Heating systems for a two-story house

Recommendation points

• Open and gravitational systems – is it real
• Leningradka in a two-story house
• Top and bottom routing of the two-pipe system
• Collector systems and underfloor heating connections
• Boiler room equipment
• Radiator piping

Is it difficult to develop a water heating circuit in a multi-storey building on your own? Of course, there are some difficulties in this matter, but in general, the key to a high-performance system is a competent combination of standard solutions. We want to tell you about which heating system schemes are optimal for a two-story house..

Open and gravitational systems – is it real

No matter what fans of forced circulation say, yes, really. In fact, most professionals take into account, if not constant work on a natural duct, then at least the ability to retain some of the productivity during a power outage..

The first thing to do this is to aim at increasing the boiler output. Moving heated water against the force of gravity requires energy consumption, and since only heat is used to create a pressure difference, it will be required unlike more, naturally, heat losses will also increase.

Another issue is the efficiency of the system. For heating large areas, the flow rate of the coolant is important so that it has time to maintain the temperature until the last radiator in the chain. Gravitational systems are simply not capable of this, but they again support the flow even without a circulation pump, which means that at least the system will not defrost, and in part of the house even comfortable heat will remain.

Heating system of a two-storey house with natural circulation: 1 – boiler; 2 – open-type expansion tank; 3 – feed; 4 – radiators of the second floor; 5 – ground floor radiators; 6 – return

Acceleration of the flow is achieved by classical methods:

• rather steep slope of pipes;
• lack of areas with counter-slope;
• an increase in the volume of the coolant (pipe diameter);
• minimizing turns and constrictions;
• increasing the difference between the top and bottom points.

Nevertheless, it is strongly recommended to abandon systems without forced circulation – they are too uneconomical, and besides, pipes can only be laid openly. Instead of overpaying from year to year for wasted fuel, it is better to spend money once and organize uninterrupted power supply to the boiler room..

Leningradka in a two-story house

Most of the classic schemes are applicable to multi-storey buildings and the one-pipe system is no exception. The supply riser rises from the first floor to the second. This pipe has the largest diameter equivalent to the boiler pipes. The flow stretches under all the radiators and the latter is conventionally considered the return. Since the pipe usually bypasses the house around the perimeter, it is pulled up to supply and lowered to the boiler in a common technical channel.

Another option is to lower the pipe to the first floor and in the same way run it below all the radiators and close it back into the boiler. For such a connection, a high boiler power and a high flow rate are required, otherwise the 8-10 radiator will no longer have a sufficiently high temperature. Therefore, it is optimal to make a floor wiring with pipes with the organization of two circulation circuits. If you want a clean Leningrad woman – think over a way to limit the flow in proportion to the distance of the radiators from the boiler, but remember that the wing length is always shorter for a one-pipe system.

Radiators are connected to two points of one pipe without breaking. The greater the difference between the cross-section of the main pipe and the branch, the less heat loss will be and the longer the line length. Such a connection allows you to turn on the radiator in bypass mode and locally regulate the flow without affecting the overall operating mode – an impossible task for a classic one-pipe scheme.

Top and bottom routing of the two-pipe system

With a two-pipe scheme, almost every radiator has a parallel connection to both the supply and return. This causes additional costs and an increase in the volume of the coolant, but heat transfer is also possible over longer distances..

In modern installations, a combined version of the two-pipe system is used. The supply runs along the upper floor, the return flow along the lower one, they are connected at the very end with a pipe of nominal cross-section that closes the duct. The upper radiator is powered from the supply, from its outlet – the next and so on to the last, from where the chilled water is discharged into the return. This is the most economical option for a two-pipe system for heating large areas. One drawback – open pipe laying.

In another version of the two-pipe scheme, the supply and return are laid together. The radiators are connected at two lower points, which helps to hide the main pipes in the floor: since the wiring excludes the pipes rising above the radiator, then it is called the lower.

Collector systems and underfloor heating connections

Combining different types of circuits is very useful, it helps to “sharpen” the heating system for different technical conditions. The technical implementation of such projects is simplified using distribution manifolds.

Their first type is a simple two-row comb with shut-off valves, which has a pair of branches for each wing. Each of them can be equipped with a different number of radiators with an arbitrary connection scheme, but usually the total number of sections does not exceed ten.

The second type of collectors has transparent flasks with floats for visually visual adjustment of the flow rate. Pipes of underfloor heating and fenders of different lengths are connected to such nodes, instead of ball valves on each line, a valve regulator is installed.

Underfloor heating collectors can be equipped with an additional recirculation pump and a common thermostat. This is very typical for multi-storey buildings, for example, when combining floor heating with radiators on different floors. The base temperature of the coolant is 60–70 degrees, which is a lot for a warm floor. Therefore, the pump mixes part of the water from the return, reducing the floor heating to 35-40 ° С.

Building a decoupling on the collectors is also convenient for maintenance. You do not have to stop the entire heating system in the event of a breakdown, since each section can be turned off and drained selectively.

Boiler room equipment

Typically, collectors for all floors are installed in the boiler room. This is convenient, the cost of an additional two dozen meters of pipes cannot be compared with the organization of space for a separate manifold unit, and they are quite cumbersome.

The boiler piping is classic: there are shut-off valves at the outlets, and a mud filter at the return connection. The pump is installed in the return flow gap and tied with a bypass. The diaphragm expansion tank is connected to an arbitrary point of the system, and the safety group is connected by a branch to the supply pipe one meter from the boiler.

1 – boiler; 2 – security group; 3 – membrane expansion tank; 4 – heating radiators; 5 – shut-off valves; 6 – circulation pump with bypass; 7 – coarse filter

As always, it is recommended to tie the boiler room equipment with steel pipes that have a lower coefficient of linear expansion than plastic. It would be preferable to pack on polymer filament using an anaerobic sealant.

It remains only to add drain and water injection pipes to the heating system at the lowest point of the system. In the presence of a warm floor, a pair of collector leads are diverted for this: through the return, a drain is performed, through the supply – purging.

Radiator piping

There are no special wisdom in connecting radiators. Mayevsky’s tap is screwed into one of the upper taps, as expected, hot water can be supplied through the second.

However, the lower lateral piping will be more aesthetically pleasing. Single-point connection devices are considered a modern word in this regard, due to which it is possible to start both the supply and return to the same lower radiator outlet.

By the same principle, you can conduct a point-to-point connection, but only on one side. This harness looks less cumbersome, plus there are many standard solutions. Typically, threaded connections on radiators are no more than one inch, so they can be packed on FUM tape..