Gas floor boilers in modern heating systems

Gas heating boilers are widely used in individual construction and today are very popular for their reliability and durability.

In the design of floor gas boilers, classic cast-iron and steel heat exchangers are used.

Cast iron heat exchangers of gas boilers, as a rule, are sectional and this is their great advantage in terms of repair (if necessary, it is enough to replace the desired section) and during transportation. It is also traditionally believed that the service life of cast iron heat exchangers, with proper operation of a gas boiler, is the longest, due to the high corrosion resistance of gray cast iron. Among the companies manufacturing floor gas boilers with cast-iron heat exchangers, we can distinguish European manufacturers such as Vaillant, Buderus, Protherm. These manufacturers have many years of experience in iron casting and in the production of sectional heat exchangers for gas boilers.

Steel heat exchangers in gas boilers are widely used due to the simplicity of their manufacture. Many European and Russian manufacturers use high-quality steel for the production of floor boiler heat exchangers. The high ductility of steel makes heat exchangers made from it less “capricious” to changes in coolant temperature, which often leads to cracks when using cast iron.

Another basic design feature of floor gas boilers is the type of burner used in them. There are two main types of burners: atmospheric and fan (blast or turbo).

Gas boilers with atmospheric burners operate almost silently, which sometimes plays an important role when the boiler room is adjacent to living quarters. The principle of its operation resembles a household gas stove. The simplicity of the design of the atmospheric burner, due to the small number of structural elements, provides the boiler with additional reliability.

The operation of inflatable fan burners is based on the principle of forcing air into a closed combustion chamber, which provides more flexible control of the gas boiler output and higher efficiency. Boilers with such burners are more expensive than atmospheric ones, and electricity is needed for their operation. Despite this, today floor gas boilers with pressurized burners are widely used for heating private houses, office centers and industrial enterprises.

Automation of gas boilers has long been an integral part of modern heating systems. With its help, through the pumping groups, the supply and distribution of the coolant along the circuits, the operation of the pumps of the heating system and the DHW boiler, the switching on and off of the gas boiler are regulated. Modern automation for heating boilers is a microcomputer serving peripheral devices: pumps, burner, temperature sensors, hot water boiler, etc.

All these, as well as many others, features of floor gas boilers must be taken into account when designing heating systems and choosing a heat generator. Boiler vendors and heating system designers often charge gas-fired boilers to customers based on the margin they receive from the sale or «recommendations». Very often, designers, reinsuring themselves, put excess power of a gas boiler into the system, which negatively affects its operation. Such an approach cannot have a future as the engineering services market is becoming more civilized and customer-oriented.