Utilities are growing every year, and the quality of heating leaves much to be desired. Therefore, many residents of apartment buildings are looking for another way to heat their homes, trying to abandon centralized heating.
One of the solutions is an autonomous gas boiler room for an apartment building. And although this is a very serious and troublesome decision, it is quite possible to install such equipment so that it provided the whole house with heat, and functioned much cheaper than the centralized alternative.
Next, we will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of autonomous boiler rooms, the intricacies of their installation, and also figure out where it is better to place the equipment.
The content of the article:
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Standalone Equipment
- Where can an autonomous boiler room be located?
- Basement boiler room characteristics
- Reasons for the popularity of rooftop boilers
- Varieties of rooftop devices
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Features of equipment installation
- Benefits of a rooftop boiler room
- Disadvantages of roof boiler rooms
- Norms and requirements for operation
- Conclusions and useful video on the topic
Advantages and Disadvantages of Standalone Equipment
An autonomous gas boiler room in an apartment building has several disadvantages. The equipment is quite expensive and must be installed by professionals. Next, you need to carry out the wiring to each apartment. This suggests spending a lot of money at the start, which forces the majority of residents to abandon this venture.
Many are also intimidated by the need to constantly monitor the system. Now the specialists in charge of centralized heating will not be responsible for the quality of the structures that supply the coolant to each apartment. Residents will have to independently hire specialists who will do a preventive inspection of the entire system and scheduled repairs, which entails additional costs.
The start-up costs for an autonomous boiler room are high, but they quickly pay off. This can be verified by carrying out simple calculations.
The benefits are more significant:
- Greater freedom from district heating monopolists.
- Minimum heat loss. The heat carrier loses about 30% of the heat passing along the heating main. If the boiler room is installed directly near the house, the losses are minimal.
- It is much easier to regulate the operation of a boiler house for one house than for thousands. Residents will be able to choose the optimal power for themselves.
- One compact boiler room can be serviced by only one dispatcher, as well as one or two adjusters. This is much cheaper than paying for the cost of heating, which includes the work of hundreds of installers, as well as directors, secretaries, accountants, drivers and other housing office employees.
- Residents of the house can turn on an autonomous boiler room when it is convenient for them, and not adjust to the heating season.
So, although an autonomous boiler room requires more efforts on the part of residents than centralized heating, there are much more benefits from its presence. Residents can save a lot of money and the quality of heating will be much higher.
Very quickly, the initial costs will pay off and almost all the disadvantages will disappear, and the advantages will remain.
Where can an autonomous boiler room be located?
It is very important to choose the right place for the installation of heating units. So, a gas boiler room on the roof of a high-rise building is considered the most preferable option. Often they are also installed in basements or basements.
To maintain the boiler room, it is enough to hire just one specialist, and this is a real saving of money every month.
By far the best option in terms of safety and serviceability is to build a separate building close to a residential building. Residents will not be threatened by possible fuel leaks, gas accumulation in the basement.
But you will have to build an additional building, lay the foundation for it, do a lot of land work, and draw up a number of documents. This immediately scares off potential investors. Therefore, a basement or rooftop gas boiler room can be considered the best options.
Basement boiler room characteristics
Building a boiler room in a basement is usually straightforward. To do this, you do not need to drag various equipment onto the roof, you do not need to carry out calculations as to whether the overlap will withstand the load from the weight of the boiler and its elements. But there are also disadvantages.
Firstly, no explosive fuel, in particular gas, can be used in basements. After all, if it catches fire or even explodes, it can destroy the entire building and lead to multiple deaths among the residents. Therefore, in the basements, it is allowed to build boiler rooms on electricity or on solid fuel compositions (pyrolysis boilers etc).
An autonomous boiler room in the basement is difficult to arrange and requires the creation of a well-thought-out ventilation system, so you will also need to invest in its arrangement
An electric heating boiler is not suitable for an apartment building. The cost of its maintenance, in particular for electricity, will be higher than the payment for district heating. As for solid fuel boilers, for their operation you need a stove-maker who will manually load fuel several times a day.
Another problem of the boiler room in the basement is chimney construction. According to the rules of SNiP and other regulatory documents, the height of the chimney must be greater than the height of the house. It will be very difficult to build a structure that meets this standard.
Reasons for the popularity of rooftop boilers
Due to the large number of disadvantages of placing boilers in the basement or in a separate building, the most popular are the boilers on the roof. Any type of fuel can be used here, in particular, gas, which is the most economical, convenient in operation and energy efficient carrier.
A rooftop boiler room can be installed on an already built house using a modular design. This is how it will look like
If the boiler room is installed on the roof, it does not require a complex ventilation system, the construction of a huge chimney and other bulky structures.
Thanks to the use of gas as an energy source, the process of organizing an autonomous boiler room is greatly simplified. And the installation of a simple automation system allows you to set the range within which the temperature of the coolant (water in the pipes) should be.
This significantly saves both fuel and money for apartment owners. Thus, there is no need for a stove-maker who will constantly monitor the boiler room and turn it on as the temperature drops. Instead, everything will be done by automation.
An approximate scheme for arranging a roof boiler room. A small modular building on the roof accommodates all the elements for providing heat to a multi-storey building
Gas boilers for boiler rooms are considered the easiest solution to operate. Even an ordinary user understands how to handle the equipment so that it gives the desired result. Every inhabitant of the house can learn how to adjust the temperature, turn on and off the boiler.
Varieties of rooftop devices
Depending on the type of roof, its various characteristics, different types of boiler rooms from the general list may be suitable for it, namely, built-in and block-modular.
