How to heat your house. How to heat a house if there is no gas - a comparison of the effectiveness of various options

Most large settlements have an extensive centralized gas supply system that provides for the needs of residents. In places located at a distance, the situation is not always encouraging.

Long distances to main pipelines and tangible gas costs force the use of alternative options for space heating. When studying the issue, it turns out that efficient heating in a private house without gas can be provided using various types of liquid and solid fuels, and in some cases, do without it at all.

Gas saving

In climates with harsh winters, there are additional concerns. Too low outdoor air temperatures require a large gas flow, which significantly increases the financial costs of maintaining comfortable conditions.

The payment for heating in winter is a significant part of the family budget. There is a natural desire to reduce the volume of payments in cases where this is possible. Therefore, attention is focused on all possible ways to save gas without compromising the temperature regime.

House insulation

You can significantly reduce heating costs in advance, during construction. Proper thermal insulation of walls, foundations, roofs will prevent thermal energy from escaping into the atmosphere. The upcoming heating costs will be acceptable. If the house is no longer new, you can insulate it at the renovation stage.

There is a wide range of materials that provide thermal insulation of buildings in general, individual apartments and houses in particular. Qualified masters will help with the choice of an effective and economical solution for home insulation. In addition to working with walls, flooring, ceiling structures, window and door openings should be carefully sealed.

Additional sources of savings

During construction, technical equipment of the house, it is important to correctly calculate the required boiler power. Excessive capacity of the equipment will lead to excessive consumption of gas fuel and an increase in the amount of payments.

Up to 15% of costs can be reduced by the correct wiring of the heat pipeline.

The installation of a collector distribution system for the coolant allows you to save the budget. In the bedrooms, you can increase the heating at night, in the living room - during the day. It is advisable to install automated temperature sensors in the house, in the country. You need to do this once, enjoy the result constantly. With a decrease in the air temperature in the street, the gas supply, the intensity of the operation of the thermal boiler increase. The sensor can work remotely, which is especially convenient for adjusting the heating of a country house.

Significantly reduce gas consumption for heating allows a modern version of the ventilation device. Installing a recuperator, in which hot air leaves the room through the inner pipe, and cold air enters through the outer jacket, while warming up, allows you to heat the house with minimal fuel consumption.

It is possible to make underfloor heating in living quarters. This is an economical way to raise the air temperature in your home at minimal cost. Of course, you need to install gas meters. They help to save a lot of money on heating.

How to go without gas

In a country with vast resources, there is always an alternative choice of fuel. It is possible to organize inexpensive heating of a house without gas and electricity. There are several options, the choice of which depends on the specifics of the place of residence, the availability of one or another organic raw material.

solid fuel

In many houses in the villages there were wood-burning stoves. The tradition has been preserved to this day in the corners of the forest zone of the country, which has no problems with the delivery of wood. In addition to firewood, other raw materials can be used for heating.

There are modern designs of boilers with an automatic device, designed to use various types of solid fuels:

firewood;
straw briquettes;
peat;
coal;
pellets from various raw materials.

In many regions, solid fuel is the cheapest source of heat. Sometimes boilers are made for a certain type of raw material, but universal equipment is popular. Such an autonomous heating method is associated with the need to constantly monitor the operation of boilers, add organic raw materials, regularly remove ash and clean chimneys.

The use of coal stoves is not environmentally friendly, a lot of harmful gases are released. It is best to use pellets or briquettes as fuel.

A good option for heating a private house is the arrangement of a fireplace. In addition to conventional fireplaces that heat one room with warm air, it is possible to build a piping system with a coolant that can heat a country house completely without gas. As a heat carrier, water is used that enters the radiators, or air that is distributed to all rooms through air ducts with adjustable dampers. Fireplaces have a lot of inertia, so you have to wait until the whole dwelling warms up. Some inconvenience of heating is compensated by the special comfort that the fireplace creates, by pleasant aesthetic impressions.

Liquid fuel

It is possible to heat a house cheaply and without gas, using liquid raw materials. The efficiency of liquid fuel boilers and stoves is high, however, they are large in size and weight. For the installation of heating stoves, it is necessary to provide a separate room with good ventilation and a flue system. How heat sources can be used:

kerosene;
fuel oil;
diesel fuel;
waste fuels or lubricants.

Liquid fuel has a sharp unpleasant odor; a separate facility must be built for storage. Outdoors in low winter temperatures, flammable liquids will freeze, so the storage room must be heated or be prepared for the fact that the fuel must be brought to the required state before use. Given all the difficulties, it makes sense to heat a wooden house with liquid fuel only if there are no other options available.

Electric heating

Regardless of the geographic location, electricity can be used to heat a house. There are many models of electric heating equipment on sale that work efficiently without any gas and are convenient to use. Saving money is not always possible. The costs are comparable to those for gas heating, which makes one think about other technologies.

However, if infrared film heaters are used, the energy consumption will be more economical. Sometimes heating with gas or wood is combined with the installation of electric heaters, making living conditions more comfortable. With the help of electricity, separate sections of the room are heated, portable heaters are installed in utility rooms, in summer cottages.

