What kind of central heating do I have?
Posted Under: Heating
I purchased an OLD home with heating system that is one I have never seen before. EVER. At first glance, I have the typical Central Heating and Air Conditioning found in the southern United States. Inside unit containing a fan, cool air exchange, a hot air exchange, and an outside unit for heat exchange of the refrigerant used. However there is one caveat. Instead of having a hot air exchange powered by electricity or natural gas, it’s a coil/radiator (???) that uses the hot water provided by the home’s hot water heater to heat the air. So far it has worked well, and doesn’t raise my natural gas bill in the winter months too much from what is average for the summer months. Tonight I noticed that water is leaking from it and I know I have to call a HVAC person to repair it. My problem is I don’t know what to call it. Does anyone know what this kind of heater is called? I have looked up descriptions of radiant heat and boiler heat, but they don’t match with how the water is used.
Please, I need help with identifying this style of heat. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Reader Comments
Types
A cast iron household radiator
[edit] Hot water
A hot-water radiator consists of a sealed hollow metal container filled with hot water by gravity feed, a pressure pump, or convection. As it gives out heat the hot water cools and sinks to the bottom of the radiator and is forced out of a pipe at the other end. Anti-hammer devices are often installed to prevent or minimize knocking in hot water radiator pipes.
[edit] Hot water baseboard
Traditional cast iron radiators are no longer common in new construction, replaced mostly with forced hot water baseboard style radiators. They consist of copper pipes which have aluminum fins to increase their surface area. In the U.K., modern domestic radiators tend to be of sheet steel construction (often with steel fins), though copper/aluminium is often found in industrial Air Handling System heat exchangers.
[edit] Steam
Single-pipe steam radiator
Steam has the advantage of flowing through the pipes under its own pressure without the need for pumping. For this reason, it was adopted earlier, before electric motors and pumps became available. Steam is also far easier to distribute than hot water throughout large, tall buildings like skyscrapers. However, the higher temperatures at which steam systems operate make them inherently less efficient, as unwanted heat loss is inevitably greater.
Steam pipes and radiators are prone to producing banging sounds often incorrectly called water hammer. The bang is created when some of the steam condenses into water in a horizontal section of the steam piping. Subsequently, steam picks up the water, forms a “slug” and hurls it at high velocity into a pipe fitting, creating a loud hammering noise and greatly stressing the pipe. This condition is usually caused by a poor condensate drainage strategy and is often caused by buildings settling and the resultant pooling of condensate in pipes and radiators that no longer tilt slightly back towards the boiler.
[edit] Fan assisted heat exchanger
A fan-assisted radiator contains a heat exchanger fed by hot water from the heating system. A thermostatic switch energises an electric fan which blows air over the heat exchanger to circulate it in a room. Its advantages are small relative size and even distribution of heat. Disadvantages are fan noise and the need for both a source of heat and a separate electrical supply.
Just tell them you have a water heat with an external heat exchanger they should know what you mean. And the external heat exchanger is leaking.
I have seen an older church that has a steam system with conventional steam radiators. In addition it has a “forced hot air system.” Inside of the air duct is essentially a very dense radiator similar to what you might see on the front of a car.
The part is called a “HYDRONIC COIL” , http://www.google.com/search?q=hydronic+coil&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&rlz=1I7ADRA_en#q=hydronic+coil&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&rlz=1I7ADRA_en&prmd=ivs&source=univ&tbs=shop:1&tbo=u&ei=jYTgTKLfMcL68Abyz9QT&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQrQQwAA&biw=779&bih=489&fp=48a08391074e9d83 and as you can see they are available today. Typically they are installed in commercial applications rather than residential ones. They tend to be a bit more expensive. Your HVAC tech should be able to handle it.