Warm water accumulator for home. Buffer tank (heat accumulator) for the heating system

Good day everyone! If you have come to this page of my blog, then you are interested in at least 2 questions:

What is a heat accumulator?
How does a heat accumulator work?

I'll start answering these questions in order.

What is a heat accumulator?

To answer this question we need to give a definition. It sounds like this: a heat accumulator is a container in which a large volume of hot coolant accumulates. The outside of the container is covered with thermal insulation made of mineral wool or polyethylene foam.

Why do you need a heat accumulator?

You ask: “Why do we need this oversized thermos?” Everything is very simple here; it allows you to optimally use the heat given off by the boiler. A powerful boiler (most often) always works in conjunction with a heat accumulator. The boiler quickly and non-stop transfers heat from the burned fuel to the heat accumulator, and it, in turn, slowly and in the required mode transfers this heat to the heating system. The system volume is much smaller than the battery capacity. This allows you to “stretch” the heat from the fuel over time. It turns out essentially. When the battery capacity is heated, the boiler constantly operates at full power, and this avoids the appearance of tarry condensate in the boiler.

How does a heat accumulator work?

As mentioned above, TA is a container in which hot water(or other ). To make everything clearer, look at the following figure:

The container has several pipes for connecting various equipment:

Thermal energy generator - boiler, .
Plate heat exchanger for heating hot water.
Various boiler equipment - safety group, expansion tank and so on.

Materials of water-containing container.

Carbon steel various brands with (or without) protective enamel or varnish applied to inner surface- the cheapest and therefore most common material.
Stainless steel is the most durable material that is not subject to corrosion. Its main disadvantage is the high price.
Fiberglass - this “exotic” material is used to make dismountable heat accumulators, which are assembled directly on site. This method allows you to carry the TA along the narrowest stairs and assemble it exactly in the right place. If interested, watch the video of what it looks like

Heat accumulator connection diagram.

Now let's look at how the battery is included in the heating system:

From this diagram it can be seen that the TA is included in the heating system as a hydraulic separator (). I recommend reading a separate article dedicated to this useful device. Let me say briefly that such a connection scheme eliminates the mutual influence of different ones and makes it possible to provide the boiler with the required volume of coolant, which has a positive effect on the life of the heat exchanger.

Thermal storage and hot water supply.

One more important issue is a device for hot water supply in the house. This is where TA can also come to the rescue. Of course, you cannot use water directly from the heating system for sanitary needs. But there are at least two solutions:

Connecting a plate heat exchanger to the heat exchanger, in which sanitary water will be heated - used at the most simple models TA.
Buying a heat accumulator with built-in DHW system- it can be implemented either using a separate heat exchanger (coil), or according to the “tank in tank” scheme.

You can, of course, also purchase it separately, but I believe that this can only be done if you have the necessary space in your boiler room.

Summary.

A heat accumulator is another way to increase the time between adding fuel to the boiler. In addition, TA can be used in systems with solar collectors and heat pumps. Most often, TA is used as a replacement for boilers long burning. The alternative is certainly interesting and worthy of your attention. This concludes my story. I look forward to your questions in the comments.

When heating a house, it often happens that daytime During the day it is possible to generate heat in excess, but at night there is not enough of it. There is also the exact opposite situation, in which it is more profitable to use heating at night. A heat accumulator for heating will help smooth out such moments. But you need to know how to select it correctly, install it and connect it to the system. Detailed information You can learn more about this topic from this article.

When is a heat accumulator needed?

This simple element heating system It is recommended to install it in the form of an insulated water tank in the following cases:

for maximum efficient work solid fuel boiler;
together with an electric heat generator operating at a reduced night tariff.

For reference. There are also water heat accumulators for greenhouses used to preserve solar energy received during the day.

The operation of solid fuel boilers has its own characteristics. The heat generator operates with high efficiency only when operating at maximum modes; if you cut off the air to it to lower the temperature in the furnace, then the operating efficiency also decreases. The homeowner also has a lot of worries about the frequency of heating, the firewood has burned out - he needs to load new ones, which is extremely inconvenient to do in the middle of the night. The solution is simple: you need a storage tank that accumulates previously generated heat for use after the firewood burns out in the firebox.

The opposite situation occurs with an electric boiler connected to the network through a multi-tariff meter. To save money, you need to get maximum heat at night, when the tariff is low, and not use electricity during the day. And here the heat accumulator in the heating system will allow you to organize an optimal operating schedule for the heat source, supplying hot water to the system while the heat generator is inactive.

