Air heating systems – is it possible to do it with your own hands

Do you have enough of freezing winters and exorbitant heating costs? Then you’re not by yourself. In order to keep their houses warm and comfortable throughout the winter, many homeowners are looking for low-cost solutions. An increasingly common remedy is the use of air heating systems. Can you, however, install one yourself? Let’s investigate.

Warm air is dispersed throughout your house via vents and ducts by air heating systems. In contrast to conventional baseboard heaters and radiators, which run on steam or hot water, air heating systems produce warm air via a furnace or heat pump. After that, the ductwork circulates the air, which is then released into each room to maintain a constant temperature throughout the house.

"Can I really install an air heating system on my own?" may be on your mind right now. It depends, is the response. While some installation tasks, like changing air filters or thermostat settings, can be completed by the do-it-yourselfer, major component installation and initial setup usually call for professional assistance.

That doesn’t mean you can’t participate in the process, though. Gaining knowledge about the fundamentals of air conditioning systems and their operation will enable you to interact with HVAC specialists and make wise decisions. You can also learn specific troubleshooting methods and maintenance procedures to make sure your system continues to function properly for many years to come.

Prior to taking on a DIY project, it is critical to evaluate your abilities, time, and financial resources. Although doing the installation yourself might seem like a cheaper option up front, poor installation can result in inefficiencies, risks to public safety, and expensive repairs later on. To choose the best course of action for your unique needs, it’s critical to carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages and perhaps even consult with HVAC specialists.

Air heating options

Therefore, our job is to serve and heat the air masses inside a suburban apartment or cottage. How to set up air conditioning:

1. From a fireplace, firewood stove.
2. Use VRF systems on the freon. Simply put, inverter air conditioners, air pumps.
3. Contact the combined air conditioning system of the boiler + chiller + fanchoils.
4. Organize centralized air heating (abbreviated – WI), combined with the ventilation of a private house. As a heat source, apply an electric calorifier or a gas air heaters.

Citation. The latter choice is frequently used in frame-built cottages in the United States and Canada. The gas stove is the heater.

A slightly different scheme is used for large volume production workshops’ heating and cooling needs. The building has two networks of air ducts installed: an exhaust and a supply. Both lead to the central air conditioner, which is made up of these blocks, which is the ventilation installation:

• 2-3 – speed filters purify the air masses before serving inside the building and release outside;
• The heat exchanger-calorifier No. 1 heats the flow with hot water from the boiler room;
• heat exchanger No. 2 serves to cool air, works in tandem with chiller;
• The plate cross (or rotational) recuperator takes away the heat of the exhaust flow and gives the supply, saving 50 … 80% of energy carriers;
• Moisturization unit;
• Centrifugal fans force streams to move through sections of the central air conditioner and further, through the air ducts.

Why did we go into detail about the industrial climate installation’s design? Just so you know right away: maintaining a full air heating, ventilation, and cooling system is a challenging and costly undertaking. However, as the owner of a country home, you can think about all available heating options, select the easiest and least expensive, or go back to the water scheme, which includes radiators and heated floors.

How to organize stove heating

One significant benefit of any stove is that it emits intense infrared radiation that simultaneously heats the surrounding surfaces and the air. It is not necessary to use coolant-filled pipes or batteries.

To be clear. Two to three small rooms can be heated with stoves or fireplaces that have a water circuit. The pump and coil are connected to the closed system or gravitational field.

How to use a stove only to heat air:

1. It is enough to install a cast -iron or steel bourgeois on 1 room.
2. To heed 2-3 rooms with a total area of up to 40 m², in the walls between the rooms, lay out a brick furnace of a suitable structure.
3. It’s not easy to build a stove in a living house. If there are no high aesthetic requirements, put the potbelly stove, attach convection covers to the firebox and connect the ducts.

Option No. 3 suggests installing canal fans with a movable medium temperature of 100–150 °C and installing air ducts in nearby rooms. The ventilator should rise with a slope upwards, but the air can travel through the pipes and independently too slowly. Watch the video below to learn how such an air heating system operates.

While widely recognized, the first two choices aren’t always appropriate:

• It is generally unrealistic to put the stove in the apartment;
• Even a large Russian furnace is not able to cover an area of over 50 squares (on one floor), so it will fit for heating a cottage or a small house;
• The foundation plus a brick stove is built at the construction stage or overhaul of the building;
• Metal bourgeoishole takes place and is dangerous for young children (in terms of burns).

