Heating in the country: electric boiler, convectors or stove

Recommendation points

• The specifics of intermittent heating
• Using wood stoves
• What is the advantage of electric heaters
• Disadvantages of water-cooled systems
• Operating modes
• Combined systems

The operating mode of the heating system in the country house differs from the house in which people constantly live. The most popular heating methods are electricity and a compact wood stove. Today we will talk about the advantages of each of the methods and problems of organizing heating..

The specifics of intermittent heating

Summer cottages and small country houses require a special approach in organizing their heat supply. Often, the construction of buildings is specially calculated taking into account that the heating of the internal environment will occur periodically. Due to the relatively small area (50-70 m²) at such facilities, it makes no sense to arrange gas heating: the cost of connecting to the gas pipeline and equipping the boiler room for all safety requirements is not compensated by the lower price of the energy carrier, because its total annual consumption will be scanty.

The convenience and reliability of gas boilers is a weighty argument, but other heating devices also meet the requirements for increased comfort. At the same time, the system should quickly reach the operating thermal mode, because few people want to sit for a long time waiting until the whole room is warmed up.

Do not forget that any equipment can become faulty as a result of downtime. For visitors to the dacha, this can turn out to be a very unpleasant surprise, especially if the house is located far outside the city and night is approaching. However, with the right organizational approach, the likelihood of such troubles tends to zero, the main thing is that the selected heating source is appropriate in specific conditions, has sufficient power and corresponds to the characteristics of the residents’ life.

Using wood stoves

Almost every summer cottage has an acute problem of providing it with energy resources. Electric networks in summer cottages and small cottage settlements are not highly reliable, in addition, there are restrictions on the maximum possible connection power. Often, the allocated 2-3 kW is clearly not enough to fully warm up even a small building in a short time.

Hence, we draw the first conclusion: if there are problems with the power supply in the country, a wood-burning stove should be installed without fail. It does not have to be a multi-ton rough brick, a compact cast-iron or steel stove-stove will be enough. It is even better if such a stove is combined with a fireplace and a hob..

The main advantage of installing a stove in the country is that its real capacity is limited only by the available fuel reserves. In the usual way, the stove is quite capable of working in a smoldering mode, but if necessary, it can be provided with a complete laying of firewood or coal – this way the whole building will warm up in just a few hours.

As the only source of heating, solid fuel stoves are shown to buildings made of masonry, that is, with high inertia. The high heat capacity of the walls will smooth out temperature drops from uneven fuel combustion. In frame buildings, you should give preference to a compact brick stove, for example “Dutch”, which is well suited for heating even a two-story summer cottage.

What is the advantage of electric heaters

If the installed power of the consumer is at least 2 kW or more, there is every reason to install any convenient method of electric heating in the country. It can be either free-standing convectors or a combined heating system on a liquid heat carrier.

Basically, electric heating is popular because of its ergonomics. Even when the firewood in the stove burns out, electric heaters will not allow the temperature to drop below acceptable values. This option will be especially useful for those who visit their dacha on short visits with an overnight stay, because waking up in a cold house and going to heat the stove is a below average pleasure.

As the only source of heating, electricity is attractive because there can be several heaters, and all of them will be evenly distributed over the habitable space. If there is no wood-burning stove at the dacha, the quick switching on of the convectors will allow you not to freeze at first and not wait for the house to warm up, because in addition to convection heat exchange, such heaters have a significant proportion of direct thermal radiation. This is especially important if there are small children among the visitors. Moreover, even if one of the convectors fails, the whole house will not remain without heating.

Another advantage of heating with convectors is the ability to precisely maintain the temperature within a given range. Built-in thermostats provide energy savings, while uninhabited rooms do not need to be heated at all, for example, at night. Also, do not forget that convectors are most easily taken out of service when leaving the country house: you do not need to wait until the fuel burns out in the furnace, you just need to turn off the general circuit breaker.

Disadvantages of water-cooled systems

Actually, water as a heat carrier in country heating systems is extremely rare. The reason is quite obvious: at negative temperatures, its expansion in pipes and radiators is guaranteed to disable them. For summer cottages and small houses, the practice of replacing water with heat transfer fluids with a low freezing point and zero linear expansion coefficient. For this, the displacement of the system is made minimal, since the heated area is quite small..

However, even in this case, liquid heating systems do not get rid of a number of other disadvantages. It may happen that in severe frost even antifreeze or propylene glycol thickens to such an extent that the circulation of the coolant completely stops. In this case, it is possible to establish the operation of heating only if it is possible to organize the possibility of sequential heating of radiators or if there is another source of heating. The complexity of installation can also repel the use of a hydraulic heating system: it requires laying pipes, a piping device and constant monitoring of the tightness of the connections and the condition of the heating elements.

Electric boilers are most in demand in summer cottages with well-organized insulation, which are visited for quite long periods of time, for example, on weekends. The heating system does not reach operating mode as quickly as in the case of convectors or a stove, but after warming up, the heat spreads through the house as evenly as possible, and the air temperature can be maintained as accurately as possible by bringing the water to the desired temperature, and by flow regulators on radiators.

Operating modes

For heating a small country house with periodic attendance, it is required to enable the system to enter the intensive heating mode. This is achievable when providing adequate power reserves or using multiple heating sources.

The most preferable in this regard are three-phase electric boilers, the heating elements of which are connected in parallel with the possibility of separate switching. The risk of overconsumption of electricity is not excluded, however, such a possibility can be easily excluded by using modern automation systems that control the degree of heating not only of the air, but also of the coolant itself.

For both electric boilers and convectors, the construction of an automatic control circuit will not cause difficulties even for people who are not particularly knowledgeable in electrical engineering. By switching the power supply of the heating elements with the help of magnetic contactors, it is possible to realize not only heating of individual sections of the building, but also to create a time control circuit, reducing the heating intensity at night or completely turning off the heating in the periods between arrivals. Electric heating has no alternatives in organizing a remote heating system, for example, a few hours before the owners arrive at the dacha.

Combined systems

It’s time to take stock. The best way to organize heating of a summer house is to use several heating sources. One of them performs the function of quickly heating the air for a comfortable stay for people at first, the second maintains the temperature of the heated building, reducing energy consumption.

You should be aware that this principle of operation has been successfully used in combined fuel boilers. It is also possible to independently install an additional heat exchanger in a brick oven to deliver heat to remote areas of the building. However, in order for the heating equipment to fully comply with the operating conditions, it is necessary to calculate the heat loss, select the required power of the main heating device, and provide an additional margin with another type of heating..