
Secondary heating systems are those that provide space heating which is in addition to that provided by the main heating. This report considers two types of secondary heating: § Alternative heating: defined as heating that is used insteadof the main heating in a room.
How does a secondary circuit work on a gas boiler?
When the flow of cooler water returns from the secondary circuit, the hot primary water, which jumped the "gap" between the two tees mixes with the return water. The hotter water instantly raises the returning water's temperature and protects the boiler from flue-gas condensation and thermal shock.
What is an example of a hydronic heating system?
This is an example of a hydronic heating system heating boiler for three different heating zones all using the same hot water temperature. In the below diagram - the boiler does not have buit-in pump or expansion Tank and this will have to added to this configuration as part of the Primary Loop.
What is a one pipe primary secondary pump?
We call the system I've been describing "one-pipe, primary-secondary pumping.". The primary circulator moves the boiler water through the primary circuit. When the flow of cooler water returns from the secondary circuit, the hot primary water, which jumped the "gap" between the two tees mixes with the return water.
What happens to a boiler when the secondary circulator stops?
When piped properly, no water will flow through an "off" boiler when its secondary circulator stops. And when the water stops flowing, the standby losses practically disappear. There's nothing complicated about primary-secondary pumping. It all comes down to what happens when water flows through a tee. If water goes in, it has to come out.

What is the purpose of second heating?
Two-stage heating eliminates the temperature swings associated with standard furnaces, regulating temperature to within as little as one degree of the thermostat setting.
What is considered a secondary heat source?
Secondary heating sources like fireplaces, wood burning stoves, space heaters, or electric blankets can produce comfortable heat for smaller, more targeted areas of your home at a fraction of the cost of turning up the thermostat for the entire home.
What are the three types of heating systems?
The Types of Central Heating Systems and How They Do What They Do. The three common central heating systems are furnaces, boilers, and heat pumps. All three are used in homes throughout the nation to heat up and cool off homes.
What is the best secondary heat source?
The three best backup heating options There are three heating appliances that give you the best chance of staying warm when the power goes out: wood inserts, wood stoves, and gas stoves.
What are the two types of heating methods?
Types of Heating SystemsFurnaces. The majority of North American households depend on a central furnace to provide heat. ... Boilers. Boilers are special-purpose water heaters. ... Heat Pumps. ... Gas-Fired Space Heaters. ... Unvented Gas-Fired Heaters: A Bad Idea. ... Electric Space Heaters. ... Wood-Burning and Pellet Stoves. ... Fireplaces.
What are the four types of heating?
Four Types of Heating Systems warm-air heating system; hydronic heating system; steam heating system; or. electric heating system.
What is the cleanest way to heat your home?
According to Energy Star reports, geothermal heating is the most environmentally friendly and efficient way to heat your home.
What is the best source of heat for a house?
Furnace. In general, furnaces are the most efficient of the heating systems, especially if you have natural gas. They work by heating air with a component called a heat exchanger and pushing it into the home through a duct system, using a fan (often referred to as a blower).
What type of heating is best?
In general, furnaces are the most efficient of the heating systems, especially if you have natural gas. They work by heating air with a component called a heat exchanger and pushing it into the home through a duct system, using a fan (often referred to as a blower).
What is the cheapest way to heat a home?
As a general rule, heating your home with a natural gas furnace is the cheapest way to keep warm through the winter months. Electricity is usually significantly more expensive than gas, so even the most efficient heaters will be a bigger drain on your pocketbook than a traditional furnace.
How do I know which type of heating I have?
The best way is to check your outside system; there is usually a label that specifies if it is a heat pump or an air conditioner. If no such designation exists, Google the model number and brand name. You can also check for horizontal brass pipes within your condensing units, which are unique to heat pumps.
What's the cheapest form of heating?
If you're fortunate enough to own your own home and have the money for reverse-cycle air conditioning, then it's by far the cheapest way to keep your home warm. If you're a renter or simply don't have a spare couple of thousand sitting in your bank account, then an electric heater is probably your best option.