An obvious benefit is that you can install an iron stove by hand. However, he will also have to drown it because of all the inconveniences that come from here: dust, firewood and smoke odors in living rooms, and frequent loads. The video’s creator behaved sensibly by putting a potbelly stove in a different combustion.

We do not recommend installing air ducts made of aluminum corrugations behind the home master. These pipes greatly slow down the flow because they provide a high aerodynamic resistance. The use of galvanized boxes is preferable.

Preliminary judgment. A less expensive alternative to air heating, fuel stoves have benefits and drawbacks. Ideal for tiny structures like garages, greenhouses, and summer homes.

Application of air conditioners and thermal pumps

As you are aware, split systems of today can operate in the heating mode while using three times less electricity than standard electric boots with comparable power. Thus, purchasing and installing inverter air conditioners in each room is a fully functional solution.

Citation: "Why the inverter?" In such a "plexus," the compressor continues to run and does not freeze in the winter. The street air is successfully warmed to -5 °C by the air conditioner, after which its efficiency sharply declines.

The benefits of this plan are clear:

• lack of batteries, pipes, boilers and other heating equipment;
• relative ease of installation;
• aesthetic appearance of the inner block;
• cooling mode in the summer;
• The possibility of installation in apartments.

Due to the rare instances of below-freezing temperatures in the southern regions, air conditioning as a heating method is feasible there. SPLITS North are only utilized in the spring and fall during the transitional period.

The following are the split system’s remaining drawbacks related to heating:

1. Air conditioners will have to be put in all rooms, which is unacceptable for cottages 2-3 floors. VRF multi-split system will cost more than the same number of single coolers/heaters.
2. The apparatus "knows" to clean, dry and change the temperature of the air flow. Rare models are designed for outdoor air. So, you have to do a separate ventilation.
3. When the external air conditioner unit was operated, a clear fan noise and the buzz of the compressor are heard due to the wall.

The "airborne" air pump solves the efficiency issue at low temperatures, maintaining its performance up to -30 degrees of frost. The split system’s design and working principle are the same; the only distinctions are in size and cost. The unit will become inaudible if the external block is placed on the ground and spaced 2-3 meters away from the building.

A succinct end. In the southern regions, VRF systems work well for small-space houses and apartments. Although thermal pumps can be installed in northern latitudes, equipment costs must be considered. You can install the air conditioner on your own if you’d like.

Combined multi -zone systems

Since the coolant is still being used in this instance, the system is referred to as combined. How such apparatus functions

1. In each room there is an air heating/cooling unit – a four -pipe fan coil, outwardly resembling an internal block of air conditioning.
2. One pair of pipes to the units is supplied from the boiler. Hot water passes through the heat exchanger blown by the fan, due to which the air of the room heats up.
3. When you need to switch to cooling, automation switches Fancoil to a second pair of pipes that supplies cold water from chiller.
4. The rooms in the rooms can set different air temperatures, but cooling at the same time and heating cannot be turned on. Hence the second name of the air conditioning system – multi -zone.

Note: A refrigerator type called a chiller is made to cool liquids. Depending on the structure, it is often situated in an open area or beneath a canopy on the street.

Different fancoals are used on the walls, floors, ceilings, and channels within the building. Everything is dependent upon the homeowner’s preferences and the necessary aesthetic standards. For the purpose of heating or cooling the supply air, ventilation ducts can be equipped with canal-style units.

Benefits of multiple air zones:

• Apply in the buildings of a large area with the number of premises of 20 or more – administrative and residential buildings, warehouses and so on;
• can work together with the forced ventilation of the cottage;
• Any heat generator for air heating is used – a boiler with solid fuel, gas, electricity, diesel fuel;
• pipes with a coolant (cold carrier) take up little space, air units are easily built into the ceiling, suspended on the wall or hide behind lining;
• Closed terraces with stained -glass windows in the entire wall are heated by intra -floor convectors or wall fan coils;
• the possibility of setting temperature in separate rooms, remote control.

The boiler + fanchoil + chiller scheme is, in our opinion, the most widely used and effective in both appearance and functionality. Naturally, this is not something you do yourself; that’s a drawback. It’s essential to perform calculations, choose tools, install, and establish… It’s very challenging to perform these tasks without knowledge of the fundamentals.

