Optimal heating options for a cottage and a private house

The Russian climate is such that the owners of country houses definitely need to take care of a reliable and efficient heating system, otherwise you won’t even have to talk about any comfort of living. In most situations, we are talking about the organization of an autonomous system, the ability to connect to a centralized highway outside the city limits is extremely rare. Consider various options for heating a private house, fortunately, there are a huge number of them on the market.

General rules

The experience of modern builders clearly indicates that when determining the optimal scheme, a number of points must be taken into account:

• Availability of fuel in your particular region;
• Financial possibilities of the family, how much are you really willing to spend on heating during the cold season;
• The climate of the area, the approximate number of sunny and cloudy days, prevailing wind directions, average temperatures;
• Structural features: orientation to the cardinal points, the number of rooms with direct windows to the sunny side, the quality of thermal insulation.

Professionals unequivocally recommend that you first take care of the energy efficiency of the building. Wall insulation with modern materials (stone wool or panels based on synthetic materials), careful sealing of joints, sealing cracks — all this will help reduce heat loss. Such preliminary preparation of the building ensures that the efficiency of the selected heating scheme will increase many times without unnecessary financial investments, the object will be able to maintain the internal temperature, regardless of what happens outside.

Heating scheme option

The most affordable fuel in Russia is gas, and therefore it is this type of heating that is used most often. If it is possible to connect the house to the highway, then other options may not be considered. However, even if there is no main pipeline nearby, but there are funds for equipping your own gas tank, it is worth dwelling on this method. If we combine the advantages of a gas heating system, the list looks like this:

• Minimum operating costs, low cost per cubic meter of fuel.
• The absence of harmful exhaust, the gas combustion process does not provoke the release of harmful elements and combustion products, due to which the ideal ecological situation is maintained on the site, the possibility of pollution of water bodies and soil is excluded.
• Compactness. Even a small gas boiler is characterized by a power sufficient to heat a two-story cottage.
• Safety. Despite the rather “explosive” reputation of gas, modern heating systems based on it are as safe as possible, since all operating parameters are controlled by numerous sensors and mechanisms. Of course, for greater confidence in this, it is worth entrusting the installation to a team of professionals.

Of the minuses of such heating for a private house, one can single out the high cost of installation (nevertheless, the initial investment will fully pay off during operation), as well as the need to obtain numerous permits from regulatory authorities.
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classic oven

Unfortunately, in some regions, gas fuel is difficult to obtain. In this case, you can go the traditional way — purchase a classic oven. Please note that these devices will help not only in heating the home, but also in cooking. Other benefits are as follows:

• Minimal costs in terms of both construction and operation;
• Increasing the overall level of comfort at home;
• Original addition to interior design.

However, this solution also has a lot of disadvantages. This should include a rather difficult operational process (the need to regularly heat and periodically clean chimneys), and an increased risk of fire, and bulkiness, the stove is unlikely to be built in a building of a small area.

solid fuel

Solid fuel boilers for home heating involve the use of coal and firewood, the combustion of which helps to heat the coolant (water) to the desired temperature. In the future, this coolant enters the pipes and radiators of the system.

The most advanced modifications of these devices are gas generator models, but, by the way, classical analogues also demonstrate good performance. The use of devices is quite safe and effective, but, as in the case of stoves, it requires regular loading of new portions of fuel, cleaning the chamber from ash and other combustion products.

Liquid fuel systems

In most cases, this scheme involves the use of traditional diesel fuel, however, some models of boilers operate by burning kerosene. Before you purchase such equipment, you should pay attention to some of its features:

• Liquid fuels can be quite expensive, depending on the region, making operation expensive;
• It is difficult to deliver the required volumes of fuel, and you will also have to think about equipping a special tank or equipping a separate room for storing supplies in canisters;
• A diesel boiler is not the best choice in terms of environmental safety, the volume of harmful atmospheric emissions is significant;
• To guarantee the safety of use, you should entrust the installation to a team of professionals, as well as take care of the additional installation of protective automation.

Nevertheless, such a heating boiler is characterized by high efficiency, and therefore will satisfy even the needs of a large cottage. In practice, it was found that a model with a power of 10 kW is able to cope with the heating of an area of ​​100 squares, even with not the best thermal insulation.
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Electricity

Electric boilers are versatile and functional, suitable for operation both as the main source of energy and as a reserve. However, experts believe that the backup function is the best option, since the cost of electricity is quite high. Among the advantages of the solution, it is worth noting the following:

• Safety and environmental friendliness, there is no need to equip a separate room for a boiler room, it is assumed that the boiler can be placed directly in the living rooms;
• Compactness and minimum weight;
• Ease of installation, no need to obtain specialized permits, just make sure that home wiring can handle the increased load;
• Easy and absolutely safe operation.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that electric boilers are very different from each other in price. The choice is based on personal requirements. An expensive model is not necessarily more powerful than a budget counterpart, in most cases, the difference determines the operational convenience, including the presence of various automated functions, automatic maintenance of the temperature chosen by the owners.

Alternative Methods

There are two alternative options for heating a country house:

• Solar collector. A special panel that accumulates the heat of the sun, using it to further heat the coolant. Systems are extremely dependent on weather conditions, they are most effective in regions in which the number of sunny days is maximum. The cost of the panels is high, but it is worth remembering that they do not imply any costs during operation, which fully compensates for the initial investment. It is strongly recommended to entrust the installation to highly qualified specialists, as well as to take care of the preliminary improvement of the thermal insulation of the building.
• Geothermal heat, the use of hot underground sources, the water from which rises to the pipes with the help of a productive heat pump. This scheme can not be implemented in all regions, it costs quite a lot of money, but pays off in full during operation. Firstly, underground heat does not cost any money, that is, the owners do not spend money on the operation of the system. Secondly, with proper installation, the system is not subjected to stress, it can serve, in fact, forever.