Furnaces, Heating Systems

A central-heating system provides warmth to the whole interior of a building (or portion of a building) from one point to multiple rooms. more...

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When combined with other systems in order to control the building climate, the whole system may comprise a HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning).

Central heating differs from local heating in that the heat generation occurs in one place, such as a furnace room in a house or a mechanical room in a large building (though not necessarily at the "central" geometric point). The most common method of heat-generation involves the combustion of fossil fuel in a furnace or boiler. The resultant heat then gets distributed: typically by forced air through ductwork, by water circulating through pipes, or by steam fed through pipes. Increasingly, buildings utilize solar-powered heat sources, in which case the distribution-system normally uses water-circulation.

In the UK, in much of northern Europe and in urban portions of Russia, where people seldom require air-conditioning in homes due to the temperate climate, most new housing comes with central heating installed. Such areas normally use gas-fired heating, or — where no ready supply of gas exists — oil-fired systems. In the western and southern United States natural-gas-fired central forced-air systems occur most commonly; these systems and central-boiler systems both occur in the far northern regions of the USA. Steam-heating systems, fired by coal, oil or gas, feature in the USA, Russia and Europe: primarily for larger buildings. Electrical heating systems, far less energy-efficient, occur less commonly.

History

Cities in the northern Roman empire used central heating systems circa 100AD, conducting air heated by furnaces through empty spaces under the floors and out of pipes in the walls — the system known as a hypocaust. The Cistercian monks revived central heating using river-diversions combined with indoor wood-fired furnaces. The well-preserved Royal Monastery of Our Lady of the Wheel (founded 1202) on the Ebro River in the Aragon region of Spain provides an excellent example of such an application.

By about 1700 Russian engineers had started designing hydrologically-based systems for central heating. The Summer Palace (1710 - 1714) of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg provides the best extant example. Slightly later, in the year 1716, came the first use of water in Sweden to distribute heat in buildings. Martin Triewald, a Swedish engineer, used this method for a greenhouse at Newcastle upon Tyne. Jean Simon Bonnemain (1743-1830), a French architect, introduced the technique to industry on a cooperative, at Château du Pêcq, near Paris.

Read more at Wikipedia.org