What is the most cost effective heating system?
Geothermal systems provide the most efficient type of heating. They can cut heating bills by up to 70 percent. Like other types of heat pumps, they are also very safe and environmentally friendly to operate.
How can I heat my house when the power goes out?
7 Ways to Heat Your Home When the Power Goes OutUse a Generator.Get an Indoor Propane Heater.Use a Wood Stove or Fireplace.Increase Heat If You Know Power Might Go Out.Don't Open and Close Outside Doors.Insulate and Block Drafts.Let Sunshine Through Windows.
What is the safest heating system for a house?
#1: Electric Heat Electric furnaces, baseboard heaters, and other heating methods that use electricity are among the most efficient and safe heating methods. As most are controlled by thermostats located in each room, electric heating systems are precise, working only when needed.
How can I heat my house without central heating?
How To Heat a House Without Central Heating : Top 8 HacksGet a Low-Cost Low-Wattage Space Heater.Seal All Drafty Windows and the Doors.Exploit Sunlight.Stay Warm by Wearing Warm Clothing.Make Use of the Fireplace If You Have One.Maintain Your Radiators.Rooms that aren't in use should have their doors closed.More items...
What is the new heating system?
Heat pumps are one of the most obvious replacements. These appliances work using a refrigerant to absorb the natural heat that can be found in the ground, air or water. This refrigerant is compressed to further increase the temperature, which can then be used to heat the cold water in the system.
What is the most common type of heating system?
Furnace Forced air distribution systems1. Furnace. Forced air distribution systems are by far the most common type of home heating systems. They use a furnace with a blower fan that delivers heated, conditioned air to the house's various rooms through a network of ducts.
What are the 6 sources of heat?
Here are only some of your many choices for heating energy sources: natural gas, propane (LP), oil, coal, wood, electricity, heat pumps, ground source heat pumps and solar energy.
What type of heating is boiler?
Boilers heat water, and provide either hot water or steam for heating. Steam is distributed via pipes to steam radiators, and hot water can be distributed via baseboard radiators or radiant floor systems, or can heat air via a coil.
What are the 6 sources of heat?
Here are only some of your many choices for heating energy sources: natural gas, propane (LP), oil, coal, wood, electricity, heat pumps, ground source heat pumps and solar energy.
What is the difference between Eheat and heat on a thermostat?
“Emergency heat” means constantly using the backup heat But now your heat pump basically works either as an electric furnace, which costs more to use than a heat pump, or it's using the backup furnace. The backup furnace works more efficiently than the heat strip, but less efficient than the heat pump pulling in heat.
What are heat sources?
A heat source is a system from which heat is 'lost' to a heat sink. For example, in the built environment, a radiator may be considered to be a heat source, whilst the space around it, which it heats by a process of radiation and convection, might be considered to be a heat sink.
Whats the difference between heat and Eheat?
The emergency heat called for by the thermostat is different from supplemental heat. The Eheat setting is a manual one. The purpose of the emergency heat option is to call for the backup furnace to come online immediately.
What is alternative heating?
This could be where the main heating is turned off or where the main heating does not extend into a particular room ; e.g. a study room with no central heating radiators so the householder uses an electric heater to heat the room.
What is supplement heating?
Supplementary heating has been defined in the Energy Follow-Up Survey as a type of secondary heating that is used in addition to main heating in a room. For example an electric heater in a living room that is mainly heated by a central heating radiator.
How long does alternative heating last?
On a typical weekday, households with rooms heated at regular times and on regular days, use alternative heaters for six hours per heater per day on average (median). This indicates that, when it is used, alternative heating contributes considerably to the overall heating in specific rooms of the house. However, the length of time varies considerably, ranging from 0.25 to 24 hours per day, although the distribution is greatly skewed toward the lower end of this range.
How often do you use an alternative heater?
