Country houses are used for recreation, not for permanent residence. Nevertheless, in early spring or late autumn, it becomes cold in any room. Therefore, heating the summer cottage becomes a necessity. Otherwise, it will not be possible to stay in the house for the night. This can be inconvenient due to the fact that the road to the holiday village sometimes takes a long time, and sometimes it is inappropriate to return on the same day.
There is another significant advantage of a heated summer cottage, for example, for those who have children: with the children, you can arrange a winter picnic outside the city on New Year's holidays. How to make heating for a summer residence with your own hands, and which scheme is better to choose for this, we will consider further.
Heating in a brick house
Which houses are best suited for heating
Depending on the building materials, the temporary dwelling may or may not be suitable for heating. For example, wooden houses built from panel panels cool down very quickly. Such a structure must be additionally insulated. Do not forget about fire safety, arranging heating in a country house made of wood.
Heating in a wooden house
Houses built of bricks, shell rock or concrete are another matter. They belong to capital buildings and are ready for a year-round visit. The choice of a heating scheme in such houses depends on the communications passing by.
Suitable heating options for summer cottages, their pros and cons
They can be conditionally divided into three types:
- oven;
- water;
- electric.
Modern stove heating is arranged using a cast iron or steel stove.
We will not consider a furnace made of refractory bricks, since it should be taken into account at the design stage and arranged along with the construction of internal walls.
If you have to choose heating in the country without gas, then this option turns out to be the most economical. The advantage of this type of heating is the ability to heat the room to the optimum comfortable temperature in just 40-50 minutes. Furnace heating has drawbacks: it is necessary to periodically (approximately every 4-6 hours) add fuel and clean the ash pan from combustion products, you also need to control the draft.
However, this device has undoubted advantages: simplicity and speed of installation, there is no need to worry about equipment failure, freezing and bursting of pipes, as in water heating.
Cast iron stove
The second type is water (steam) heating. In terms of comfort and structure, it can be compared with the city one. The principle of water country heating is that the heat carrier - hot water (or antifreeze) is preheated in the boiler - passes through pipes to radiators or convectors and gives off heat, heating the rooms. The disadvantages of such heating are the complexity of the circuit and the need to purchase expensive equipment. The advantages of this type of heating: comfort of use and the ability to choose one of the available boilers:
- gas;
- electric;
- solid fuel.
It should be noted that, although gas heating boilers for summer cottages are preferable, they require mandatory coordination with the gas service before installation.
The simplest type of country heating is electric. It is realized by installing heaters, convectors or warm infrared floors. Pros: their device does not require major repairs, the equipment does not require maintenance, connects and works as needed.Cons: In case of power outages, it is better to have an alternative heat source, for example, the same oven.
Infrared floors
How to make heating in the country for year-round use
Antifreeze is used as a coolant in the water heating system.
If you periodically visit your country house in winter, then you cannot do without a more serious heating system. Both a fireplace and a stove-stove, of course, can also be installed. But due to the fact that both of these heating methods require constant monitoring and regular fuel addition, it is not very convenient to use them at night. But it is at night that the lowest temperatures and the greatest need for warmth - without moving a person freezes faster. Therefore, in order to ensure a comfortable rest in winter, you need to take care of high-quality heating in the country, it does not matter if you use ready-made equipment or do-it-yourself.
A proven method of heating a country house is a water heating system. True, in this case, it is not recommended to use water as a coolant, but antifreeze. This will protect the system from defrosting when the heating is not in use. It is quite possible to create a water heating scheme for a summer residence with your own hands. For this you need:
- calculate the required power of the boiler (it depends on the area of the house and the material from which it is built);
- measure the length of the pipeline system and count the number of radiators (depending on the wiring method);
- purchase all the necessary equipment and components;
- install heating in the country.
If you have no experience in installation work, then you need to consult with specialists. Since there are many nuances that will make the operation of the heating system problem-free in the future.
The water heating scheme of a summer house can operate on various heat sources. That is, the boiler, which directly heats the coolant, can operate on different types of fuel. Since the boiler is the most expensive link in this chain, then its choice is the most responsible business.