Modern Alternative

There are completely different approaches to the use of energy for heating purposes without the use of gas. The choice depends on the readiness to seriously engage in the equipment of the new system, the financial capabilities of the owners of the house.

Heat pumps

An unusual yet unfamiliar option for organizing home heating is the use of a heat pump, the principle of which is based on converting the energy of soil, air or water into heat. The unit takes the low-temperature potential from the environment, heats the heat carrier in the evaporator and transfers it to the heating system.

The source of energy can be:

soil located near the surface of the earth;
wells;
heat from non-freezing reservoirs.

In the first case, the contour is laid horizontally under a layer of soil located just below the freezing level. It occupies part of the adjacent area. Upon completion of the installation of the heating complex, the soil can be used for growing plants with small roots.

Wells are made in deep systems. Bent collectors made of polyethylene pipes are lowered into them. The number of wells, their depth are determined by calculations. The installation of the heater can be done fairly quickly.

Laying polyethylene heating pipes at the bottom of the reservoir is more difficult to make. Fasteners must not only firmly fix the pipeline under water, but also make the plastic structure heavier. Unfortunate examples are known when, due to savings on fasteners, polyethylene fragments of the collector floated up, broke, and the coolant poured into the reservoir.

It is possible to take ordinary air from the street for the operation of the heat pump. This is the simplest option, which is economically justified only in places where frosts are not stronger than 20 ° C.

All types of geothermal heating equipment are environmentally friendly. For their operation, a compressor is needed, it is good if it can be powered not only from the central power supply, but also from a mobile generator. Heat pumps are more than three times more efficient than gas-fired boilers, but you need to invest a considerable amount of money in the beginning, which will not pay off immediately.

biofuel

Increased environmental awareness, the level of general awareness of the population allow the use of non-traditional energy sources, an example of which are various types of biofuels. Biological materials release gas as a result of fermentation. The combustion of gaseous products generates energy that can be used to heat a private house or greenhouse.

As a raw material, you can take any organic waste of animal or vegetable origin. Most often they take manure, mix it with sawdust, peat, fallen leaves, straw, and other plant waste. This should be done in a sealed bunker, pit. To initiate fermentation, the mixture is heated to a temperature of 35 ℃. After the start of the reaction, heating continues spontaneously, organic gas is released, which must be sent to the pipeline system and used for heating as a conventional gas fuel. It is important to note that the composition of biological gas is different from natural gas. Therefore, the burners must be adjusted to work in given conditions.

Most often, biofuels are used to heat greenhouses and utility rooms. The popularity of the technology is growing, the benefits are obvious. In the near future, biofuels will be widely used to heat homes.

Solar collectors

The possibility of using solar energy for heating purposes is interesting. There are systems that convert solar energy into electricity and heat. The first are called solar panels, the second - collectors.

Batteries powered by the sun are rare in our country. But heating collectors are gaining popularity every year, although they also have their own characteristics that complicate widespread use.

It will not be possible to install heating without gas using solar collectors completely throughout the country. For this, in winter there will not be enough daylight hours and radiation intensity. However, from spring to late autumn, solar energy is sufficient to heat water as a heat carrier. The heat accumulated in the collectors is forcibly circulated in the system due to the operation of the pump.

There are gravity models that operate completely autonomously without the use of electricity. A pump in such heating systems is not needed.

Any kind of solar collectors cost a lot. Additional costs are required for the purchase of a storage tank. They will pay for themselves in at least 10 years. In the southern regions, the use of solar energy for heating is justified by high solar activity. Here it is quite possible to do without gas.

Innovative and traditional technologies make it possible to consider alternative sources of energy supply for heating without the use of natural gas. In addition to these, there are heating systems that use the energy of wind and geysers.

When planning the construction of a new house, the refurbishment of old housing, one should study the issue well, assess the availability of a particular source, and calculate the fuel consumption for heating the entire area. In this case, it will be possible to significantly save on heating and do without gas.

The use of firewood is one of the most ancient ways of obtaining heat. Progress does not stand still: at first people used open fire, then they built walls around the fire, which spoke of the invention of the stove.

Later, on the basis of the stove, humanity began to invent the so-called boilers, where, unlike stoves, in which heat was transferred to other parts of the room directly through the air, it began to be transferred thanks to coolants such as antifreeze and water. But the ovens have not gone out of use. To this day, they continue to enjoy wide popularity.

Wood stove heating has a number of advantages:

autonomy. If firewood has already been prepared for the winter and there is a stove, then nothing will prevent you from safely surviving the winter frosts.
Easy installation. Indeed, the installation of the furnace is not a difficult task; special skills and craftsmanship are not needed here.
Appearance. The stove can be built in the form of a fireplace. So, the stove will perfectly fit into the interior of the room and help create an atmosphere of comfort.
Complete energy independence.
Availability. Wood is considered not a very expensive type of fuel. If the house is located near forests, then firewood can be obtained there. You can also make so-called artificial firewood - briquettes, which are made from the remains of woodworking.

Despite such a large number of advantages, there are a number of disadvantages:

efficiency. The efficiency of stoves is much lower than that of other heating installations, since most of the heat leaves through the chimney.
Long warm up. The oven heats up slowly, which takes a lot of time.
Fast burning. One stack of firewood burns for 3 hours. This means that you will have to constantly feed the fire with new masonry. Recently, such stoves have appeared on the market that operate on the basis of slow combustion. In such furnaces, the masonry begins to burn from the upper layers.