Important. To work together with a heat accumulator, the boiler must have at least one and a half reserve thermal power. Otherwise, it will not be able to simultaneously heat the water in the heating system and the storage tank.

A similar situation with excess heat occurs in greenhouses; they are even ventilated during the daytime. In order to accumulate solar energy for use at night, you can use the simplest heat accumulator Lezhebok to heat the ground. This is a black polymer sleeve filled with water and laid directly over the bed; it prevents the soil from cooling at night. To absorb more heat, barrels of water painted black are placed inside the greenhouse.

Heat accumulator calculation

A container for storing thermal energy can be purchased at finished form, do it yourself. But a logical question arises: how big should the tank be? After all, a small tank will not give the desired effect, and too large will cost a pretty penny. The answer to this question will help you find the calculation of the heat accumulator, but first you need to determine the initial parameters for the calculations:

heat loss of the house or its square footage;
duration of inactivity of the main heat source.

Let's determine the capacity of the storage tank using an example standard house with an area of 100 m2, heating which requires an amount of heat of 10 kW. Let’s assume that the boiler’s net downtime is 6 hours, and the average coolant temperature in the system is 60 °C. Logically, in the period of time until heating unit idle, the battery must supply 10 kW to the system every hour, for a total of 10 x 6 = 60 kW. This is the amount of energy that should be accumulated.

Since the temperature in the tank should be as high as possible, for calculations we will take a value of 90 ° C; household boilers are still incapable of anything more. The required capacity of a heat accumulator, expressed in mass of water, is calculated as follows:

m = Q / 0.0012 Δt

In this formula:

Q is the amount of accumulated thermal energy, for us it is 60 kW;
0.0012 kW / kg ºС is specific heat water, in more conventional units of measurement - 4.187 kJ / kg ºС;
Δt – difference between the maximum temperature of the coolant in the tank and the heating system, ºС.

So, the water accumulator should hold 60 / 0.0012 (90 – 60) = 1667 kg of water, which is approximately 1.7 m3 in volume. But there is one point: the calculation is made at the lowest temperature outside, which happens infrequently, excluding the northern regions. In addition, after 6 hours, the water in the tank will only cool down to 60 ºС, which means that in the absence of cold weather, the battery can be “discharged” further until the temperature drops to 40 ºС. Hence the conclusion: for a house with an area of 100 m2, a storage tank with a volume of 1.5 m3 will be enough if the boiler is inactive for 6 hours.

From the previous section it follows that you won’t be able to get away with an ordinary 200 liter barrel, unless its capacity is at least half a cube. This is enough for a house with an area of 30 m2, and even then not for long. In order not to waste time and effort, you need to

From the point of view of placement in the boiler room, it is better to make a rectangular container. The dimensions are arbitrary, the main thing is that their product is equal to the calculated volume. The ideal option is a stainless steel tank, but ordinary metal will also work.

At the top and bottom, a self-made heat accumulator must be equipped with pipes for connection to the system. To prevent the steel walls from bulging outward under water pressure, the structure must be strengthened with ribs or jumpers.

The battery tank must be properly insulated, including from below. For this purpose Styrofoam will do density 15-25 kg/m3 or mineral wool in slabs with a density of at least 105 kg/m3. Optimal thickness thermal insulation layer – 100 mm. The resulting device, filled with coolant, will have a decent weight, so a foundation will be required for its installation.

Advice. If you need a container for a gravity heating system, you should install it yourself on a metal stand, not forgetting to insulate the lower part. The goal is to raise the tank above the level of the batteries.

Connection diagram

After installing the tank in place, it must be correctly connected to the pipeline network. The most popular standard connection diagram for a heat accumulator is shown in the figure:

To implement it you will need 2 circulation pump and the same amount three way valves. Pumps provide circulation in separate circuits, and valves provide the required temperature. In the boiler circuit it should not fall below 55 ºС in order to avoid the appearance of condensation in the solid fuel boiler; this is what the valve on the left side of the diagram does.

The coolant in the heating pipelines is heated depending on the heat demand, and therefore the connection of the heat accumulator on the other side is also carried out through the mixing unit. The valve can control the water temperature automatically, based on a sensor or using a thermostat. One of the diagrams of a heating system with a heat accumulator (buffer tank) is presented in the video.

