5, we determine the estimated costs for the season.
However, these values do not take into account the efficiency of the equipment, the values of which are given below. Dividing the estimated costs by the value of efficiency, in the last column we get a direct answer to the question - the cheaper it is to heat a house other than gas.
Those homeowners in whose homes have already been installed gas boilers, you can add another row below for comparison, filling it with data on natural gas, based on actual fuel consumption and its price.
It would seem that now everything has fallen into place and you can safely make a choice in favor of one or another energy source for economical heating. But this approach is one-sided, because there is still such a thing as convenience and complexity in maintaining and operating the heating system of a private house.
The choice of energy carrier, taking into account ease of use
The comfort of operation of boiler equipment that supplies heat to water heating is an important factor, since any extra hassle and the inconvenience is your time and money. That is, the total costs increase indirectly in proportion to how much effort is put into keeping the system running. In some cases, economical heating systems after the first season no longer seem so economical, and sometimes you want to pay extra money, just not to mess with such problems.
Unlike financial indicators, ease of use is the same value for each type of fuel, so it can be found out immediately, which will help you make a choice. Convenience will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- complexity of repair or maintenance of the boiler plant;
- necessity and convenience of warehousing;
- comfort in daily operation (the need to load fuel, and so on).
To find out which of the energy carriers will provide comfortable and economical heating of a private house, we will compile a second table, where for each of the criteria we will put down all types of fuel on a five-point system, after which we will summarize.
Service
Require no maintenance electric boilers, other than occasionally opening the lid and dusting or cleaning the contacts, for which they receive the highest praise. Some actions are required if you heat a country house with liquefied gas. Once every 2 years, it is recommended to check and, if necessary, clean the igniter and burner, which is why propane is a solid four. Pellet boilers get 3 points for requiring several times a year to clean the combustion chamber and once a chimney.
Accordingly, wood and coal units need to be cleaned frequently, as they become dirty. The worst situation in this regard is diesel fuel, as often its quality leaves much to be desired, which is why the frequency of service is unpredictable.
Warehousing
It is clear that electricity does not require storage space, while liquefied gas and diesel fuel may require some space. But when economical heating of a private house with firewood is organized, then a lot of space for a warehouse will be required. The same goes for pellets, as they need a dry room or a special silo. As for coal, there is a lot of waste, dust and dirt from it, therefore - the lowest rating.
Ease of use
And here, economical electric heating turned out to be at its best, since it does not require any intervention during operation. Pellets and liquefied gas must be replenished periodically, 1-2 times a week, or even less often. A little more attention should be paid to diesel fuel, more for supervising work than for the purpose of adding fuel.
Well, traditionally delivers the most trouble heating system in a private house on coal and wood, here loading into the combustion chamber is needed from 1 to 3 times a day.
In the last column, by summing up, the results are summed up, according to which the most comfortable and convenient is heating. country house winter with electricity. If this result is considered in combination with financial costs, then electricity may not be the worst option.
Conclusion
An integrated approach to the issue shows that the most economical heating systems for summer cottages and country houses can be the most troublesome during operation. Therefore, do not rush and carefully weigh and calculate everything, and even better - install an electric boiler in combination with any other.
This article is designed for people who are used to counting their money. If in your garden you have diesel fuel from one well, and natural gas from another, the roof of the house is pasted solar panels and there is a wind power generator, then do not waste your precious time on further reading. Many of us sooner or later decide in our lives to take such a serious step as building an individual country house. How simple it all sounds - “what should we build a house”, and how difficult it is in practice, because ceilings and walls are far from all that is necessary for comfortable living in it. the main task- to create comfort, and its main component, as you know, is the weather in the house. To do this, it is not enough to think carefully about the insulation of the house. It is necessary to choose and design the heating system correctly. The first thing to think about is which boiler to choose. Self-selection of options can take forever - tirelessly walking around companies, endlessly studying specialized literature, visiting various exhibitions, consulting with friends, and eventually getting lost in the endless forums of the World Wide Web. Therefore, it is better to entrust the choice of a specialized company. But you still need to know what you are buying and why. There are many options on the heating equipment market, but their number is significantly reduced if we have decided on the fuel on which our boiler will operate.
GAS
If there is gas, we can safely say that we are lucky. This is clearly illustrated by the calculation on the example of a specific boiler of the Italian manufacturer Lamborghini EXA 27 with a capacity of 30 kW. Max Flow gas it has 3 cubic meters. for a full hour of work. You should not take this figure and directly multiply it by the number of days in a year, because the boiler turns off when the set coolant temperature is reached and goes into standby mode. Subsequent switching on depends on how quickly the entire heating system cools down, i.e. from the heat losses of the house and the number of consumers (DHW, the "warm floor" system, swimming pool, etc.). As practice shows and thermal calculations premises where equipment of similar capacity is installed, the actual consumption of gas or other fuel is approximately one third of the maximum, i.e. in our case, the estimated figure is approximately determined by the value of 1 cubic meters per hour, per day - 24 cubic meters. Today, one cubic meter of natural gas costs about 2.9 rubles. (in the Moscow region), therefore, in monetary terms, the costs reach 69.6 rubles.