The stove can be built in such a way that it heats the coolant.

In this case, you will have to tinker with the installation, but it is better to turn to the services of specialists. But with this method, you can heat several floors at once, along which the coolant will also move.

Heating with coal is another option if the house does not have gas. But there is one significant difference between heating with wood and heating with coal: if when heating with wood, the room warms up immediately from the flame, then when using coal, the room warms up due to the coolant.

Modern boilers also use the principle of top combustion, which is achieved due to the fact that air is supplied from the top of the device thanks to a fan. Due to this, the fuel burns slowly, due to which the time between fuel loads increases significantly. The design of modern coal-fired boilers includes a furnace, an ash pan, a heat exchanger, a chimney.

Another issue regarding this fuel is the choice of coal. There are a huge number of types of coal that differ in price and quality:

The coal is brown. This type burns at low temperatures, but is currently being squeezed out of the market by other brands.
Stone. This brand burns with a long flame, so it is widely used for heating.
DPKA. This coal has found wide application for heating small private houses.
Anthracite. According to experts, it is the coal of this brand that is the highest quality coal. This charcoal is brilliant black. The carbon content reaches 90%.

Coal can be bought in bags, or you can order a certain amount with delivery.

So the pros:

boiler versatility. A coal-fired boiler can be used not only for heating with coal. Firewood, briquettes and other types of solid fuel can also be placed in it.
High heat dissipation.
Long burning.

There are also disadvantages:

Coal dust. When using coal as the main type of fuel, coal dust remains everywhere, which requires cleaning.
Ash pan cleaning. When coal burns, a lot of ash remains, so the ash pan will have to be cleaned periodically.

The principle of converting solar energy into thermal energy has been known to mankind for a long time. But only relatively recently people began to consider the Sun as an alternative source of energy. The solar collector is a heating device that is able to accumulate the energy of the sun's rays, which is used to heat the coolant.

The principle of operation is also simple: under the plates of the structure there are tubes through which the coolant moves. When heated, it automatically enters the water tank.

There are three types of collectors:

vacuum collectors. They are designed in such a way as to accumulate as much solar energy as possible with minimal losses. This is achieved due to the fact that there is a vacuum space between the outer sheets and the inner element. In general, such a unit is a system of many tubes, inside of which there is no air. Inside these tubes there are other tubes that actually heat up. Such collectors are capable of heating water up to 300 degrees Celsius.
flat collector. Such units are a rectangular panel. They are transparent. The inner wall of this panel is covered with heat-insulating material. Under it there is a system of pipes through which the coolant moves. Such collectors heat water up to 200 degrees.
Air manifold. These units use air as the heat carrier. The efficiency of such collectors is low, which is the main disadvantage of this type. But they can be made independently without special technical skills and abilities. They are cheap.

Electric heating involves the conversion of electrical energy into thermal energy. For this purpose, various boilers are used that run on electricity. The following are the most common methods of electric heating:

Electric boilers. In such units, a heating element is built in. There may be one or more. If there are several of them, then the user himself can activate only one of them or all at once. It is a system of pipes through which the coolant moves and is heated by the flowing electric current. Powerful units are connected to a three-phase network. There is no heating element in some electric boilers. Instead, electrodes are provided. Electric current passes from one electrode to another through water. So he warms her up. Typically, in such systems, not water, but antifreeze is used as a coolant.
Heating electric convectors. In appearance, they resemble ordinary radiators, only now they are connected to the electrical network. Also, they do not use a coolant. The heating element is enclosed in a special insulator. A current passes through it, it heats up, as a result of which the surrounding air also heats up, which immediately rises.
Infrared heaters. They have a special device that converts electrical energy into infrared rays. These infrared rays travel in a straight line and only heat objects that are in their path. For full heating, you will have to install several such units. Thanks to this device, you can create zones with high and low temperatures in the room.
Electric floor. It is a system of current conductors with high resistance. They are mounted in the floor, and heat up as a result of the passage of current through them. This heat then heats the floor surface, the heat from which is transferred to the air in the room.

These types of electric heating exist at the moment. Now you should consider all the pros and cons of this heating method.

So, the advantages of electric heating are as follows:

The efficiency of electric boilers is high. According to various sources, approximately 99% of electricity is converted into thermal energy.
Environmental friendliness. When using electricity, no emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere occur.
Automatic. Most electric boilers operate in automatic mode, that is, a person only needs to adjust accordingly.
Security. Unlike gas, where there is a risk of leakage, electricity is less dangerous.

And now for the cons:

The first and most important disadvantage is electricity tariffs. Most boilers that are connected to a three-phase network operate at high power, so the electricity consumption is high.
Dependence on an uninterrupted supply of electricity. If suddenly for some reason there is a power outage, the devices stop their work. But this problem can be solved by installing additional automation.

Security measures

After you have purchased an electric or solid fuel boiler, you should carefully read the instruction manual. There will also be indicated safety measures when working with the unit. If for some reason the boiler stopped working, or interruptions in its functioning began to occur, then you should call the wizard, as he will fix the problems in accordance with the instructions.