We also include the following drawbacks:

• high price of climatic installations;
• boiler and chiller – rather overall devices occupying 2-3 m² of area;
• The operation of the system depends entirely on the electricity, when the light is turned off, the heat supply will stop.

In conclusion. The ideal method for air heating a home is a multi-zone combined scheme. However, large financial outlays will be necessary for implementation.

Heating combined with ventilation

This is a traditional method of air heating buildings that has been utilized in businesses for the past century. Manufacturers then started to make miniature versions of the industrial ventilation systems that are installed in homes. The processing scheme was also simplified because the air purity requirements were loosened.

We will go over the "Ventilation + Heating" system’s working principle step-by-step:

1. The heat is a stove, usually a gas. A burner is installed inside, air heat exchanger, fan and electronic control unit.
2. The first network of air ducts distributing heated air through the rooms diverges from the furnace. Using diffusers, gratings and other supply devices, the jet is fed to the rooms (usually to the upper zone).
3. The second network of channels collects contaminated/cooled air from the lower zone of rooms into a common manifold connected to the furnace from below.
4. Having passed the manifold, the spent airspace are cleaned in a mesh or cell filter, then they are sent to the heat exchanger, where they are heated by the burner.
5. Electronics monitors the safe operation of the gas air heater, supports the output temperature, and signals the filter pollution.

Furthermore. An automatic humidifier with an electronic hygrometer is typically mounted on the supply channel because the heater dries the air. The latter is used to measure the flow moisture and is situated on the reverse air supply.

Since the air-gunching stove makes a lot of noise, it is kept in a different room. A standard or coaxial chimney is used to remove the combustion products, depending on how the heater is built. There are several ways to lay gabellous steel ducts:

• on the basement or basement;
• hide in the floors and wooden floors;
• by the attic;
• Vertical channels go along the walls and are sewn up with facing materials.

At the supply, the air temperature reaches 40–45 °C, and the ventilations move at a speed of 4-5 m/s. You can’t move fast because there will be more noise. Since the main collector’s diameter in this case is 300 mm, we used a typical consumption of 1000 m³/h, though actual consumption may be higher.

It makes sense to ask: if the house is already 22 degrees, why heat the air masses to 40 degrees? We respond that, since ventilation is always necessary, the heating system must account for two forms of heat loss: heat loss through building structures and energy loss from heating the influx. In order to make up for the loss of the house, we therefore heat the air to a temperature of 20 to 24 °C before overheating it to 40 to 45 °C.

In conclusion. The most costly and cumbersome scheme is "Ventilation + Heating." If the building isn’t ready beforehand, the ducts will go straight through the rooms, even during the design phase. Work efficiency is heavily influenced by the building’s ventilation system, which we will talk about later.

Air heating systems can indeed be installed by homeowners with the right tools and knowledge, offering a cost-effective and customizable solution for keeping homes warm. By understanding the basics of air heating principles and the various components involved, such as ductwork, fans, and heat sources like furnaces or heat pumps, DIY enthusiasts can embark on projects to design and install their own systems. However, it"s crucial to prioritize safety and efficiency throughout the process, ensuring proper sizing, insulation, and ventilation to avoid energy waste and potential hazards. With thorough research, careful planning, and perhaps some professional guidance, creating a functional air heating system tailored to specific needs is achievable for motivated homeowners, promising comfort and savings in the long run.2 / 2

3 methods of air exchange

Consequently, we approached the three air exchange schemes with ease:

1. The method described above is called complete recirculation. The same air is driven through the furnace or air conditioner, the update is absent or organized by other means. For example, the influx is provided with wall valves, a natural hood – vertical mines inside the walls.
2. With partial recirculation, the internal air is diluted with an influx of 30-50% of the total volume. The same number of polluted gases is thrown out. Natural ventilation is excluded, the system is engaged in the air exchange with mechanical motivation, you cannot adjust the proportion in another way.
3. Director. All supply air is taken from the street, heated and sent to the premises. The exhaust system completely throws out contaminated air masses outward.

The first kind of air exchange uses fancoals, air conditioners, and wood stoves to heat the air. Although the technique can save energy, the air quality is still questionable because it depends on natural ventilation.

The second choice strikes a balance between energy efficiency and maintaining a clean home environment. We lose heat along with the distant air when we partially replenish the microclimate of the building.