The simplest boiler for heating a summer cottage, running on wood or coal, can be homemade. To do this, a tank with a coolant is built into an already existing furnace. And then, pipes are drawn from the boiler with a slight slope throughout the house. When heated, the coolant moves down the pipes, gives off most of the heat in the radiators and then flows back into the boiler. This is how the simplest one-pipe heating scheme of a country house looks like. If you want to be able to use hot water from the system for household needs, then you need to install a more complex double-circuit wiring. In any case, before proceeding with the installation of heating in the country, you must first design the heating system, and try to take into account all the nuances of operation.
How to choose the right heating system for a summer residence
The first step is to determine the availability of fuel. If a gas main passes nearby, then it's a sin not to take advantage of this. Gas is one of the cheapest types of fuel. Accordingly, gas heating for summer cottages is the best option in terms of quality and affordability.
If the networks do not pass close, then solid fuel and electricity remain. It is better to give preference to either a cheaper or safer type. Much depends on the materials from which the house is made.
For example, it is unsafe to arrange stove heating in a wooden house, since materials located next to the stove can ignite in it. At the same time, infrared floors are best installed under laminate flooring, since wood floors have high thermal insulation properties. In addition, they dry out from heating and deform over time.
Total:
- for a house made of brick or concrete, water or stove heating is more suitable;
- for a wooden house, it is better to arrange water or electric heating. When using the oven, care should be taken to ensure safety and thorough isolation from heated metal surfaces.
Cottage heating methods
When solving such a question as heating a summer cottage, the options can be very diverse. The choice of the optimal solution to this problem largely depends on the intensity of the use of the country house in the cold season, as well as on the budget.
In addition, the following factors influence the determination of the method of heating a summer cottage:
- the presence of a power line;
- the presence of a gas pipeline;
- purchase and the possibility of storage in sufficient volumes of solid (briquettes, firewood, coal) or liquid fuel (diesel fuel);
- technical parameters of the building itself (its dimensions, degree of insulation and fire safety).
Boilers can operate on a different type of energy carrier:
- solid fuel;
- natural gas;
- electricity;
- liquid fuel (diesel fuel).
If heating in the country can be connected using any of the energy sources, then the determining factor when choosing the type of country boiler is the cost of equipment and heating costs. In addition, the duration of the use of the country house is important: if the house is used only for summer residence, it is more expedient to use portable heaters powered by electricity, and for year-round, stationary systems based on heating boilers or stoves.
The most affordable energy sources for heating in the country are natural gas and firewood. For gas heating in the house, you will have to install a gas boiler and a pipeline system. For heating a modern building with wood, it is not at all necessary to use an archaic stone stove, especially since it is distinguished by large heat losses and uneven distribution of heat in the room.
One of the oldest ways to heat your home is to light the stove. In small houses, such heating will be ineffective, the room will warm up for a very long time, even with a small living space. Heating with wood in the country can be realized either with the help of a stove-stove, fireplace or by means of a modern solid fuel boiler.
The potbelly stove is easy to install and operate, it not only heats the room, but also allows you to cook food. However, it can heat relatively small country houses (up to 60 sq. M.). As for the fireplace, it has excellent decorative properties and will become an adornment of any home, it will warm in damp weather, but it will not cope well with heating in winter.
Heating a summer cottage with a fireplace
If the area of the house is higher than indicated, then it is more advisable to use a solid fuel boiler. Such a heat generator will help not only to effectively heat the room, but also significantly reduce the labor costs for servicing the device (a solid fuel boiler produces much less soot and combustion waste, and firewood can be loaded only once a day.)
Stove heating: installation rules
This heating installation in the country has some limitations. It is best to install a cast-iron firebox in utility rooms or living rooms, choosing walls with a thickness of at least 500 mm adjacent to the inner rooms. It is not recommended to install stoves in bedrooms to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. It is not advisable to arrange a firebox in a draft, between adjacent windows or doors: otherwise it will start to smoke. It is not recommended to hammer the wall in the absence of a chimney, it is better to finish building it.
