ᐅ Is a heat load calculation necessary when specifying desired indoor temperatures?
Created on: 6 Feb 2018 12:04
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Pädda
Hello.
I have often read in the forum that a heating load calculation is absolutely necessary. Recently, we attended a building trade fair and I spoke with three leading gas heating manufacturers. Each of them said that a heating load calculation with specific desired temperatures for individual rooms is unnecessary for a gas heating system because the capacity of the gas heater is always sufficient. According to the exhibitors, a heating load calculation is always performed anyway, but with standard room temperatures, for example, 18°C (64°F) for bedrooms and 21°C (70°F) for living rooms. This is regulated somewhere as a standard temperature. I then told them that we differ a bit from the standard and want 22°C (72°F) in the bedroom and 23°C (73°F) in the living room. The exhibitors said that this is completely irrelevant. With a gas heating system, these temperatures can always be achieved. The heating curve just needs to be adjusted accordingly.
They also said that the installation spacing of the underfloor heating pipes does not really matter. However, if a heat pump is possibly planned for installation at some point in the future, the pipe spacing should be reduced from, for example, 20cm (8 inches) to 10–15cm (4–6 inches).
What do you think about this?
I have often read in the forum that a heating load calculation is absolutely necessary. Recently, we attended a building trade fair and I spoke with three leading gas heating manufacturers. Each of them said that a heating load calculation with specific desired temperatures for individual rooms is unnecessary for a gas heating system because the capacity of the gas heater is always sufficient. According to the exhibitors, a heating load calculation is always performed anyway, but with standard room temperatures, for example, 18°C (64°F) for bedrooms and 21°C (70°F) for living rooms. This is regulated somewhere as a standard temperature. I then told them that we differ a bit from the standard and want 22°C (72°F) in the bedroom and 23°C (73°F) in the living room. The exhibitors said that this is completely irrelevant. With a gas heating system, these temperatures can always be achieved. The heating curve just needs to be adjusted accordingly.
They also said that the installation spacing of the underfloor heating pipes does not really matter. However, if a heat pump is possibly planned for installation at some point in the future, the pipe spacing should be reduced from, for example, 20cm (8 inches) to 10–15cm (4–6 inches).
What do you think about this?
Thank you very much for all the information!
Our plan is also to eventually run the underfloor heating with a heat pump. At least, we want to remain flexible in that regard. And with heat pumps, the heating load calculation is even more important. How would you approach this? Should the heating engineer perform a heating load calculation specifically for a heat pump and base the pipe spacing of the heating loops on that, or is that too much since a gas boiler will be installed? I can imagine he might give me a hard time about it. Or should I just tell him that the pipe spacing should generally be 15cm (6 inches)? What do you think?
Our plan is also to eventually run the underfloor heating with a heat pump. At least, we want to remain flexible in that regard. And with heat pumps, the heating load calculation is even more important. How would you approach this? Should the heating engineer perform a heating load calculation specifically for a heat pump and base the pipe spacing of the heating loops on that, or is that too much since a gas boiler will be installed? I can imagine he might give me a hard time about it. Or should I just tell him that the pipe spacing should generally be 15cm (6 inches)? What do you think?
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garfunkel5 Mar 2018 16:01Why should the heating engineer give you the bird?
Just tell them what you want.
Just tell them what you want.
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garfunkel5 Mar 2018 16:55Well, if you state the reasons, it’s not that strange after all. Everyone is different. It’s perfectly reasonable to take a closer look at the whole thing. It wouldn’t be untrue to say that one is considering installing such a system instead of gas.
You simply specify at which supply temperature and return temperature you want to achieve which room temperature.
For example, 30/26/21. And this at your design temperature. From this, the pipe spacing is determined.
If you also specify the maximum heating circuit length as max 100m (330 feet) and there are no circuits that are too short (minimum 80m (265 feet)), it should work optimally for a future heat pump.
For example, 30/26/21. And this at your design temperature. From this, the pipe spacing is determined.
If you also specify the maximum heating circuit length as max 100m (330 feet) and there are no circuits that are too short (minimum 80m (265 feet)), it should work optimally for a future heat pump.
Joedreck schrieb:
You simply specify at which supply temperature and return temperature you want to achieve which room temperature.
For example, 30/26/21. And that at your design outdoor temperature. From this, the pipe spacing is determined.That’s where my knowledge unfortunately falls short. I have no idea which supply temperature and return temperature I should specify...
With my current level of knowledge (which you can see is quite limited), I can only specify the desired room temperature by room, such as:
Bathrooms 23°C (73°F)
Parents’ bedroom 22°C (72°F)
Living/Dining/Kitchen 22°C (72°F)
Child’s room 22°C (72°F)
Office/Guest room 22°C (72°F)
These are our temperatures (which certainly differ from the standard) at which we feel comfortable and which we currently have in our apartment.
Could you perhaps help me understand how to relate these room temperatures to the supply and return temperatures?
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