The third plan provides us with 100% fresh air, but it requires you to use all of your fuel to heat the influx. Recuperators, or utilizers, are devices that take the heat from the exhaust stream and transfer it to the tributary in order to prevent heat from being wasted into the street. Less energy is used by the heater when 50–80% of the heat is retained, depending on the home’s design and environmental factors.

When combined with air heating, ventilation operates in accordance with either of the final two circuits: direct flow with heat recovery or partial recirculation. The last option is the most costly since you have to buy a heat exchanger-utilizer in addition to the air heater and channel network.

Which heating is better – air or water

The absence of pipe wiring, radiators beneath the windows, and an intermediary in the form of a coolant is the primary argument in favor of the air heating version. However, this claim is not impervious to challenge because the water floors are equally concealed and the air itself remains the intermediary.

To be clear. The mediator, a freon, alters the aggregate state when heated by split systems or thermal pumps. Water or antifreeze is delivered by the heat to the fangeals; in other situations, air masses transfer the energy.

Based on claims made in advertisements, we provide a comparison of air and water heating.

1. The system has a higher efficiency. This is not true, the effectiveness is the same, provided that in both cases, heat generators on one fuel are used. Exception – air conditioners consuming 300 watts of electricity for supply 1 kW of heat.
2. In can be turned off in the middle of winter, nothing will freeze, the pipes will not burst. This is true, but the radiator network filled with antifreeze will also not suffer from the frost.
3. Low cost of operation in. Approval truthfully in relation to stoves, air conditioners, fanlycals and water systems. When heating ventilation, you will have to clean hidden air ducts from dust, bacteria. The operation is carried out by specialized technology.
4. For air heating, you do not have to buy expensive locking reinforcement, pipelines, batteries, combs. True, galvanized ventilations are cheaper than equipment of a water network. But the air ducts Ø300 mm (equivalent-a square of 200 x 350 mm) must be laid somewhere, sew up. The cost of installation will come out considerable.
5. Summarizes the rooms. Incorrectly, quickly heats the air, the surrounding objects remain cold. The same amount of time will take full heating of both systems.
6. Together with air systems, additional equipment is used to clean, moisturize, ionization. Air quality rises. Everything is correct, warm floors or radiator network does not clean the home atmosphere.

The remaining arguments don’t hold up at all. As an illustration, you can heat any room on any floor using air. What keeps two pipes from being installed on the twentieth floor—where batteries or fanlya would normally be—is unclear. It is suggested to pull a large duct there instead.

The renowned expert Viktor Sukhorukov will detail all of the arguments for and against in his video:

Final conclusions

This is not to argue that water heating is inferior to air heating in every way. Conversely, air systems distinctly fall short when it comes to the user’s most significant criterion—price. The least expensive method uses wood to heat, but it has a limited application. The apartment has only air conditioners, occasionally Fanchoils. Water heating is still the most common and dependable choice for a private home; air heating is only used in extreme circumstances.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Cost-effective if done correctly	Requires significant knowledge and skills
Customizable to fit specific needs	Can be time-consuming and labor-intensive
Potential for energy savings	Risk of improper installation leading to inefficiency or safety hazards

Installing air heating systems is a task that homeowners can accomplish with the correct equipment, expertise, and meticulousness. Those who choose to do it themselves may be able to reduce installation expenses and acquire more knowledge about their heating system. It’s important to understand that installing an air heating system is not without its difficulties, though.

Ensuring correct component sizing and placement is a top priority when installing an air conditioning system on your own. Incorrect placement can result in uneven heating throughout the house, while improper sizing can cause inefficiencies and insufficient heating. For the best possible airflow and heat distribution, the size and arrangement of vents, registers, and ductwork must be carefully planned.

DIY enthusiasts should also become knowledgeable about the rules and building codes that apply to HVAC installations in their area. Legal problems and safety risks may arise in the future from breaking these codes. To make sure the installation complies with all regulations, it is advised to speak with experts or, if needed, obtain permits.

Moreover, installing an air conditioning system yourself calls for a certain degree of competence and skill. People should feel at ease using instruments, working with electrical components, and taking exact measurements. It’s imperative that you carefully follow the manufacturer’s instructions and ask for help if you have any questions about any part of the installation procedure.

In conclusion, installing an air heating system on your own is a task that should not be taken lightly even though it is possible. Before starting a do-it-yourself installation project, homeowners should carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages. People can successfully install an air heating system and take advantage of the warmth and comfort it offers by approaching the process cautiously, paying close attention to detail, and being willing to ask for assistance when necessary.

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