Conclusion

A heat-accumulating container can significantly make life easier for owners of solid fuel boilers. They won't have to worry about loading fuel at night, which is a big plus. And the heat generator itself will operate in an economical mode, developing the highest efficiency. As for electric boilers, the benefits of installing a storage tank are obvious.

This is exactly the kind of heating in our houses - we wouldn’t install anything bad for ourselves.

My team and I installed the same heating system in more than 60 houses.

Send a request

Thermal accumulator and night electricity tariff are the most profitable and cheapest system after main gas.

All other heating options are wood pallets, wood boilers, diesel fuel - in any case they turn out to be more expensive. And you need to bother with them, constantly making sure that there is firewood or gas.

Here is a diagram of my heating system.

rice. storage tank in the heating system

What we have?

From the heat accumulator through the heat head (the temperature can be adjusted), the coolant is supplied to the floors. Here I also have a coil wound, which removes heat from the heat accumulator, and from it, from the coil, the coolant goes to the floors.

Accordingly, my heat accumulator is heated due to heating elements, i.e. electricity. And plus, if there is not enough heat, I also connect a wood-burning boiler (but over 4 winters I heated it at most 10 times, and then purely for the sake of maintaining its functionality, I ran the pumps, cleaned the chimney with fire, etc.)

As for main gas, why don’t I use it?

I have two pipes running along my property. But the owners set very high prices for connections. One asks for 800 thousand rubles, the other 1.1 million rubles. This is not serious at all.

I did the math and it turned out that such a connection would pay for itself in 66 years. That is, the pipes are not public, but private.

That is, if connecting to gas costs 300,000 rubles (I also include the gas project, bringing gas into the house, connecting it to your heating system), then there is probably some kind of logic. So that it pays off for you (and then it will pay off for you for 20 years).

Now let's return to the heating system frame house using a heat accumulator and a night electricity tariff.

In what cases is this relevant?

➤ First - and most importantly - good insulation your house. A correctly done project and insulation in the walls is 150-200 mm, and in the ceiling 200-250 mm of basalt wool.

➤ The second is the availability of dedicated electrical power. You must have a minimum of 15 kW. That is, if you have a land category for permanent residence, then the power engineers by default provide you with a power of 15 kW in three phases. It's enough.

➤ The third parameter is the availability of a night tariff. If you, for example, connect to the Moesk system, they will offer you a night tariff (from 11 pm to 7 am) by default.

We will use this tariff to the maximum when electricity is three times cheaper than during the day.

When is the best time to install and install a home heating system?

It is best to think about this at the design stage of your home. Because a heating system with a heat accumulator works most efficiently in conjunction with heated floors.

I have seen when a heat accumulator is used in conjunction with radiators. But the downside is that the heat accumulator is a large capacity. It is quite difficult to heat it; it requires a lot of power. And in principle, it can be heated to 80-85 ºС, and your radiator will remove all this in 3-4 hours. And by evening the house will get cold.

Heat accumulator for heating boilers

We continue our series of articles with a topic that will be of interest to those who heat their homes with solid fuel boilers. We will tell you about a heat accumulator for heating boilers (HS) using solid fuel. This is a really necessary device that allows you to balance the operation of the circuit, smooth out temperature changes in the coolant, and also save money. Let us immediately note that a heat accumulator for electric heating boilers is used only if the house has an electric meter with separate calculation of night and day energy. Otherwise, installing a heat accumulator for gas heating boilers makes no sense.

How does a heating system with a heat accumulator work?

A heat accumulator for heating boilers is a part of the heating system designed to increase the time between loads solid fuel into the boiler. It is a reservoir into which there is no air access. It is insulated and has a fairly large volume. There is always water in the heat accumulator for heating, and it circulates throughout the entire circuit. Of course, non-freezing liquid can also be used as a coolant, but still, due to its high cost, it is not used in circuits with TA.

In addition, there is no point in filling a heating system with a heat accumulator with antifreeze, since such tanks are placed in residential premises. And the essence of their use is to ensure that the temperature in the circuit is always stable, and therefore the water in the system is warm. Application of a large heat accumulator for heating in country houses temporary residence is impractical, and a small tank is of little use. This is due to the operating principle of the heat accumulator for the heating system.

TA is located between the boiler and the heating system. When the boiler heats the coolant, it enters the heat exchanger;
then the water flows through pipes to the radiators;
the return flow returns to the TA, and then directly to the boiler.