ELECTRICITY
But what if there is no gas? There are actually few options ... One of them is an electric boiler of the Czech company PROTERM "Skat" with a capacity of up to 30 kW. If the area of the house does not exceed 300 sq.m and a voltage of 220 V is supplied to it, then it is quite possible to organize a heating system based on such an apparatus, especially since this technique has stepped far ahead today. Let's see what the costs are. For 1 kW in the Moscow region, you will have to pay 1.93 rubles. For a house with an area of 300 sq.m. a 30 kW boiler is required. thermal energy, which, with the same 33% consumption, “eats” about 240 kW in 24 hours, which in monetary terms will be 463 rubles. The advantages of such devices include flexibility in the settings of operating modes.
SOLID FUEL
There are also options with exotic elements - to heat with firewood, but not everyone likes to force themselves to run all night and throw up hard-chopped birch logs. If there is a desire to heat with coal, which has a high calorific value, then the neighbors are unlikely to appreciate it. The resulting stable smell near the railway station will give them considerable discomfort. This problem is successfully solved by installing a pellet boiler. When installing a modern pellet boiler (these are wood pellets made from waste associated with the wood processing industry, pulp and paper mills, etc.), for example, the Czech boiler Atmos D 30 P with a power of up to 29 kW. you will have to think about the fact that for the normal operation of the boiler, pellets, like any other fuel, must be of high quality, and such an apparatus will cost several times more than “competitors”.
LIQUID FUEL Today, many villages are gasified, and the issue of gas heating is a matter of time and certain family expenses. At the first stage of construction, with restrictions on electricity, the option with a diesel boiler is most suitable for the house. The burners of the boiler are unpretentious, with proper maintenance and start-up they work without interruption for a long time. And when the gas is finally brought in, it will not be necessary to purchase a new boiler and dismantle the old one, it will be enough to change the burner from diesel to gas. Get significant savings Money. It is such a boiler that we will consider in more detail below. If we return to the calculation of fuel costs, then with diesel engines everything looks something like this. The consumption of an ECO 3 R burner from Lamborghini, set to 30 kW for a full hour, will be 2.6 kg. However, we already know that the boiler or burner goes into standby mode when the system heats up. Therefore, the average fuel consumption should not exceed 0.87 kg per hour, which is 1 liter. And if you count the money again, it turns out that with the cost of diesel fuel 21 rubles. per day we pay about 500 rubles. In conclusion, I would like to note. There are multifunctional boilers that can perform several tasks at the same time (heating several floors in different temperature conditions, floor heating, hot water supply, etc.) in a fully automatic mode. Maintaining the set temperature based on data received from sensors connected to the boiler automation, and installed both in the house and outside it. This allows you to achieve maximum comfort and coziness in the house, as well as saving fuel, and hence your money. Therefore, before buying equipment, decide what result you would like to get in the end. If you have any questions related to the choice of heating equipment, call and consult with our experts.
Today, when every six months there is an increase in tariffs for energy resources (electricity, gas), while the incomes of the population remain at the same level, the issue of saving energy consumption is acute. This problem is especially relevant in suburban housing, which, as a rule, has a larger area than apartments, and for heating country houses and dachas take a lot of money.
Old-fashioned wood and coal?
At first glance, it seems that it is more profitable to drown private house firewood or coal, - says Olga. - However, having studied this type of heating in more detail, it is possible to identify the inconvenience that it causes. It turned out that a separate room is required for installation solid fuel boiler and a special place for storing firewood or coal, to finish building - again a waste. When burning wood and coal, soot, soot and coal dust are constantly formed, and there is always a risk of fire and carbon dioxide poisoning.
When heating with wood or coal, it is necessary to throw firewood or coal into the boiler several times a day, as well as clean the chimney and the equipment itself. If this is not done, the room cools down quickly. At permanent residence it will take several cubic meters of fuel per month to heat, this is unprofitable, add delivery to the cost of fuel - a tidy sum looms. Therefore, the woman came to the conclusion that heating with wood and coal is not cheaper than electricity, and even in comparison with gas, heaven and earth in general.
“And we have gas in our apartment!”
Yes, today gas is the cheapest source of heat energy in Russia, - Olga admits. - But the cost of work on summing up the equipment, obtaining permission to connect again results in a pretty amount, which may not be affordable for people with low incomes. For example, they counted me about 600 thousand rubles for supplying gas to the house. And I have other expenses on my nose: repairs, moving, etc. Therefore, I dismissed this option as well.
Electricity is more profitable!
I saw only electric heating as an alternative, - continues the owner of the house with a stove. - Firstly, I found out that electric boilers are cheaper than gas boilers. And, according to neighbors, sometimes the money saved on gas equipment can be enough to heat the house with electricity for several years. In addition, they explained to me that electric boilers are easier to connect, you don’t need to get permission to install them, you don’t need a separate room, and, importantly, they are safer. But electricity prices are higher than gas prices. The question arises: how to make electric heating profitable? Among the many proposals, I drew attention to the Russian company Koterm, which produces electric boilers that are popular among owners of summer cottages and private houses. "Dachnik M1" And "Dachnik M5", about which I heard a lot from friends and neighbors in SNT.
I considered the offer profitable, since the cost of these boilers is low even for people with average incomes, and the manufacturer also offers with a guarantee to spend 30-40% less on electricity than other manufacturers of electric boilers, which makes it possible to live in the country during the cold months.
I turned to the specialists of the company and found out that these are electric heating boilers of a new type, which use a unique heating technology that can significantly save electricity.
What is the essence of the unique technology?
