Hydronic Heating Services

Upgrade Your Heat With a Hydronic System

All homes in Coventry, RI should be equipped with some type of heating system. For most homeowners, this may be a boiler or a furnace. However, these systems do have certain limitations. That's why we also offer hydronic heating systems at CW Cummings Plumbing Co Inc.

With hydronic heat, you can be comfortable all winter, and you can control your heat during the milder seasons of fall and spring. If your current heating setup leaves you too cold or with a draft, then a hydronic system can help you feel more comfortable.

The reason your current heating system is failing can be traced to a variety of factors. In many cases, your house is losing heat through conduction, convection, and radiation. It will depend on how much insulation you have, the difference between the external and internal temperatures, and the amount of wind.

• Conduction heat loss happens when heat is passed through another object without moving it. For example, if you put your hand on the hood of your car after it's been in the sun, it'll be quite hot. This is because you touched the hot metal, which is passing the sun's heat to you.
• Convection heat loss happens through a gas or liquid. In other words, the heat is moving on the currents from one substance to another. This is best understood with the wind. The wind can bring a warm spring breeze or a cold winter wind.
• Finally, radiation heat loss is the movement of energy through rays, waves, or particles. To understand this, think about going out in the sun on a cold winter day. The heat immediately warms you, and it's coming from solar radiation.

When it comes to your house, a lot of this has to do with the way heat moves from a warmer object to a colder one. In the winter, your furnace or boiler is pumping in heated air. However, that air comes into contact with colder objects like walls or windows. The heat is then transferred there and lost. In order to stay comfortable, your heating system must account for this heat loss.

This is why a hydronic system works. It uses heat from your boiler or another heat source and moves it seamlessly to radiators, baseboards, radiant floors, radiant ceilings, or radiant walls. By creating warm surfaces in each room, there is a warm object to send heat to you instead of through your cold walls or windows. You'll stay warm without even noticing what the system is doing.

Is a hydronic system right for your home? CW Cummings Plumbing Co Inc can help you figure it out. We've been serving you since 1991, and we offer same-as-cash financing with 18 months of 0% interest. Be sure to ask about our vacation giveaways!

Understanding the Parts of a Hydronic System

Before choosing a hydronic system with CW Cummings Plumbing Co Inc, it's important to understand what's involved. Several components are required, and we can get each one set up for proper usage.

First, you'll need a heat source. For most homeowners, this is a boiler. The boiler is typically located in the basement or in an equipment room. Calling it a boiler is a bit of a misnomer. Boilers don't boil the water, but they heat the water through a pressurized system. This controls the pressure and the temperature, and the system usually has a low-water cutoff to shut off the fire to the boiler if there's a leak or water loss.

On the other end of your hydronic system are the heating conduits. This can include:

• Copper fin tube baseboards
• Cast iron baseboards
• Cast iron radiators
• Tubing embedded in the floor, ceilings, or walls (known as radiant floor heating)
  

To connect the ends of the system, pipes are installed along with a few other small, essential pieces of mechanical equipment.

• A pressure-reducing valve to control city water pressure is used to lower the pressure for safety reasons.
• An air separator can take the air from the fresh water and remove it for circulation. The water should be air-free to stay quiet and efficient in your system.
• A steel compression tank with an air control fitting or an air vent is needed to work with the air separator. We will choose the right one based on your system and go over the pros and cons of each.
• A diaphragm expansion tank is included in your air removal system to accommodate changes in water volume as the heat goes up and down.
• Circulators, or small centrifugal pumps, are used to move water from the boiler to the heating units. If your system is older, you may have a slow-speed circulator mounted on the side of the boiler to pump water back to the boiler.
• For an older system, you may have more than one heating zone. In this case, you'll have zone valves to divide the hot water to each zone as needed.
• Modern systems will be equipped with small individual circulators. One will be available for each heating zone to move water from the connection to the compression or expansion tank. These circulators are typically turned on by the thermostat in each heating zone.
• One or two control valves may be required in your piping. This controls unwanted water from moving to a zone when it's supposed to be off. Your need for control valves is based on your piping design.
• Thermostats are used to link newer systems to a zone control relay box. This simplifies the wiring as it connects to the boiler and zone valves or circulators.
  
  

If you have questions about any of these parts or how they work, call CW Cummings Plumbing Co Inc. We'll explain each part and make sure your hydronic system is set up correctly.

Are you interested in using hydronic heat? Does your hydronic system need some work? Our certified technicians are available to help. Call now!