Alternative heaters are used once a week or more often in 66% (2.4 million) of households with these heaters during their heating season. The remaining households (1.2 million) use alternative heaters less often.
How many heating hours are there in a day?
Heating hours are most usually spread across one or two heating periods per day. The majority (63%) of households who use supplementary heating at regular times use it for only one period per day, while 15% of households use it for two heating periods per day in one or more rooms.
Primary-Secondary vs Primary Variable
I joke about purchasing more pumps but that is a key difference between the two systems. The primary secondary piping system will require the extra primary pumps on the boilers with their control, electrical, and installation costs. The owner will have a couple of extra pieces of equipment to maintain.
Primary Variable Boiler Pumping Systems: It is All About the System
In the previous section, the engineer is adapting the system piping to accommodate the boiler limitations. What happens if the engineer selects the system design requirements and then selects the boiler to match the design? Now you will be able to use primary variable pumping.
What is secondary heating?
Secondary heating sources like fireplaces, wood burning stoves, space heaters, or electric blankets can produce comfortable heat for smaller, more targeted areas of your home at a fraction of the cost of turning up the thermostat for the entire home. They can be especially useful for heating rooms that tend to be cooler than the rest of your home, or for enduring the occasional chilly night in the southern United States where many homes don't have traditional furnaces. These heat sources also pose their own unique risks, and it's important to take safety precautions when using them.
How does cold air seep into a house?
Cold air seeps into the home through the windows every day. Aside from closing them, try these 3 key steps to better insulate this area of your home.
Can solar panels be used in winter?
It may not seem true during the coldest months, but the sun still appears during the winter. And on the sunniest days, many homeowners don't capitalize on this natural heat. Installing solar panels on your home's roof can capture this power, and it can then be used for heating water and other energy-saving tasks. Installing solar panels represents a significant investment, but homeowners will see the benefits of this change in the months and years ahead.
Do space heaters have safety features?
Today's space heaters are mostly electric and often have built-in safety features that turn the heaters off if they tip over, overheat, or have been left turned on for too long.
Why do boilers need primary secondary pumping?
Primary-secondary pumping has become pretty popular nowadays, especially with boiler manufacturers. They love it because it offers a simple way to protect their boilers against low-temperature return water and the resulting flue-gas condensation that low-temperature water causes. This is a legitimate concern because more and more ...
What is primary secondary pumping?
Primary-secondary pumping lets you use small, inline circulators - even on large commercial jobs - and that's a real plus. And in a multiple-boiler system, this simple method of piping gives you a way to lower boiler standby losses and save fuel. When piped properly, no water will flow through an "off" boiler when its secondary circulator stops. And when the water stops flowing, the standby losses practically disappear.
What is secondary circulator?
The secondary circulators use the common piping between the primary and secondary circuits as their "compression tank." Always pipe your secondary circulators so they pump away from the primary loop and toward the radiation.
Why does no water flow through secondary circuit?
When the secondary circulator is off, no water will flow through the secondary circuit because the 12-inch "gap" between the tees in the primary main is the path of least resistance.
How to get water temperature to each secondary circuit?
To get around this potential problem, you can use two-pipe, primary-secondary pumping instead. With this system, you pipe the primary circuit as a two-pipe direct- or reverse-return system. This gives you a way of delivering the same water temperature to each secondary circuit. You make your connection from the primary to the secondary circuit from a crossover "tunnel" that drops below the level of the primary supply and return mains. The drop in the pipe makes it easier to get rid of the air.
What happens when the flow of cooler water returns from the secondary circuit?
When the flow of cooler water returns from the secondary circuit, the hot primary water, which jumped the "gap" between the two tees mixes with the return water. The hotter water instantly raises the returning water's temperature and protects the boiler from flue-gas condensation and thermal shock.
How far apart do you set a primary secondary tee?
That's common sense. But how it comes out makes all the difference in the world. With primary-secondary, you have to set the tees that lead to the secondary circuit no more than 12 inches apart.