Although the heat accumulator for the heating system is a single vessel, due to its large sizes The direction of the flows at the top and bottom are different.

In order for the TA to perform its main function of storing heat, these flows must be mixed. The difficulty is that high temperatures always rise, and cold tends to fall. It is necessary to create such conditions so that part of the heat sinks to the bottom of the heat accumulator in the heating system and heats the return coolant. If the temperature is equalized throughout the tank, then it is considered fully charged.

After the boiler has burned out everything that was loaded into it, it stops working and the TA comes into play. The circulation continues and it gradually releases its heat through the radiators into the room. All this happens until the next portion of fuel enters the boiler again.

If the heat accumulator for heating is small, then its reserve will last only for a short time, while the heating time of the batteries increases, since the volume of coolant in the circuit has become larger. Disadvantages of using for temporary residences:

the room warm-up time increases;
larger volume of the circuit, which makes filling it with antifreeze more expensive;
more high costs for installation.

As you understand, filling the system and draining water every time you come to your dacha is troublesome, to say the least. Considering that the tank alone will be 300 liters, it makes no sense to take such measures for the sake of a few days a week.

Additional circuits are built into the tank - these are metal spiral pipes. The liquid in a spiral does not have direct contact with the coolant in the heat accumulator for heating the house. These could be contours:

low temperature heating (warm floor).

Thus, even the most primitive single-circuit boiler or even stove can become a universal heater. It will provide the entire house with the necessary heat and hot water simultaneously. Accordingly, the heater's performance will be fully used.

In production models manufactured in production conditions, additional heating sources are built in. These are also spirals, only they are called electric heating elements. There are often several of them and they can work from different sources:

circuit;
solar panels.

Such heating is an additional option and is not mandatory; keep this in mind if you decide to make a heat accumulator for heating with your own hands.

Heat accumulator wiring diagrams

We dare to suggest that if you are interested in this article, then, most likely, you have decided to make a heat accumulator for heating and its wiring with your own hands. You can come up with many connection schemes, the main thing is that everything works. If you correctly understand the processes occurring in the circuit, then you can experiment. How you connect the TA to the boiler will affect the operation of the entire system. Let's first look at the simplest heating scheme with a heat accumulator.

Simple scheme TA harnesses

In the figure you see the direction of movement of the coolant. Please note that upward movement is prohibited. To prevent this from happening, the pump between the heating element and the boiler must pump a larger amount of coolant than the one that stands before the tank. Only in this case will a sufficient drawing force be generated, which will remove part of the heat from the supply. The disadvantage of this connection scheme is long time heating the circuit. To reduce it, you need to create a boiler heating ring. You can see it in the following diagram.

Scheme of piping TA with boiler heating circuit

The essence of the heating circuit is that the thermostat does not add water from the heater until the boiler warms it up to established level. When the boiler has warmed up, part of the supply goes into the TA, and part is mixed with coolant from the reservoir and enters the boiler. Thus, the heater always works with an already heated liquid, which increases its efficiency and the heating time of the circuit. That is, the batteries will become warm faster.

This method of installing a heat accumulator in a heating system allows you to use the circuit in autonomous mode when the pump will not work. Please note that the diagram shows only the connection points of the heating unit to the boiler. The coolant circulates to the radiators in a different way, which also passes through the heat exchanger. The presence of two bypasses allows you to be on the safe side twice:

the check valve is activated if the pump is stopped and the ball valve on the lower bypass is closed;
in case of pump stop and breakdown check valve circulation is carried out through the lower bypass.

In principle, some simplifications can be made to this design. Given the fact that the check valve has high flow resistance, it can be excluded from the circuit.

TA piping diagram without a check valve for a gravity system

At the same time, when the light will go out, you will need to manually open the ball valve. It should be said that with such a layout, the TA must be located above the level of the radiators. If you do not plan for the system to operate by gravity, then connecting the heating system to the heat accumulator can be done according to the diagram shown below.

TA wiring diagram for circuit with forced circulation

The correct movement of water is created in the TA, which allows it to be heated ball by ball, starting from the top. The question may arise, what to do if there is no light? We talked about this in the article about alternative power sources for the heating system. It will be more economical and convenient. After all, gravity contours are made of large-section pipes, and in addition, inclines that are not always convenient must be observed. If you calculate the price of pipes and fittings, weigh all the installation inconveniences and compare all this with the price of a UPS, then the idea of installing an alternative power source will become very attractive.