Which to choose

Having assessed all the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of heating a house, we can safely say that solid fuel boilers or stoves are the best. They work efficiently and will perfectly heat the house. Other heating methods, such as electric boilers, electric convectors, solar convectors, can be used as additional heating.

In any case, the house must be insulated at a high level, otherwise, the heat received from the heating devices will simply go outside.

during the cold months. There is no universal recipe. For the southern regions, the issue is not so relevant. After all, they have to heat the house for a very short time. In the northern part of the country, the issue of heating is one of the most important. After all, winter there can last up to nine months.

If the building is located within the city, the question of how best to heat the house is usually not worth it. You can simply connect to the central heating. For buildings outside the city, this possibility is not provided. Their owners will have to independently mount the heating system of the building.

An autonomous heating system requires installation and maintenance costs. But there will be no dependence on other organizations, you will be able to regulate the temperature. Now the prices for heat carriers are steadily rising. Therefore, you constantly have to think about what. We will describe several heating options for private buildings.

Bake

Considering all the options on how to heat a house, let's start with the simplest. In villages, this method of heating buildings is still used today. Putting the oven right is not easy. Usually a stove-maker is invited for this. But the design can last a long time. If the stove is installed between rooms, it will be able to heat several rooms at the same time.

The stove is heated with wood, sometimes coal. The necessary supply of firewood should be stocked in advance.

More heat will be given by dry logs of hardwoods, such as oak, hornbeam or beech. Wet pine will also burn, but there will be less heat from it in the house.

Stove heating requires constant care. It is necessary to properly equip the chimney, take out the ashes. To keep the house warm in winter, you will have to throw firewood several times. You will also have to take precautions to avoid a fire. The floor next to the stove door must be covered with iron. If a spark falls on parquet or linoleum, a fire may occur.

Fireplace

Fireplace heating is in many ways similar to stove heating. But the fireplace has a number of differences. The fireplace is more likely to be installed for beauty. His fire will warm one of the rooms.

When asked how to heat a house with a fireplace, it should be answered that it will not work to warm the entire room. The fireplace can be fired with wood or coal. However, its design is built in such a way that a lot of firewood burns, and very little heat is retained in the room.

Sometimes a fireplace flame is simulated using electric lighting. In rooms with a fireplace there is always a cozy atmosphere.

Water heating

How to heat a house with water? We'll have to install a heating system. They purchase a boiler for heating a liquid (antifreeze is sometimes used instead of water), pipes, heating batteries, and possibly a pump and an expansion tank.

Price

How much does it cost to heat a house with hot water? It all depends on the type of equipment. Let's describe how the system works. So, we purchased a boiler that will heat water. The liquid in the boiler heats up, increases in volume and is fed by gravity through pipes. Pipes lead water to heating radiators installed in the room. Batteries get hot and give off heat. Then the water is cooled and returned to the boiler, where it is heated again. The system works in a closed loop.

Sometimes a forced system is used to supply fluid, then you need to purchase a special pump. The heart of this scheme is the boiler. This is where the liquid heats up. When deciding how much cheaper it is to heat a house, you need to carefully consider the choice of a boiler.

Boilers can be wall and floor. Outdoor have a more massive design. Single-circuit boilers heat water only for heating. If there are several circuits, you can heat the water for the shower. You can even heat the water for the pool.

Boilers can operate on different energy sources. All heating boilers can be divided into several groups:

electric boilers heat water with electricity;
diesel ( ;
solid fuel;
gas;
biofuel boilers.

The most commonly used boilers are electric or gas. But private houses are not always connected to gas, and electricity prices are constantly increasing. Solid fuel boilers can run on coal or wood. But you will have to constantly throw up material for combustion and remove the ashes.

Heaters

The heating system is installed when people live in the house all year. And if the family comes there only for a few months? You can consider the question of how to heat the house with electricity. The best option is to purchase a heater. The most acceptable option is an oil cooler. This heater consumes little electricity and retains heat for a long time.

How to heat a house when you only need to heat one room. You can buy an infrared heater. It allows you to warm up a small area in a very short time. The heater consumes little energy and is safe for humans. When you are going to the country, this option is perfect.

Gas and electric convectors

Considering the question of what is the best way to heat a house, one more method should be described - heating with a convector. Convectors can be gas or electric.

If the country house is well insulated, these heating structures will help to warm the rooms quickly. This option is well suited for country houses. By installing an automatic device, it will be possible to warm up the house before the arrival of the owners.

Other options

In a short article, it is impossible to describe all the options for heating a house. You can use a heat or gas gun, install a bio-fireplace, you can even purchase an improved version of a potbelly stove and heat it with firewood.

In European states, they learned to use to heat the house. After all, at a certain depth there is always a lot of heat. If water is pumped deep during the winter months, the liquid will warm up and give off heat to the batteries located in the rooms of the building.

How much does it cost to heat a house this way? So far, it's expensive. After all, you will need to install expensive equipment. And such technologies are attractive when the house is completely insulated, and the pumps are powered by solar panels or wind turbines.

