Gas central heating

Today's modern gas fired central heating and hot water boilers are designed for more than just keeping your home warm. Because they burn as little gas as possible, they minimise energy consumption and running costs - and that means you could save money.

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Energy

What is central heating?

Central hating means heating from a central source. Most modern central heating systems use water as the medium to get heat from the central source (boiler) to all the areas to be heated. The correct term for a boiler is a Heat generator because the water is not “boiled”, although water in a modern central heating system can reach 100 deg.°C and above, the normal running temperature is about 78 deg.°C A centrally heated house will normally be cheaper to run than any other form of heating. For instance independent fires, even just one fire can be more expensive to run than a well designed central heating system with good quality controls.

How does central heating work?

A central heating system consists of all the pipe work and radiators that are connected to the boiler. The boiler provides the heat but, it's the pump that moves the heated water from the boiler through the pipe work to the radiators, and back to the boiler for re-heating. There are many types of system that can be installed, and which may be tailored to your own preferences. But a carefully designed and installed system will give many years of trouble free running and will not waste heat, therefore keeping fuel costs low.

Water heating (Combination)

It is also normal to combine the needs of room heating with hot water heating and storage. In this case the heated water in the sealed system is allowed to flow through a heat exchanger in a hot water tank or hot water cylinder where water from the normal water supply is heated by it before being fed to hot water outlets in the house. These outlets could be hot water taps, appliances such as a washing machine or dishwasher, a gravity fed shower or a powered shower - a type of shower that pumps water but does not heat it.

History

Central heating systems were used in northern Roman cities in the 100s. Air heated by furnaces was led through empty spaces under the floors and out of pipes in the walls - this system being termed a 'hypocaust'. In 1716, water was first used to spread the heat. This system was used by Martin Triewald, a Swedish engineer, on a greenhouse at Newcastle upon Tyne. Bonnemain, a French architect, made its first industrial use on a coop, at Château du Pêcq, near Paris.