Calculation of heat storage volume

Heat accumulator volume for heating

As we have already mentioned, it is not advisable to use small volume TAs, and tanks that are too large are also not always appropriate. So the question has arisen about how to calculate required volume TA. I really want to give a specific answer, but, unfortunately, there cannot be one. Although there is still an approximate calculation of a heat accumulator for heating. Let's say you don't know what heat loss your house has and you can't find out, for example, if it hasn't been built yet. By the way, to reduce heat loss, you need to insulate the walls of a private house under the siding. You can select a tank based on two values:

area of the heated room;
boiler power.

Methods for calculating the volume of heating equipment: room area x 4 or boiler power x 25.

It is these two characteristics that are decisive. Various sources They offer their own method of calculation, but in fact these two methods are closely interrelated. Suppose we decide to calculate the volume of a heat accumulator for heating, based on the area of the room. To do this, you need to multiply the square footage of the heated room by four. For example, if we have little house 100 sq. m., then you will need a tank of 400 liters. This volume will allow reducing the boiler load to twice a day.

Undoubtedly, there are also pyrolysis boilers into which fuel is added twice a day, only in this case the operating principle is slightly different:

the fuel flares up;
air supply decreases;
the smoldering process begins.

In this case, when the fuel flares up, the temperature in the circuit begins to increase rapidly, and then smoldering keeps the water warm. During this very smoldering, a lot of energy disappears into the pipe. In addition, if a solid fuel boiler works in tandem with a leaky heating system, then at peak temperatures the expansion tank sometimes boils. Water literally begins to boil in it. If the pipes are made of polymers, then this is simply destructive for them.

In one of the articles about polymer pipes we talked about their characteristics. The TA takes away some of the heat and the tank can boil only after the tank is fully charged. That is, the possibility of boiling, with the correct volume of TA, tends to zero.

Now let's try to calculate the volume of the heater based on the number of kilowatts in the heater. By the way, this indicator is calculated based on the square footage of the room. At 10 m 1 kW is taken. It turns out that in a house of 100 square meters there should be a boiler of at least 10 kilowatts. Since the calculation is always done with a margin, we can assume that in our case there will be a 15 kilowatt unit.

If you do not take into account the amount of coolant in the radiators and pipes, then one kilowatt of the boiler can heat approximately 25 liters of water in the heating unit. Therefore, the calculation will be appropriate: you need to multiply the boiler power by 25. As a result, we will get 375 liters. If we compare with the previous calculation, the results are very close. Only this takes into account that the boiler power will be calculated with a gap of at least 50%.

Remember, the more TA, the better. But in this matter, as in any other, one must do without fanaticism. If you install a TA for two thousand liters, then the heater simply cannot cope with such a volume. Be objective.

utepleniedoma.com

Thermal accumulator in the heating system

The heating system includes, in the usual concept that has developed over the years, three elements - a heat source (boiler), pipelines and directly heating devices(radiators). But if this a private house with a solid fuel boiler (wood, peat briquette, coal) and you want to increase efficiency and save yourself from the need to constantly monitor the firebox, then it may be worth using a unit such as a heat accumulator in the system. [content]

Operating principle of a heat accumulator

The main task performed by the heat accumulator is to increase the inertia of the heating system. To do this, they increase the volume of the coolant and, consequently, the amount of heat accumulated by it. Thus, the battery represents an insulated container embedded in the heating circuit.

As mentioned above, the battery significantly increases the inertia of the system, that is, although the coolant takes longer to heat up, it accumulates more heat and releases it longer and reduces temperature surges.

Internal organization heat accumulator

Thus, if the house is connected to central heating or the system uses gas or gas boilers as heat generating equipment liquid fuel operating in automatic mode, heat accumulators are easy extra costs material and means. But there are cases when their use is more than justified:

If the heating system uses solid fuel boilers (especially without bunker loading), and it is not possible to ensure their constant maintenance (in a private house). In this case, the heat accumulator will provide a constant stable temperature in the room, and will even be able to smooth out the inevitable surges during cleaning and ash removal;
If electric water heating and a differentiated system of payment for electricity is applied. Heat accumulators will allow you to accumulate heat during hours when the tariff is minimal, and later on you can use heaters at minimum power;
If the heating system has periods of peak heat energy consumption (most often this is due to the cost of heating water, for example, during intensive operation of showers), and installing an additional boiler is impractical. The battery will be able to provide heat transfer during these usually short periods of time.