You are the owner of a country house where the main gas is not connected, and the electrical networks are not designed for a large load, hence the allocated limit of 5 kW for all needs. Another variation on the theme: you are a rural resident of Ukraine, where the cost of blue fuel has jumped to UAH 7.2. (0.3 c.u.) per 1 m³, so you cannot use it because of low income. There are other, more complex situations.

In this situation, you are faced with the task of providing heating for a private house without gas and electricity, preferably economical. Let's define alternative heating methods and analyze all the nuances associated with their implementation.

Heating options without the use of electricity and gas

To list all the ways to heat a country house or cottage, we will assume that electricity is still supplied there. The supplier enterprise has set a small power consumption limit (3-5 kW), which does not allow turning electricity into a heat source, but makes it possible to connect heating equipment. In a detailed study of each option, we will highlight those that do not require the use of the mains.

Houses located on the outskirts are often not supplied with gas

So, if there is no gas and electricity (sufficient power), then heating for the house can be arranged in the following ways:

Install a stove or solid fuel boiler connected to a water heating system. Use wood, coal, fuel briquettes or pellets as an energy carrier.
Arrange autonomous heating with liquefied propane from a ramp with cylinders or a gas tank. The source of heat will be a conventional gas boiler or convectors that heat the premises with warm air.
Use diesel fuel and waste oil for heat generation by installing appropriate equipment.
Draw energy from renewable natural sources, using solar collectors and a heat pump for alternative heating of a country house.

Note. Unfortunately, almost all of these methods become useless when you need to decide how to heat an apartment. We will have to do without liquefied gas and firewood, and there can be no talk of liquid fuel. There is only one way out - economical heating with electricity using infrared heaters or an air-to-air heat pump (in the southern regions, an inverter air conditioner will do).

Options for heating equipment for an apartment

Let's single out heat sources that do not require connection to the house electrical network for operation:

wood stoves, metal and brick, fireplaces;
solid fuel boilers equipped with a mechanical draft regulator and working in conjunction with a gravitational (gravity-flowing) heating system;
non-volatile floor standing boilers capable of operating on liquefied gas and connected to a gravity water system with radiators.

Other methods require electricity, albeit in small quantities. If you do not take into account various home-made devices, then for burning diesel fuel you need a burner with a pump and a fan powered by the mains. The same is the case with all heat pumps and TT boilers with forced air supply, including pellet boilers. Now let's take a closer look at ways to heat a country house or cottage, if there is no gas and the supply of electricity is limited.

Combustion of solid fuel

One of the most common methods to organize home heating without gas is the use of coal, firewood and briquettes pressed from various biomass wastes (sawdust, straw, sunflower husks, needles, and so on). To burn them and get the required amount of heat, various furnaces and boilers are used. The former are designed for direct heating of indoor air, the latter work with water systems - radiators or underfloor heating.

The easiest option is to put a nice metal stove

Amendment. In a room where a wood or coal stove is located, heat is distributed not only by convection from heating the air, but also by infrared radiation emitted by its heated walls.

There are three types of heating stoves: steel, cast iron and brick. The positive nuances of their operation are as follows:

It is cheaper and easier to arrange heating of the house with a steel or cast-iron stove. For its installation and launch, it is not necessary to invite masters, everything can be done by hand.
A stationary brick oven is capable of heating several rooms, accumulating a large amount of heat in the thickness of the walls.
Any of these heat sources can be adapted for cooking, drying clothes and shoes.
The device of many stoves provides for a water circuit built into the furnace in the form of a tank or a coil connected to several radiators located in neighboring rooms. There is a point here: for the movement of the coolant, it is necessary to lay pipes of increased diameter with observance of the slope (gravity system) or install a circulation pump.
Wood and coal are the cheapest fuels of all energy sources, so heating costs are affordable for most homeowners.
Furnaces do not need electricity at all.

Brick stove gives a pleasant healthy warmth, but it is not easy to build

Note. A heat source such as a wood-burning fireplace cannot be ruled out. True, it is enough to heat only one room in which it is located.

There were also negative points:

stove heating of a private house without gas is the chopping and carrying of firewood, their loading and daily cleaning of ash;
the heater requires a chimney with good natural draft;
metal stoves are unable to heat large country cottages, their power is only enough for a country house or 1-2 rooms;
the construction of a brick oven is not a cheap pleasure, and a place for it must be provided at the design and construction stage of the building.

It should be borne in mind that a brick oven is being built on a foundation

Heating a stone or wooden house through a water system with a solid fuel boiler is more economical, since the efficiency of these units is higher (75% versus a maximum of 60% for stoves). Due to this, the duration of burning from one bookmark of fuel is increased, plus the issue of complete heating of the building with spaced heating devices has been resolved. This gives rise to the possibility of heating large areas of the house in the absence of gas and regulating the intensity of heating of the premises.

TT-boiler with mechanical draft regulator in operation

Otherwise, TT-boilers inherit the features of the furnaces. They also need a chimney, periodic cleaning and loading of new portions of firewood and coal. If we compare the cost, then the installation of a solid fuel boiler along with the system takes a middle position between buying a metal stove and building a brick one.

An important point. A water heating unit that runs on wood or briquettes can be installed in any habitable house. With a lack of space, an extension is made to the building, where heating equipment is installed.

