Contents
- Skills and tools necessary for self-installation of hot water heating
- Installing a hot water boiler
- Installing heating radiators
- Installing heating pipes
For your home you chose water heating and firmly decided to arrange it yourself? Information on this issue a lot. But to structure and process it, in order to understand how to properly arrange water heating with your own hands, can become a separate task, a little inferior to the work on the heating device itself. We hope this article will clarify and help you independently arrange water heating in your home.
Let's start with the advantages that this option has:
- Savings .But when calculating the financial gain, be sure to consider the time spent on installing the heating system, which, perhaps, you could sell at a higher price and the cost of the tools necessary for the installation work.
- you do for yourself, which means conscientiously with the highest possible quality .Of course, it should not be below a certain level to ensure long-term operation of the system.
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Your opinion about what kind of water heating system you should have will not be affected by the opinion of the performer who is interested in doing everything as familiar and comfortable as possible using familiar technologies and devices. But there are new items, more economical and more convenient to use! For example, we recommend using Jaga water convectors with Low-H20 technology, which allows the heater to reach operating temperature in 10 minutes! The cast iron battery, for reference, warms up for at least an hour.
Therefore, it is advisable to do water heating with your own hands when:
- is advantageous to do it yourself, taking into account all the above factors;
- have the skills for this job.
On the last paragraph we will discuss in more detail.
Skills and tools necessary for self-installation of water heating
All the installation work on the water heating system can be reduced to several works:
- Installation of a water heating boiler( if an autonomous heating system is created).
- Installation of radiators.
- Installation of pipes of the heating system - connection between themselves and with other elements of the system( radiators and boiler).
- Installation of valves( manifolds, valves, air vent valves, filters, etc.)
Installation of a water heating boiler
Depending on the model, the boiler can be installed on the floor( floor type) or wall, it is necessary to create a concrete tie with a thickness of 3-5 cm. Therefore,the simplest skills to perform concrete work. From the tools and accessories will need:
- capacity for concrete mortar( bucket, basin);
- rule for smoothing the surface;
- level to check the horizontal surface( the latter is very important!)
In the case of a wall-mounted boiler, the work is reduced to drilling holes for anchor fasteners. The necessary tools are as follows:
- tape measure for marking the fixing points of the boiler;
- drill punch with a set of drills;
- plumb or level to check the vertical installation of the boiler.
Installation of heating radiators
Installation of these heating devices consists of the following work:
- installation of a Mayevsky crane( for air release) on the radiator, through traffic jams, Americans, plugs.
- drilling holes for mounting the radiator on the wall.
These works require:
- flax or tape fum( for sealing a threaded joint);
- key set or adjustable wrench;
- tape measure for marking the attachment points of the heater;
- drill punch with a set of drills.
Basic skills for installing radiators are reduced to the need to properly install and adjust hydraulic fittings, the ability to properly reel flax or fum and work with a drill-puncher.
Installation of heating pipes
There are several types of pipes and their installation methods that determine the necessary skills and tools for installation.
A. Plastic pipes
Between themselves or to radiators they are connected using:
- welding;
- compression fittings.
If you wish to arrange water heating with your own hands, please note that in the first case, you need special equipment - to clean the pipe joints and directly welding. For the second type of connection, no equipment is required, but it is necessary to purchase special fittings. Therefore, if you do not have enough skills in working with welding equipment( which you need to get somewhere else), choose a simpler connection option.
B. Metal-plastic pipes
These pipes are connected using:
- press fittings;
- compression fittings
To perform these works, you need a pipe cutter, a face cutter( for removing plastic to a layer of aluminum foil), a pipe bender, a press tool and tongs( for mounting press fittings).Accordingly, the necessary skills to work with these devices.
B. Steel pipes
They are interconnected by means of either a threaded connection( couplings, angles, tees are used), or by welding. In the first case, the skills needed to seal the threaded connection are needed, in the second, experience with a gas torch. If you have never held it in your hands, this is definitely not for you.
Concealed wiring of pipes
This option involves the shaving of the walls for laying pipes in them. The work of great qualifications does not require, but a powerful( at least one kilowatt) angle grinder( “Bulgarian”) and wheels for cutting in concrete or brick, depending on the type of walls, are needed.
Sequence of work
The success of any work at least half depends on a clear plan for its implementation. And water heating with their own hands - is no exception. Regarding the independent creation of heating, the sequence of work is as follows:
- Designing the system. It is necessary to choose the optimal scheme taking into account preferences, opportunities and objective conditions. It is possible that at this stage it will be decided to leave some elements of the old system, for example, heating radiators. Of course, it will be difficult for a non-professional to perform thermal and hydraulic calculations, but there are empirical formulas by which one can quite accurately calculate the power of the boiler and the number of radiators based on their type.
- Obtaining permits in state bodies for the installation of the heating system( in the case of its autonomous version).
- Acquisition of of the necessary components for the new system.
- Dismantling of elements of the old water heating system.
- Installation of the boiler .
- Installation of the expansion tank and the circulation pump( if they are not included in the boiler package).
- Installation of radiators .
- Tying the boiler and radiators with pipes, installing the necessary fixtures.
- Connection of the boiler to the gas system , in the case of the installation of a gas boiler( carried out by gas specialists).
- Commissioning .
Water heating do it yourself. Common
Errors- The boiler of the wrong power was selected. This usually happens when the power of the boiler is chosen end-to-end, without taking into account a number of factors - the presence of an additional external wall( in corner apartments), the absence of thermal insulation( for example, a non-insulated house requires 130-300 W / m2, and for an insulated with modern windows - onlyup to 70 W / m2), the apartment is on the first or last floor, etc.
How to avoid mistakes - make a careful calculation, taking into account all factors. Detailed information about them can be easily found on the Internet. - Insufficient chimney height .As a result, there is not enough traction, and the automation of the boiler turns it off.
How to avoid mistakes - choose the correct chimney length. For a gas boiler it is at least 4 meters, for the rest it is 5 meters( the exception is a gas boiler with a coaxial chimney). - Use of pipes, not designed for heating systems. For example, put polypropylene pipes PN10, which are designed for either a cold water system( SDR11) or hot( SDR6).And you need a pipe PN16 or PN20.
How to avoid mistakes - choose the right pipes, carefully read what they are for. - The use of pipes made of different materials .First, it can lead to large internal stresses due to different thermal expansion coefficients. Secondly, the occurrence of electrochemical reactions( corrosion) at the joints of pipes of different materials. For example, you can not connect copper and aluminum pipes.
How to avoid mistakes - use pipes from the same material. - Installation of radiators not designed for this system. There are two limitations:
- for the permissible pressure in the system( for a centralized heating system);
- Electrochemical Compatibility of Materials( about which we spoke above).
How to avoid mistakes - to choose the right radiators in accordance with the operating conditions.
- Incorrect connection of radiators. - entanglement of the input and output when connecting the valves. This leads to a loss of heat transfer from this heater.
How to avoid mistakes - to properly connect the radiator in accordance with the instructions. - No emergency drain ( relevant for an autonomous heating system).
- Firstly, makes it difficult to carry out repairs.
- Secondly, , there are situations when it is necessary to urgently drain the water from the system or reduce the pressure. How to avoid mistakes - provide an emergency drain( and it is better to do it in the sewer system).
Benefits of self-created water heating
But there is another advantage. You perform work at a time convenient for you. And if it is not possible to leave the apartment for the duration of the repair, then doing water heating with your own hands is an additional comfort, since there is no stranger factor.
