Fuel for boiler houses: features, types, characteristics and requirements

For the heating of houses and industrial premises, as well as for the supply of hot water in them, special installations are usually used - boilers. The equipment of this type can operate on different types of fuel. And the characteristics of the latter must meet certain standards. Improper selection of fuel for the boiler room can lead to damage to the water heating equipment. The efficiency of the boiler decreases in this case.

Types of fuel

Operation of installations designed to heat water can:

• Gas;
• Liquid fuel;
• Electricity;
• Solid fuel.

Most often, gas or electric boilers are used for heating buildings and supplying hot water. Liquid installations are usually used only in remote areas - where there are no highways that supply "blue fuel". Wood, pellet and coal equipment is used where there is not even a power line.

The most popular type of fuel for the boiler room is gas. The installation of water heating equipment running on it is quite expensive. Installation of an electric boiler costs at least a lot less. However, significant costs for installation in the future pay off due to the cheapness of gas. Electricity, as you know, is very expensive in our country.

The operation of solid fuel and liquid boilers is usually even cheaper than gas. However, such equipment, unfortunately, is not very convenient to use. And the fuel itself in this case requires the creation of special storage conditions and often takes up a lot of space.

Gas for heaters

This type of fuel, as already mentioned, is used for boilers most often. According to the regulations, for heating installations it is allowed to use any kind of gas - both liquefied and main. However, in the first case, boilers of exceptionally special design, designed to work in combination with cylinders or gas tanks, should be used to heat houses and industrial premises.

Liquefied gas is usually used for heating only private houses. But sometimes this type of fuel for boiler houses is used, for example, in public settlements.

The rules for installing boilers that run on "blue fuel"

Connect this type of equipment to the mainline or gas tank only to licensed specialists. For an independent frame, the owner of a country house or the head of the enterprise faces a serious fine. After all, gas - fuel, as is known, is explosive. And a wrong connection in the future can easily lead to tragedy.

Special requirements are also made for the room in which the gas boiler itself will be located. Such equipment should not be installed in rooms with a total volume of less than 7.5-15 m ³ , depending on the capacity. In this case, the room must be ventilated. The presence of blind windows in the room is not allowed. Also, it is not possible to install a gas boiler in a room if the total heat output of all installed appliances exceeds 150 kW.

Gas supply: specifications

Depending on the type of the main line passing through, the laying of the "blue fuel" supply pipes for boiler installations in the house can be made by an aboveground or underground method. In the first case, the following standards should be observed:

• The elements of the gas pipeline must not come in contact with parts of buildings and structures made of combustible materials;
• Pipe misalignment is not allowed;
• Vertical elements of the pipeline must be strictly vertical;
• Horizontal elements are laid under a slope of 2-5 mm towards the connected building.

When laying the main to supply fuel to the boiler room under the ground, the following requirements must be met:

• Pipes for transporting liquid gas are located below the freezing level of the ground;
• When entering the building, the depth can be reduced to 0.8-1.2 m;
• Gas pipeline laying should be conducted with a slope of at least 1.5 mm per meter;
• Pipes with liquid gas are laid under the foundation, with the usual - above it, through the wall;
• For various kinds of plug-in connections of the gas pipeline, wells are provided.

Liquid fuel oil: requirements

Boilers used for heating residential houses or industrial premises located in remote areas often work on diesel fuel. Diesel fuel for heating equipment has special requirements. When choosing solar oil for a boiler, it is necessary to pay attention, first of all, to such characteristics as:

• Cetane number;
• Density and viscosity;
• Fractional composition.

The cetane number defines such important indicators as:

• Time of ignition of fuel for boiler houses;
• Completeness of burning diesel oil;
• Level of harmful emissions.

In the end, it is the cetane number of diesel fuel that affects the efficiency of the water heating equipment. The optimum indicator of the TSC for boilers is 40-45 units.

Storage Requirements

Solar oil, like gas, is boiler fuel for boilers, dangerous in terms of ignition and explosions. Therefore, it should be stored correctly. In a private house, a separate room for diesel fuel is usually not required. However, if the volume of stored diesel fuel exceeds 5 thousand liters, it will still be necessary to build a warehouse for it.