Separately, it is worth mentioning automatic pellet boilers, which greatly simplify the life of the homeowner, since they must be cleaned and fuel added once a week. Another thing is the price of equipment and fuel, and also the increased consumption of electricity. In addition to automation, the following electrical installations are involved in such heat generators:

feed screw motor;
fan motor - supercharger either;
heating element used for automatic ignition of pellets.

An automatic pellet or coal boiler is a great choice, but it also needs electricity

The listed elements are installed in a pellet burner and consume a total of about 500 W from the mains, which is essential for a private house without gas and with a limited limit on the use of electricity. On the other hand, pellet boilers are more efficient and economical than conventional ones (efficiency - 80% versus 75%), and their operation is more comfortable and safe (automatics will not allow the unit to boil). The question lies in the financial capabilities of the homeowner and the amount of the allocated electric power limit.

Heating with liquefied gas

Let us make a reservation right away that in the absence of main gas and electricity, it is not profitable to use this fuel in all countries of the former USSR. If Russian prices for liquefied propane still allow them to heat houses, then in Ukraine this method is practically not used anywhere, because the fuel is too expensive. You can see the exact layout of the cost of heating with different energy carriers in.

To work on propane, any gas heat generator is suitable, only the wall-mounted one will have to be connected to the mains

To burn a propane-butane mixture, you will need a conventional gas boiler, preferably a non-volatile floor-standing one, so as not to connect electricity to it. Accordingly, the heating system is water gravitational with an open-type expansion tank. Gas is supplied to the boiler in two ways - from a ramp with cylinders or a large underground tank - a gas tank.

When installing and operating the equipment, you will encounter the following points:

Installing a gas train with cylinders (at least 4 pieces will be required) will be inexpensive, but the cash costs will have to be compensated by labor costs. With permanent residence, you suffer much more with the transportation and filling of cylinders than if you heat the house with wood.
Installing a gas tank is a costly undertaking. But as a result, you will get autonomous heating without connecting to the gas main.
Liquefied propane is no less efficient and comfortable energy source than natural gas, and provides the same benefits in the process of equipment operation.

Methods for supplying liquefied fuel to a heat generator

Advice. It is better to organize heating with cylinders in a small country house, where you visit and live for 2-3 days. Our experienced expert will tell you more about all the nuances of using liquefied gas in his video:

Diesel fuel - more cons than pros

As a rule, the burning of diesel fuel and used engine oil is implemented in situations where there is nothing more to heat a private house with. Sometimes this option is used as a temporary one, while the built house is not yet connected to the natural gas main. In this case, you buy a universal gas boiler, temporarily equipped with a diesel burner.

The unpopularity of liquid fuel as an energy carrier for heating private dwellings is explained by the following reasons:

economical heating of a house with diesel fuel is an unrealistic concept, since the price of fuel is quite high;
diesel burners cost decent money and do not function without electricity (we do not take into account all sorts of homemade home craftsmen);
liquid fuel is dirt and smell in the boiler room, no matter how hard you try to keep it clean;
due to the poor quality of the fuel, the equipment must be serviced frequently, and with the help of qualified personnel.

Heating of a country cottage with a Buderus diesel boiler

For reference. If you have a reliable supplier of used oil at a reasonable price, then you can try to make a Babbington burner yourself, saving on the purchase of equipment. Manufacturing instructions - c.

So, diesel fuel is far from an economical option, but in some situations it can help out. It is better to organize such heating than to leave the house without heating.

Alternative sources of thermal energy

The first thing that comes to mind when there is neither gas nor electricity in a country cottage is to organize the generation of electricity in some way. For example, install solar panels and a wind farm that can provide all the needs of a private household and serve as a power source for any boiler. But you are unlikely to master such a project alone because of the decent cost of equipment and work on its installation. Unless you manage to connect a dozen more neighbors to the project.

Generating free electricity using windmills and solar panels will require a significant investment

A more realistic option for alternative heating is to use a heat pump. This brainchild of advanced technologies is widely used in Western Europe and the United States, but in the post-Soviet space it is not available to everyone. The reason is again the high price. The principle of operation of the pump is similar to the air conditioner: thermal energy is extracted in one place (from natural sources) and moved to another (inside a private house).

There are 4 types of heat pumps, which we will indicate along with the cost of equipment:

"Air is air". Acts exactly like a household split system that works for heating. The issue price is from 1800 USD. e., plus installation of at least 150 c.u. e.
"Air - water". It differs from the previous version in that the thermal energy taken from the outside air is transferred to the water in the heating system. The cost of installation of medium quality - from 2000 USD. e., installations - about 1700 c.u. e.
"Water is water". These units heat the coolant in the house due to the energy taken from groundwater or a nearby reservoir. More or less reliable equipment will cost you 3000-3300 USD. e., and the cost of installation depends on the number of wells, the remoteness of the reservoir and other factors.
Geothermal installation "land - water". Here, the outer circuit of pipes delivers heat to the house from the depths of the earth, heating the coolant for heating. The most reliable and expensive system, the price starts from 8000 USD. e., installation - at least 2000 c.u. e.