Built-in boiler rooms are only suitable for buildings under construction. They need to be included in the project and erected on a separate floor of a multi-storey building.
When the building has already been built, only the block-modular type of boiler room on the roof is suitable for it. As a rule, such a system is installed where the current communications have already worn out and require repair with a complete replacement.
Connecting an autonomous boiler room in an apartment building implies the laying of new, modern pipes to the apartment of each tenant. And although this implies additional costs, you should not save on materials, so that later you do not spend money on frequent repairs of communications.
Before creating a project for a block-modular boiler house, it is necessary to take into account the technical characteristics of the structure. Experts determine in what place the building will be located, from what it will be built, what permissible dimensions it can have.
Then they begin to build the block-modular boiler room itself and install it. Workers check the condition of the ceilings, walls and other capital elements of the building. Then a reinforced soundproofing system is laid so that the operation of the boiler room does not interfere with the residents of the upper floors, and also strengthens security measures.
The next step is to connect the boiler room to energy sources and check its operability on the spot. If everything works fine, they test the operation of all systems and connect residents to a new boiler house.
Features of equipment installation
The rooftop boiler room puts an increased strain on the entire building. This means that some structures must be reinforced.
In addition, it is important to follow these rules:
- it is forbidden to put a boiler room above the floors of living rooms;
- the structure should not be joined to the walls of living quarters;
- the boiler room must be necessarily equipped with technical means of automatic shutdown in case of an accident;
- the boiler room should not exceed the house itself in any size.
The boiler room is common house property, the ownership of which is equally distributed among all residents. Therefore, all the costs of its installation and maintenance should be borne by the same persons.
A protective coating is being installed on the entire site, along the perimeter of which there will be a boiler room. This could be a 20cm concrete pad or another option.
Sometimes a new boiler room is installed during a planned overhaul of a multi-storey building. Then the money is taken from the fund, to which the tenants make monthly deductions for future major repairs. Sometimes these funds are not enough. In such cases, an additional fee is organized.
To build a boiler room, you need to spend money on the project itself, the manufacture of a modular system, its delivery to the site, installation and debugging. Typically, the total cost of a home is $ 5-10 million. rubles.
Benefits of a rooftop boiler room
Due to the location of the boiler room directly on a multi-storey building, the number of heat loss. This allows you to save up to 30% on heating and hot water bills. An autonomous boiler room is much easier and cheaper to maintain than a huge urban ramified system.
When the city has not yet launched district heating, homeowners can collectively turn on the heating of the house and not wait for the start of the season. Similarly, you can turn off the boiler if it is too hot in the house.
During the connection, the system conducts many checks, which guarantees the residents of its safety.
Disadvantages of roof boiler rooms
Today, a rooftop boiler room can only be built on houses no higher than 9 floors. During the operation of the system, the pumps vibrate strongly enough that residents of the upper floors can hear.
Also, a large amount will have to be spent on the installation of the boiler house itself and obtaining permits for it. But these expenses are incurred only once.
Norms and requirements for operation
There are requirements for the design and installation of roof-top boiler houses, but they are minimal. All of them are based on ensuring safety during the operation of the structure.
In particular, the following should be done regularly:
- It is necessary to constantly check the supply and exhaust valves, due to which boiler room ventilation.
- It is necessary to provide at the design stage installation of sensorsfixing any fires, gas leaks and other emergency situations. Also, you need to install gas insulating flange capable of shutting down the entire system in the event of a fire.
- The roof of a multi-storey building should be equipped with an alarm, which will immediately begin to notify others with sound and light signals about a fire in the boiler room.
- The boiler room should be equipped with windows and doors leading directly to the roof. You also need a dedicated fire lift and a service exit. The lighting of the boiler room must comply with the standards.
- A separate chimney must be designed for each gas boiler, and they must all be of the same height. The distance between the pipes can be any.
To ensure a more stable and safe operation of the boilers on the roof, a separate branch of electricity should be connected to them. This will allow to neutralize possible voltage surges around the house, which can lead to the failure of the entire heating system.
It is also desirable to provide an alternative power supply option, in particular, to purchase a diesel generator.
According to safety regulations, the chimney pipe must be at least 2 meters higher than the height of the roof of the boiler room itself.
It is forbidden to install a gas boiler room directly above residential apartments. Between them and the roof, you need to make a technical floor in order to comply with the mandatory list of conditions regarding boiler rooms. Gas units can only be placed on a floor made of reinforced concrete slabs.
Remember that the boiler room is quite noisy, so it is important to soundproof it.
Once the boiler room is designed and installed, it is necessary to organize periodic maintenance. It is enough to hire one or two people for this. Gas service workers will also periodically come with inspections to monitor the condition of the equipment being operated.
Conclusions and useful video on the topic
Those who have ever tried to purchase equipment for a heating system know that the market provides many options that differ from each other both in subtleties and quite essential. A heating boiler for a rooftop boiler room and its auxiliary systems is a very complex engineering solution, the selection of which should be entrusted to reliable specialists.
And how the roof-top boiler room looks like from the inside can be seen in the following video:
Engineers will make the necessary calculations, namely, the average temperature for the winter, minimum values, the degree of insulation of apartments, the characteristics of walls and windows, the frequency and strength of the wind and other characteristics. This will allow you to select the most optimal boiler and other equipment so that each apartment is warm. Undoubtedly, this is a much better solution than paying a lot of money and using outdated district heating.
Still have questions on the topic of the article? Or can you share useful information about the installation of roof-top boiler rooms with our readers? Leave your comments, share your experience, ask questions - the communication block is located under the article.
