How to Install a Boiler Heating System

The electric steam boilers have become popular in recent times due to the great technological advances which has made the equipment more time automatic and reliable. Again, it comes with great economic savings and environmental benefits that entails using biomass fuels.Now, the installation of an electric steam boiler has some specific technical aspects that vary with respect to other conventional installations for thermal uses. However, it is important to know this in order to perform the installation correctly.

Types of the electric steam boiler according to its size

• Pellet stoves (from 5kW to 20kW approx.):  Although they do not reach the qualification of boilers, pellet stoves are an option to be taken into account for heating in small spaces. To heat air by forced convection, without generation of Sanitary Hot Water (DHW), except for some models.

• Small boilers (from 10kW to 70kW approx.):  In single-family homes or small service or equipment buildings. For heating by radiator system and / or DHW.

• Medium boilers (from 70kW to 500kW approx.):  In community buildings, or service buildings or small business activities (farms, hotels, sports centers, etc.). For heating by radiator system and / or DHW.

• Large boilers (more than 500kW): community heating networks in neighborhoods for heating and DHW. To generate heat for steam in industrial activities.

Choosing the power of the electric steam boiler

The determination of the power of the electric steam boiler is made according to the heating needs and the production needs of Sanitary Hot Water (DHW). The heating needs depend on the insulation of the house and the climatic rigor of the area. There are different methodologies to perform these calculations, but in an orientated way you can establish the following values per square meter:

• House well insulated and / or in soft winter zone: 80 W / m²

• Housing normal insulation and / or in moderate winter zone: 100 W / m²

• Housing old insulation and / or in rigorous winter zone: 120 W / m²

Another factor that determines the choice of the power of the electric steam boiler is the needs of Sanitary Hot Water (ACS). If the ACS needs are high, the required power may be higher than that needed for heating. The needs of ACS depend on the number of people in the home and the speed of replacement of ACS once consumed. You can see an example of calculating biomass boiler power for heating and DHW in our article, "How to calculate the power of a biomass boiler”.

Storage and feeding systems

In newly constructed buildings, the storage system must be located in a room or location different from that of the boiler room. In an existing building, where it is not possible to locate the boiler room and the storage system in different spaces, the storage will have to be at a distance greater than 70 cm from the electric steam boiler and with a dividing wall that complies with the regulations of current fires.