Where the heat accumulator will be “superfluous”

Sometimes, for heating systems, on the contrary, a rapid increase in temperature and its decrease is desirable; in this case, the increased amount of coolant that accumulates in the storage tanks will only interfere with rapid heating and cooling and precise temperature control. In particular:

If heating is needed only for short periods of time and excess fuel consumption is undesirable. For example, a boiler room works to heat a dryer, which is used only periodically. In this case, it makes no sense to heat with accumulated heat empty room, from which the material was unloaded.
If, in addition to heating, the heating installation is also used to provide heat for some technological equipment and a quick and accurate change in temperature conditions is required - increased inertia will only get in the way.

How to install heat accumulators correctly

If a heating system with forced circulation is used, then the insertion point does not play much importance, since the delivery of thermal energy from the storage device is carried out by a pump. You can choose any convenient location, given that the battery has decent dimensions.

For its correct operation, it is necessary to correctly position the connecting pipes - the inlet (according to the movement of the thermal energy carrier in the system) at the bottom, the outlet at the top.

Heat accumulator connection diagram

If heating with natural circulation is used, then the insertion location plays a big role. Many people make the mistake of combining heat accumulators and expansion tanks. Expansion tank is located at the highest point of heating and hot water from it can begin to move, only cooling down through the pipes and increasing its density. For efficient operation, the thermal energy accumulator must be located at the bottom of the heating supply pipe and as close as possible to the boiler.

Is it possible to assemble and install a thermal energy accumulator yourself?

From a design point of view, thermal energy accumulators are quite simple - they are a container with thermally insulated walls, equipped with pipes for connection to the heating system. Therefore, assembling or adapting containers for batteries will not be difficult for any person who has plumbing and welding work.

The question may only arise of calculating the thermal insulation of the walls. But in this case, the principle “more is better than less” can be applied, since for tanks used as heat accumulators, due to their shape, there is no concept of an effective thermal insulation radius.

The video below shows the installation diagram and operating principle of the heat accumulator:

all-for-teplo.ru

Thermal accumulator for a heating system - main advantages. Press!

The desire of many owners of private houses and cottages to use resources to heat their homes as efficiently as possible quite often encounters the same problem - even when using all modern technologies insulation and energy saving, installation of the most economical heating boilers, - significant savings resources are not happening.

This is largely a consequence of mistakes made long before the question of prudent use of resources and the use of modern construction technologies was raised. But what about new houses built according to all modern canons? Has the limit of development really reached?

For most it will stay that way. rhetorical question, but for those who decided to use truly scientific knowledge, and not excerpts from advertising brochures, it is worth thinking about including a new element in the heating system - a heat accumulator.

How does the heating system work?

IN modern understanding energy efficiency of heating installations, including separate house or cottage, recently the emphasis has shifted significantly from the indicator of fuel consumption for heating the room to an indicator characterizing the efficiency of energy use for the complete heating of the house.

This justified emphasis on energy efficiency allows us to take a fresh look at the problem of heating a home, which includes two main tasks:

House heating;
hot water supply.

A new way to save energy resources in the heating system of a building today is installation in the heating system additional equipment, whose function is to accumulate thermal energy and gradually consume it.

The use of a heat accumulator in the circuit of heating system devices, where the main source of energy is a solid fuel boiler, makes it possible to reduce fuel consumption by up to 50% without additional costs. heating season. But this is in the future, but for now we should clearly consider the operating principle of this device.

The principle of operation of a system with a solid fuel boiler

The highest effect from connecting to the system will be applied specifically to solid fuel boilers.

The heat released during fuel combustion goes through a heat exchanger through a pipeline into registers or heating batteries, which are essentially the same heat exchangers, only they do not receive heat, but, on the contrary, give it away to surrounding objects, air, in general, the heating room.

As it cools down, the coolant - water in the batteries - falls down and again flows into the boiler heat exchanger circuit, where it heats up again. In such a scheme, there are at least two points associated with large, if not enormous, heat loss:

direct direction of coolant movement from the boiler to the registers and rapid cooling of the coolant;
a small volume of coolant inside the heating system, which does not allow maintaining a stable temperature;
the need to constantly maintain a consistently high coolant temperature in the boiler circuit.