Pipe circuits (left) take away the thermal energy of the earth and water, and the installation (right) directs it to heat the house

The trick is that these units still need electricity to move thermal energy. To get 3-4 kW of heat and send it to heating, you need to spend 1 kW of electricity.

When the limit of electric power at the entrance to the house is limited to 5 kilowatts, then 3 of them can be spent on heating. The geothermal pump will produce 12 kW of thermal energy, which is enough to heat a living area of 120-160 m², no more.

For reference. When purchasing and operating heat pumps at current prices, there is no question of any payback of equipment, the subsequent energy savings are taken into account. Our expert will give you more information in his video:

Finally, let's say a few words about how to heat a private house with solar collectors. These are groups of glass tubes with a coolant flowing inside, which are heated by the infrared radiation of the sun. Unfortunately, such installations cannot act independently, and here's why:

at night there is no sun, and there is no heating of the coolant;
in winter, especially in the northern regions, there is too little solar energy;
to move the coolant, you will need a circulation pump powered by electricity.

Scheme of connecting solar collectors to the heating system

For these reasons, solar collectors are usually connected by pipes to special fittings of the buffer tank, where they give off the received heat. But the tank is also heated from other sources (boilers, stoves), so the outlet temperature is enough to heat the house.

findings

In the current conditions, the best way to fully heat a country house without gas and electricity is to burn solid fuel in boilers or stoves. The main role here is played by the combination of the cost of heating installations and the price of firewood, coal and other briquettes with pellets. Other options will cost more.

An economically profitable energy source in our conditions is firewood

Note that when choosing heat power equipment, a simple rule applies: the smaller the initial cash investment, the more troublesome its operation. Which of the homeowners wants to organize super - economical heating on the cheap, should invest more work and time. And vice versa, when buying and installing expensive heat pumps, the owner of the house has one concern - sometimes to monitor the temperature and control the operation of the units.

Along with electricity, thermal energy has become for us an expense item, if not the main one in utility costs, then definitely significant. Along with the Europeans, we are starting to get used to the comfort temperature of 20 degrees Celsius. It is unlikely that the language will turn to call such a temperature comfortable. But if you heat your household at your own expense, then for a couple of three, or even five thousand rubles a month, you are ready to get used to dressing warmer while under your own roof. If you have central heating, then it has not been as cheap as you would like for a long time, there are no miracles and we have to pay for the received CHP or boiler energy, pay in full and even with a delta. After all, salaries must be paid, and it is necessary to provide a chain of intermediaries with profit, to cover the heat losses that occur in poorly insulated and extremely long highways, inherited for the most part from the Soviet Union. In this case, we finally have the opportunity to install heat meters, they are quite affordable, and besides that, we stop paying for losses, and pay only for what we consume.

Sooner or later, I think we will have to deliberately or forcedly forget about these benefits and remember about the heat supply of individual houses or small groups of houses with individual boiler houses. To date, there are not many housing projects relying on main heat carriers. All housing with the prefix comfort or elite is designed already with its own boiler room, in most cases a gas boiler room. Today, the presence of main gas almost automatically means the presence of heat obtained from this gas. In terms of price, this is the cheapest fuel for heating purposes and it has no competitors.

But there is not a big nuance, is it possible for you to get this type of fuel, and if so, for what means to get it. In some areas, gas connection bills negate all the benefits of this type of heating. Everything is in the power of the monopolist and he asks for as much as he sees fit, thank God that gas prices are regulated more centrally and the issue of tariffs is a painful and political issue. Tariffs for gas, including, most likely, will soon show us their marathon, but today they are out of competition in terms of heating.

And what should we do if our house is conditional 100 m 2, although we, like no one else, strive for huge dwellings, often amounting to hundreds of squares, many of which we cannot afford. And so let's take our living area of 100 square meters. From numerous sources, we reduce the need for heat 0.1 kW / h per m2, that is, for heating a house of 100 m2, we need a heat source with a capacity of 10 kWh, taking into account the efficiency of the boiler and with some margin it can be either 12 kW or 9 kt . If we decide to heat with electricity, then this is an 8-9 kW electric boiler, in the case of a wood-burning appliance, it is rather a 12 kilowatt device.

If the power is more and more less clear, then it is not easy to decide on the type of fuel. This issue is serious and requires accessibility assessment. If you live in an area surrounded by logging, lumber production or yourself in this field of activity, then of course your option is wood, it will be firewood or wood briquettes, euro firewood is up to you again based on availability and cost. It is also worth paying attention to such type of fuel as pallets. Let's just say that if the boilers, they are called by the way TT, are solid fuel and they are simply a great choice, they are basically omnivorous and you can heat them with both firewood (briquettes, euro firewood) and coal and even peat, briquetted of course. Heaters are not divided into a couple of types, some work like fireplaces or stoves and are suitable for small and adjacent rooms or like boilers with a water circuit. In the case of TT devices, you need to imagine that in the case of permanent residence, you need to be ready to combine your activities with the activities of a fireman and a loader sometimes. But there are, of course, machines that may not require your attention for a whole day, and sometimes for several days. These include devices that work on pallets, wood chips, small sized coal, coal automatic machines. But all of them are not very cheap - from 200 thousand rubles today is August 18, sometimes they are very capricious about the quality of fuel.

