How to design a heating system (KS8)

Gay Lawrence Race

• Publisher: The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers
• Year: 2006
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• eBook ISBN:
  9781903287798
• Subtopic: Construction & Architectural Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

In cooler climates the provision of heating is an essential part of creating comfortable internal environments, and therefore heating system design is a fundamental part of building services design.Heating is a major sector within mechanical building services. There are some 21 million domestic properties in the UK with gas-fired central heating, and a further 200, 000 commercial properties with heating. The UK market for heating systems is substantial, with around 1.65 million new domestic boilers installed per year and around 23, 500 commercial boilers. There are around 9 million radiators installed per year with a further 22 million metres of underfloor heating pipe (2005 figures).Heating is also a major consumer of energy within the UK, with space heating accounting for over 40% of all non-transport energy use and over 60% of domestic energy use, rising to over 80% if hot water is included. As major energy users, heating and hot water also generate a substantial proportion of CO2 emissions, delivering almost half the CO2 emissions from non-domestic buildings.Given the current requirements to limit energy consumption and CO2 production, good design of heating systems is essential to ensure that systems operate efficiently and safely and make effective use of energy. Historically there have been problems with oversizing of heating systems which can lead to inefficient operation, particularly at part load operation, to control problems and to a reduction in plant operating life(3). The energy consumption for oversized plant can be 50% more than necessary.Although heating is often considered to be a simple, basic system, there are many options and permutations to be considered. The majority of UK buildings will require heating but different building types and locations will have very different requirements and constraints — consider for example the choices possible for a small ground floor flat in a city centre development against those for a holiday cottage in one of the National Parks, or the choices for an urban industrial unit against those for a rural agricultural unit and farm shop.

Table of contents

• KS8 front cover.pdf
• KS8.pdf