Furnace heating scheme
It is correct to place the firebox on a brick cushion laid in three rows, especially if it does not have a rack. A chimney is installed above the stove, made of sheet material or cast iron.In order to avoid fire, it is necessary to overlay the pipe with thermal insulation at the points of contact with the ceiling and roof. Depending on the model, such an oven heats an area from 15 to 90 square meters. m. You can install it in one day, if you do not use decorative trim.
Features of the arrangement of water heating
System type selection
So, we figured out what kind of heating to make in the country. Now let's take a closer look at water heating, which can be implemented in several ways.
One-pipe heating circuit with a circulation pump
First of all, water heating differs in the way the coolant circulates in the system.
It can be implemented in two ways:
- Natural - the movement of the liquid is carried out due to the different densities of hot and cold water, while the system uses an accelerating tank, and the pipes are mounted with a constant slope. The advantage of this option lies in the autonomy of the system, however, for this, the boiler must also be non-volatile.
- Forced - the coolant is driven by a circulation pump. In this case, there are fewer requirements for the system in terms of installation, but for that the heating of the garden house turns out to be volatile.
Two-pipe heating system
In addition, an important difference is the connection diagram of the radiators, which can be:
- Single-pipe - all radiators are connected in series to one pipe, which bends around the room around the perimeter. This method is suitable for small houses, since with a long system length, the heating of the batteries is uneven.
- Two-pipe - in this case, the hot coolant and the return flow flow through different pipes, which allows for uniform heating of the batteries. However, in this case, the price of the system turns out to be higher, since more pipes are required.
Before installing heating in the country, it is necessary to prepare a project, which should indicate not only the location and number of radiators, but also the capacity of the heating equipment. On our portal you can get detailed information on how to calculate the capacity of a heating system.
In the photo - installation of a radiator
Heating installation
Heating installation should start with the installation of the boiler and its connection to the chimney. Further work is carried out in accordance with the design of the system - first of all, heating radiators are mounted, and the pipeline is assembled.
Advice! When connecting heating equipment, it is necessary to pay attention to the tightness of the connections and use fum tape to seal the threaded connections.
In the places indicated in the diagram, the remaining elements of the system are mounted - a circulation pump, an expansion tank, etc. After completing the work, it is imperative to start the system and make sure that it is working and there is no leakage. This process is called crimping.
These are, perhaps, all the main features of the arrangement of heating in the country.
Water heating of a country house
This type of heating is the most comfortable due to the fact that the heat emanating from the radiators is distributed evenly throughout the room. It is advisable to choose it for houses with an area of 100 m2, when stove heating is not enough, and electric is expensive.
Scheme
This scheme of heating a summer cottage with your own hands boils down to the following: water is heated in the boiler, which, with the help of a pump, begins to circulate, flowing through pipes into the batteries. So that the liquid expanded from heating does not burst the pipes, a container must be connected to the system - an expansion tank of an open or closed (membrane) type.
Water heating circuit
It is possible to install a water heating system without a pump - according to the forced type, but it is less reliable and not justified, since the heating of the room with the help of it occurs several times slower. Sometimes it takes a day for the room to get a little warmer.Therefore, we will not consider it.
Equipment
So, for the system device you will need to purchase:
- radiators (according to the number of windows in the house), the choice of sections is taken in the calculation of 1 piece. by 1.5-2 m2;
- pipes suitable for them (the footage is determined in accordance with the diagram);
- expansion tank at the rate of + 10% of the volume of the heating circuit;
- pump (assuming that 1m2 will require 100 W of energy);
- shut-off valves, corresponding keys;
- level, pencil;
- gas, electric or solid fuel boiler, depending on the availability of fuel. As an interesting option for giving, you can consider a pyrolysis or gas generator boiler. Its efficiency is achieved up to 92% due to the fact that after burning wood, gas is emitted, which is ultimately also used as fuel. Thus, from one tab, the boiler works uninterruptedly for 12 hours.