It is important to understand that this approach cannot be called anything other than wasteful. After all, when adding fuel first at a high combustion temperature in the rooms, the air will warm up quite quickly. But as soon as the combustion process stops, heating of the room will also end, and as a result, the temperature of the coolant will drop again and the air in the room will cool down.

Using a heat accumulator

Unlike a standard heating system, a system equipped with a heat accumulator works slightly differently. In its most primitive form, immediately after the boiler, the tank is installed as buffer device.

A tank with multilayer thermal insulation is installed between the boiler and the pipelines. The capacity of the tank, and it is calculated in such a way that the amount of coolant inside the tank is greater than in the heating system, contains coolant heated from the boiler.

Several heat exchangers for the heating system and for the hot water supply system are installed inside the tank. The internal volume of the battery heated by the boiler for a long time can support high temperature and gradually give it away for heating and water supply systems.

Considering that the smallest tank has a volume of 350 liters of water, it is easy to calculate that spending the same amount of fuel when using a heat accumulator will have a much greater effect than with a direct heating system.

But this is the most primitive type of thermal device. A standard heat accumulator, designed to actually work in the heat supply conditions of a separate house, may have:

The price of such batteries depends on many factors:

tank manufacturing material;
volume of the internal tank;
the material from which the heat exchanger is made;
manufacturer's company;
a set of additional equipment;

Specialist's note: calculate correct work The entire heating system, starting from the boiler TT and ending with the diameter of the steam pipes, can, in principle, be done independently, but it should be taken into account that the power of both the boiler and the installation itself must be designed to operate in conditions of maximum low temperatures in the region.

More detailed information on this issue today can be found on the pages of Internet sites, both in text form and by using the services of specialized online calculators, and of course in specialized companies involved in the development and installation of heat supply systems.

Everything is controlled electronically

Perhaps for many such a concept as “ smart House“has long since become part of the usual rhythm of life.

A house in which many of the functions of maintaining and managing systems are taken over by electronics cannot do without the participation of electronic components and the operation of a heating and water supply system with a heat accumulator.

To maintain a consistently comfortable temperature, it is not so much the constant burning of fuel in the boiler firebox that is necessary, but rather the stable maintenance of temperature in the heating system. And electronic control of the heat accumulator’s operation copes with this task quite well.

Control board features:

In addition, the electronic component can be perfectly used as a controller for the operation of both a solid fuel boiler and electric heating devices, and even as a solar collector system to obtain maximum benefits and save resources.

The economic effect of even including a heat accumulator in the heating supply scheme allows, as already mentioned, to reduce fuel costs during the heating season by up to 50%, and if we take into account the fact that the price of energy is constantly growing, then such an investment becomes not only profitable, but already mandatory for new buildings.

Watch the video in which the user explains in great detail the design of a solid fuel boiler coupled with a heat accumulator:

heat.guru

Heat accumulator in a heating system: introduction to the principle of operation, design and installation options

Why are heat accumulators needed in heating systems? How are they built? When installing a heating system with your own hands, how can you connect the heat accumulator to the common circuit? Let's try to figure it out.

The hero of our article is in the photo on the right.

First meeting

What is it - a storage tank for heating?

In the very simple design- a high cylindrical or square container with several pipes at different heights from the base. Volume - from 200 to 3000 liters (the most popular models are from 0.3 to 2 cubic meters).

The list of options and options is quite large:

The number of pipes can vary from four to a couple of dozen. It all depends on the configuration of the heating system and the number of independent circuits.
The heat accumulator of water heating can be thermally insulated. 5-10 centimeters of polyurethane foam will greatly reduce unnecessary heat loss if the tank is located outside the heated room.

Advice: even if the tank is located inside the house and, it would seem, its heat transfer helps the radiators perform their functions - thermal insulation will not hurt. The amount of heat emitted by a tank with a volume of 0.3-2 cubic meters is VERY large. Our plans do not include organizing a 24-hour sauna.

The wall material can be either black steel or stainless steel. It is clear that in the second case the service life of the heat accumulator is longer, but its price is also higher. By the way, in closed system The water quickly becomes chemically inert, and the corrosion process of black steel is greatly slowed down.
The tank can be divided into interconnecting sections by several horizontal partitions. In this case, the stratification of water by temperature inside its volume will be more pronounced.
The tank can have flanges for mounting tubular electric heaters. In fact, with sufficient power, the hydraulic accumulator for heating systems will turn into a full-fledged electric boiler.
The heat storage tank can be equipped with a heat exchanger for preparing hot drinking water. Moreover, it can also be flow-through plate heat exchanger, and a storage tank inside the main tank. Compared to the amount of heat accumulated by the tank, the cost of heating water will in any case be insignificant.
At the bottom of the tank there can be an additional heat exchanger for connecting a solar collector. It is at the bottom - to ensure effective heat transfer from the collector to the storage tank even when its efficiency is low (for example, at dusk).