You can store solar oil, if necessary, even in living quarters. However, its total volume should not exceed 40 liters.

In a specially equipped for diesel house:

• It is impossible to carry out the concealed installation of communications, pipelines and wires;
• Should place signs that prohibit the use of open fire.

The premises for diesel fuel should be built of non-combustible materials. Doors in this case are also used for a special design.

Enterprises located in remote areas, for example in the Far North, often purchase a special type of equipment - block-modular boiler houses with liquid fuel. In such complexes, storage rooms for solar oil can be provided initially.

The volume necessary for the uninterrupted functioning of the boiler diesel depends, first of all, on the capacity of the latter. Fuel consumption for the boiler (liquid) is calculated by a fairly simple scheme. For 10 kW of boiler power it is usually required 1 kg of diesel per hour.

Coal for boilers

Solid fuel heating equipment is certainly the most economical, but at the same time the least convenient to use. Most often such boilers, like ovens, function on coal. In this case, as with the use of solar oil, the choice of fuel should be approached carefully.

Responsible for the supply of solid fuel in the boiler room operator-stoker. The efficiency of water-heating equipment depends primarily on the quality of the coal loaded by it. The more responsible the employees of the boiler house approach to the choice of this type of solid fuel, the longer the installation will last.

Any coal consists of carbon and non-flammable impurities. The latter after combustion form ash and slag. The relationship between impurities and carbon determines the grade of coal. This indicator in different types of fuel can vary in quite a large range. For example, the carbon content in lentite is very small. Therefore for boilers this type of fuel is never used.

Forms just a huge amount of ash and slag and brown coal. In principle, it can be used for boilers. However, doing this is highly discouraged.

Hard coal forms little ash, has a low percentage of moisture and has a fairly dense structure. Its calorific value is 5500 kcal / kg. The carbon content in it is 75%. It is this kind of solid boiler fuel for boilers that fits best.

Firewood for water heaters

This type of fuel is used to ensure the operation of boilers is rare. But still sometimes in private homes or even in enterprises you can see heating equipment operating on wood. The advantage of this type of fuel is, first of all, relative cheapness. However, it is usually very inconvenient to use a boiler when using firewood. The operator of the boiler room, the solid fuel of this variety should be thrown into the furnace 2-3 times a day. The same feature is the operation of a water heater on wood and in a private house.

Of course, there are no special requirements for logs when used for boilers. The only thing is that this kind of fuel for boiler houses should be sufficiently dry. Keep firewood under a canopy or in a special small separate room - a wood dowry. Traditionally, for logs, as for furnaces, logs of deciduous species are used. Conifers during combustion leave a lot of ash and carbon deposits because of the resin. Birch firewood is the best for a solid fuel boiler.

Wood pellets

This type of fuel is usually used in long-burning boilers. Such equipment has a special design, which ensures the almost complete combustion of pellets, without the formation of even ash. Sometimes for the supply of combustible pellets is answered by the stoker of a boiler house on solid fuel. But in some cases, automatic loading can be used in such installations. Such systems make the equipment much more convenient to operate.

Also recently, modern, comfortable in use modular boiler houses with solid fuel have become very popular. The use of pellets for their operation is also an almost ideal solution.

Types of pellets

There are several kinds of such fuel on the modern market. Industrial pellets are gray-brown in color and have a high ash content. Such fuel is suitable mainly for industrial boilers only. Use it in domestic water heating systems can lead to breakage of the latter.

Agropellets are obtained from agricultural waste. The percentage of their ash content is also quite high. Usually such fuel is used only at large thermal power plants.

White pellets are made from barked wood. The percentage of their ash content is only 0.5%. The color of these pellets is light yellow. They are quite expensive. However, it is the white pellets that are usually used in household solid fuel boilers.

Electric water heating equipment

The main advantage of such boilers, as already mentioned, is the ease of installation. And there is a water heating equipment of this type is much cheaper than gas or even solid fuel. Household electric boilers operate normally from a 220-volt mains. The latter should not be "jumped". If there are voltage fluctuations in the area where the boiler is used, or it is increased or decreased, stabilizers should additionally be used.