And by analogy with coal and wood, it is possible to heat with diesel fuel.

This is more expensive in terms of fuel, cheaper or equal to the cost of budget TT boilers. Diesel devices are very unpretentious and practically do not require attention. Some users do not turn off such boilers all year round and do this only for infrequent service. Most of them are universal and when changing the burner they can burn main gas or bottled gas. The topic of fuel for such burners is open and is not limited to buying diesel at a gas station, although this is an option when you suddenly feel impatient and do not need to order a fuel truck or a dump truck with pallets. With an increase in the values on the refueling display, there are options for acquiring fuel, so to speak, alternative ones. For example, quite tolerable quality fuel obtained from waste oil, waste oil, for example, is distilled into fuel that satisfies even diesel engines of imported cars with its quality and characteristics, so that it is quite suitable as fuel for a diesel burner.

The next type of fuel that allows you to heat your home is liquefied gas, propane, for example, the familiar bottled gas, it can be in conventional cylinders or in huge containers, the so-called gas tanks. These same gas tanks are very expensive, and the larger they are, the more expensive. For example, a gas tank on an ordinary trailer, mobile up to 600 liters, can be purchased from 150 to 270 thousand rubles, and a gas tank for 6000 liters will cost, depending on whether it is underground or ground, about 400 thousand. And even if you decide to install a gas tank, then you need to look for a gas supplier, preferably one who does not really want to deceive you, he will deceive anyway. The first thing to do is to refuse the gas tank maintenance service, this is superfluous and the reaction to your refusal will tell you a lot. Secondly, we should not forget about such an effect as clogging the container, liquefied gas is a mixture of gases, such as propane or methane with necessarily butane gas. Butane burns a little differently than propane and at low temperatures already at minus one degree it turns into a liquid state. To make it return to a gaseous state, it must be heated, these are already expenses and the heating system also costs money. In addition to butane, believe me, at the bottom of the tank you will find just banal water and, perhaps, you will also pay for it a couple of times at the price of fuel. Do not forget about the danger of gas leakage, it is not a good habit to find holes and accumulate in them, accumulate, for example, in your well or well. Boiler facilities are often arranged above the well. I also don’t think it makes sense to mess with 50 liter cylinders, it’s a constant search for refueling these cylinders and, by the way, rather slow refueling, frequent 100% change will lead to leaks.
Heating with electricity. Cheap, probably the cheapest and most affordable equipment.

If your home is more than a hundred meters, then you will need additional power and it’s good if they are allocated to you. You may need a three-phase network. Capricious to the quality of the current and the network in particular. If your neighbors are also heated from the outlet, then you all may not have enough and the voltage in the network will drop. The cheapness of the heating device, the boiler, is more than offset by electricity tariffs. So, as a backup source, the option is not bad, for example, if you turn on the heating during the second tariff, which, as a rule, is half the price of the main one. It justifies itself as a backup or even an emergency source of heat.

It is still too early for us to consider such an option as a heat pump, if abroad the governments of countries in every possible way promote and generously subsidize “refrigerators on the contrary”, then in principle such devices will never be able to pay off in our country due to the enormous cost also additionally burdened by customs duties. The idea is interesting, but it has an extremely low efficiency, a large amount of work in terms of installation, and a high cost. In the future, we will still see the development of this segment, maybe it will absorb something new, and we will see a hybrid with high efficiency and an acceptable price.
Hydrogen heating, promoted by an Italian company, and even, in my opinion, they have already gone on sale, has a development prospect, but so far it is expensive and arguably profitable, due to the high price of hydrogen production. The energy spent on obtaining hydrogen does not make it possible to obtain free fuel from water.

There are, of course, some more exotic ways of heating, such as burning used oil and even car tires and other waste and, frankly, garbage. There are many environmental issues related to this topic, although in a number of countries the problem of garbage and heating has been quite successfully solved. And it seems that the prospect of heating, and maybe getting electricity will be associated with waste, because there are a lot of them, they really interfere, so to speak, and so far they don’t cost anything.

Equipment for burning the same waste oil is quite expensive, for example, only a German-made burner will cost under 100 thousand rubles and this is without a boiler, but the price of fuel covers all costs.

Type of fuel	Weight/price per liter	The price of 1 kg of fuel	Calorific value of 1kg per kWh.	The cost of 1 kW	Need per year per 100m2	Fuel costs per year.

Pallets, ruff briquettes,
Peat, briquettes
Liquefied gas
Diesel refueling Diesel not refueling
Uh second rate

When choosing a heating system and specifically what you will heat, you also need to take into account such factors as convenience and storage, fuel storage. Firewood must be chopped and stacked in the required quantities in a woodpile, pallets require a dry, ventilated room, coal accompanies a large amount of coal dust, gas leaks, diesel fuel smells if spilled, electricity can generally give you an electric shock, be careful.

All letters above are absolutely personal opinions of congenial people, an excellent group of companies Eurasia-Cable LLC, Elkab-Ural LLC, Elkab LLC. We will be happy to advise you any day and help you make the right decision to purchase only the highest quality cables and wires.

home > power plants