This is how the heat accumulator is used in a solar heating system.

Functions

It is easy to guess that heating heat accumulators are needed in order to accumulate thermal energy in reserve. But even without them, the heating seems to work, and not bad. In what cases is their use justified?

Solid fuel boiler

For solid fuel boilers (with or without a water circuit), the most effective operating mode is in which the fuel burns with minimum quantity residues (including not only ash, but also acids and tar) and maximum efficiency- full power. Power adjustment is usually carried out by limiting air access to the firebox - with clear consequences.

However, to utilize all the thermal power means a short time heat the radiators almost red-hot, and then let them cool. This mode is extremely ineffective, leads to accelerated wear of pipes and their connections and provides uncomfortable temperature regime in the house.

This is where a heating system with a heat accumulator comes to the rescue:

Produced by the boiler at full power the heat is utilized to heat the water in the tank.
After the fuel burns out, water continues to circulate between the storage tank and the radiators, taking heat from it GRADUALLY.

As a bonus, we get much less frequent firing of the boiler, which will save us both effort and time.

Buffer capacity will allow solid fuel boiler work in optimal mode.

Electric boiler

What are the benefits of heat storage heating when electricity is used as a heat source? After all, all modern electric boilers can regulate power smoothly or stepwise and do not require frequent maintenance?

The key phrase is night tariff. The cost per kilowatt-hour with a two-tariff meter can be VERY different at night, when the energy systems are unloaded, and during the day, at peak consumption.

By varying tariffs, energy workers distribute electricity consumption more evenly; Well, this is to our advantage:

At night, the programmable boiler turns on according to a timer and heats the hydraulic accumulator for heating to its maximum operating temperature at 90 degrees.
Accumulated during the day thermal energy used for heating homes. The coolant flow for heating systems is dosed by adjusting the performance of the circulation pump.

A heat accumulator in combination with a two-tariff meter will help significantly save on heating.

Multi-circuit heating

Another very useful feature storage tank- the ability to simultaneously use it as a hydraulic arrow while accumulating energy. What is it and why is it needed?

Remember that there are usually more than four pipes on the body of a tall tank. Although it would seem that entry and exit are quite enough. On different levels You can take water at different temperatures from the storage tank; as a result we can get, most typically, a high-temperature circuit with radiators and low temperature heating- warm floor.

Please note: pumps with thermal control circuits will still be needed. IN different time day at the same tank level, the water temperature will vary greatly.

The pipes can be used not only as outlets for heating circuits. Several boilers different types can also be connected to a heat accumulator.

Connection and thermal capacity

What does a heating system with a heat accumulator look like?

Heat accumulators for heating are connected in exactly the same way as hydraulic arrows and, in general, differ from them only in thermal insulation and volume. They are placed between the supply and return pipelines leading from the boiler. The supply is connected to the top of the tank, the return to the bottom.

Secondary circuits are powered depending on the temperature of the coolant they require: high-temperature heating takes water from the upper part of the tank, low-temperature heating from the lower part.

Schematic diagram of connection.

Instructions for calculating thermal capacity are based on a simple formula: Q = mc(T2-T1), where:

Q - accumulated heat;
m is the mass of water in the tank;
c is the specific heat capacity of the coolant in J/(kg*K), for water equal to 4200;
T2 and T1 - initial and final temperatures of the coolant.

Let's say, a heat accumulator with a volume of two cubic meters at a temperature delta of 20C (90-70) and using water as a coolant can accumulate 2000 kg (let's take the density of water as 1 kg/l, although at 90C it is slightly less) x4200 J/(kg*K)x20= 168,000,000 Joules.

What does this amount of energy mean? The tank can deliver 168 megawatts of thermal power in one second or, more realistically, 5 kilowatts in 33,600 seconds (9.3 hours).

Conclusion

As usual, you can learn more about heat accumulators by watching the video attached to the article (see also the water heating diagram for a private house).

Corrugated pipe for heating