The most suitable heating radiators for summer cottages are aluminum or biometallic. They weigh a little and heat up quickly. They can be easily transported by our own transport and connected to polypropylene pipes, which look decent, are inexpensive and do not require painting.
Installation recommendations
When arranging radiators on brackets, it is necessary to maintain a distance of at least 70 mm to the window sill, 100 mm from the floor and from 30 to 50 mm to the wall. The film is removed from the batteries after installation. For aesthetic reasons, it is better to mount the supply pipes level. The expansion tank is located next to the boiler, the pump is in front of it.
It should be noted that when the house is not heated, the water in it will freeze, this is fraught with rupture of pipes and failure of the system. To prevent this from happening, it is recommended to either drain the water upon departure, or fill the containers with antifreeze.
What are country heating systems
As with the selection of a heating model, there are various options for the implementation of home heating. It is possible to analyze how suburban heating is installed on the condition of water-based heating. Taking into account local resources, the best solution would be a heating boiler for a summer residence, which runs on solid or liquid fuel. Which option will be the best - it needs to be analyzed and calculated at the exact prices and possibilities of purchase, storage and transportation.
Taking into account the place where the house stands and the possibility of power outages, when installing the heating system, it would be best to ensure its complete autonomy.
In this situation, the most optimal solution would be a heating system, the basis of which is natural circulation. A house with two floors will allow the required height difference between the system points above and below for good functioning. The compact dimensions of the suburban building completely fall under the characteristics that ensure the reliable operation of natural circulation for the suburban type of heating.
Diagram of a natural circulation system
It goes without saying that it is possible to use an artificial type of circulation. But this also requires the installation of a generator in order to provide power to the pump during power outages. The heating system for summer cottages can be both closed and open. If antifreeze is used as a heat carrier, then a closed type must be chosen.
Due to the fact that the installation of heating in the country house will be carried out by hand - the best choice is a simpler, but rather productively functioning solution. This solution will be the installation diagram of a one-pipe system. The most famous of these is the Leningrad system.
Heating scheme leningradka
So, as an example, it was determined that a single-pipe type of heating "Leningradka" with a natural type of circulation would be made. The specified information cannot be considered as advice, but should only be taken as a possible option for future heating.
Electric heating
Installation of heaters and convectors
The easiest and fastest way to warm up in a country house is to turn on a convector or an infrared emitter. A very good option for a summer residence is electric heating batteries. These appliances very quickly raise the room temperature to a comfortable level.
Electric heater
Convector heater
Infrared heater
It would be possible to stop at this equipment, if not for health care. The fact is that in a cold room, the feet freeze more than outside. Therefore, it is better to arrange warm floors in the house. They allow you to warm up much faster after being outdoors for a long time and are therefore less likely to catch a cold.
Installation of underfloor heating
You can install infrared underfloor heating at any time of the year, even on an old floor. In this way, the installation of the heating of the summer house is carried out without much difficulty. To do this, you need to purchase an infrared film (one of the best manufacturers - Caleo), heat and waterproofing, thermostat, coating (better laminate). Next, you should follow these steps:
- clean the floor surface, it should be perfectly flat;
- install a thermostat in the wall;
- lay thermal insulation (preferably Izolon) and secure it with construction tape;
- lay strips of film in accordance with the instructions (the area where the furniture will be should be left without a radiator);
- fasten them together;
- isolate the cuts with bitumen tape;
- connect electrical wires to the edges;
- bring them to the thermostat; check the system for serviceability;
- lay waterproofing;
- cover the floor with carpeting or laminate.
Recommendations on how to save money on heating a country house
Connecting infrared film to electricity
It has been noticed that heat leaks affect the speed and efficiency of room heating. Old wooden double-glazed windows usually release up to 20% of the heat. Through cold walls - up to 40%, through doors - up to 20%, through the floor - 10%. Accordingly, if the leaks are eliminated and the walls are insulated before the cold weather begins, then on the way for an hour it will already be possible to feel in a country house just like in a city apartment.
And further. The most economical heating for a summer residence in terms of fuel consumption is gas. Therefore, if it is possible to connect to the trunk, then it is better to choose it as a priority.
