How do boilers operate

Those hot elements then transfer heat directly to water. They heat water to degrees Fahrenheit. An electrical pump is needed to push that hot water throughout the home. Steam boilers , on the other hand, heat water past the boiling point to produce steam.

The steam is then distributed throughout the home via radiators or radiant floor systems. Since it takes more energy to boil water than to simply heat it, steam boilers are usually less efficient. While traditional boilers are designed to only provide central heating, some boilers are designed to also function as a hot water heater. That means, any time you turn on a hot water faucet, water will run over that hot heat exchanger, heat up and be delivered to you. Indirect systems also use the heat exchanger to heat water but the hot water is stored in a tank.

Just call us or schedule an appointment online. We'll send a tech right over! In this system, a narrow tube filled with water passes through the furnace where the liquid is heated directly.

A water tube system produces a lower volume of hot liquid due to its design, but generates a higher level of heat. The liquid heats the house the same way as with the fire tube system. Each system will be controlled by a thermostat. When the inside temperature drops below the set point, the boiler will begin to heat the liquid.

A pump will circulate the liquid throughout the system. In older homes, the hot water or steam is sent to wall mounted radiators.

Newer homes may have radiant floor heat, where the hot liquid lines are installed in the floor. When the desired comfort level is reached, the thermostat turns the system off. While boilers are very reliable, any system is subject to malfunctions that will need repair. A banging sound in an older system could indicate that air is trapped inside the pipes or that they are clogged with some kind of deposit. Another common issue is that the pilot light may need to be relit on a gas or oil burner.

The gas line may be clogged or the pilot light may be defective if the pilot light fails to stay on. Because electronic starters, pumps and blower fans require electricity, check for a tripped circuit breaker if your unit fails to come on.

Faulty circuit breakers need to be replaced ASAP. Older units may lose pressure or leak. You should also have your thermostat calibrated.

In a typical gas central heating boiler there are pipes entering the boiler underneath. One is the pipe which feeds gas from the mains gas supply which is outside your home in the street into the boiler. Another pipe enables cold water to enter the boiler so it can be heated and another enables hot water to exit the boiler so it can be pumped around your home. Inside the boiler are the fuel jets and heat exchangers.

When you turn on your heating, a valve opens which enables gas from the mains supply to enter a sealed combustion chamber inside the boiler.

These jets heat a metal component in the boiler called a heat exchanger which transfers the heat to the cold water pipe. Once the water has been heated to temperature, an electric pump which is either inside the boiler or very near to it will pump it around a continuous circuit of pipe which runs all around your home and passes through all of your radiators both upstairs and downstairs. The hot water enters each radiator, flows around a closed loop, i.

When the water has travelled through all of your radiators it returns to the boiler. By this time it has cooled down quite a lot so the boiler will refire the gas jets to reheat the water before sending it around again.

The same water will be circulated around your home every day until the system is drained by a professional Gas Safe engineer. While the boiler is burning gas it produces waste gases which need to be released outside of the home. This is done via a tube called a flue.

This can be very dangerous as it may mean the boiler is emitting a lethal gas called carbon monoxide. This gas is colourless and odourless but can kill quickly so it is important to install a carbon monoxide detector near your boiler.

Find out more about carbon monoxide poisoning. Generally, oil and LPG boilers work in much the same way as gas boilers. The key difference is that the fuel is not supplied by a national network of pipes but a tank of fuel which needs to be kept on the property.

This is where we get into the different types of boilers as there are key differences. Many modern boilers can act as a central heating boiler and as a water heater for your taps, but others may only be able to supply your central heating.

Here is a brief description of each type of boiler:. This boiler will produce hot water for your central heating system but not for your taps, baths and showers. Through gravity the boiler is fed cold water from a tank in the loft. These boilers are used in combination with a hot water storage cylinder in an airing cupboard which will heat and store water for you to use in the home. A system boiler is very much like a regular boiler in that it requires a hot water storage cylinder to store hot water for your taps, but it is supplied with cold water from the mains at a higher pressure.

This means there is no need for a feed tank in the attic. Combi boilers are the most commonly installed today as they have two heat exchangers and two hot water pipes. One is connected to your radiators and the other to your taps, showers and bath.

There is no need to have a feed tank in the attic as the cold water comes from the mains supply and as it produces hot water on demand it does not require a storage cylinder. While regular and system boilers require a hot water cylinder which needs time to refill once it has been emptied, a combi boiler will produce hot water on demand.

Find out more about the different types of boiler here. There are several types of thermostat to choose from. The most basic are controlled manually, i.