What should be the perfect country house? Beautiful, stylish, modern? Of course. Comfortable and functional? Undoubtedly. But the main thing for good country housing is the atmosphere of real home warmth, a cozy and comfortable atmosphere. Today, more and more owners of country houses use them not only during the summer holidays, for a pleasant vacation or a weekend. Many people decide to live in the country, not only in the summer days, but also in the winter. And in this case, the heating for the country house should be done competently and efficiently. Indeed, in a warm house and rest will be the most pleasant and memorable!
Heating systems for a country house: varieties
There are several popular and quite affordable ways to heat suburban housing so that in winter, even in severe frost, the owners are warm. By the way, this work can be done not only with the involvement of professionals, but also with your own hands. Choosing the best heating project for you, be sure to consider several important points:
- First, take into account the age of the structure, as well as the materials from which it was built. In the event that the most heat-resistant materials (for example, brick, wood) were used for the construction of a residential country house, it will be easier to keep the heat even in the coldest winter.
- Secondly, when thinking about how the heating of your summer house will be organized, take into account another important aspect - the presence of communications in the house. Do you have access to the gas pipeline? In this case, you can purchase a boiler and equip the heating system in this way. If gas has not been delivered to your country house and such work is not planned, or there is no gas supply at all in your summer cottage, the options for organizing heating become much less.
- The third point that must be taken into account when organizing the heating system is the level of fire safety (that is, how much your building is protected from possible fires). In the event that materials with low fire safety were used in construction or finishing works, the organization of heating for a country house should be approached with the utmost care and attention.
Cottage heating: choose a coolant
What heat transfer materials to choose in order to organize the heating of a cottage or a country house in a high-quality, reliable and, no less important, safe way? First of all, when solving this issue, the availability of coolant should be taken into account. As a material for heating, heating cottages can be:
- firewood;
- coal;
- gas;
- diesel or other liquid fuel, etc.
Given the realities of modern country life, it can be argued that firewood remains the leader among materials for heating a small or fairly spacious home. This is a traditional, popular material, which at low cost has excellent environmental characteristics. And, finally, we must not forget about the possibility of organizing heating of a small building using electricity. This resource is today in almost all large, and in small summer cottages. However, this method can be recommended, first of all, in the demi-season. In the cold season, heating the cottage with electricity will be too costly - unless, of course, you go out of town a couple of times a season. In this case, going to the country house, just bring along a few heaters of sufficient power.
Options for organizing a country heating system
All options for how to heat suburban housing in winter can be classified according to the most important principle, which was already mentioned above - this is a type of coolant. That is, for your home you can choose:
- heating with hot water;
- steam heating;
- heating by electricity.
Each type of heating system has both its advantages and some disadvantages. So, for example, if you take into account the cost of the coolant, then the option of using diesel fuel for heating will be the most expensive, especially in very cold winters. But if you choose gas heating, then this option will be the most economical. Meanwhile, heating a cottage with the use of gas can not always be called the safest: in addition, not all cottages have a connection to the main gas pipeline.
If we continue the discussion about the cost of the heating system, then it should be noted: not only the price of the coolant is important, but, in general, the cost of organizing heating. This includes the delivery of equipment, its installation, and additional costs. So, for example, wood heating has one, which is significant for many, minus. In order to organize heating of the house using firewood, you will first need to bring this material, then - equip a place for storage, as well as periodically make firewood.
Heating cottages: what are your costs?
When choosing a system for heating, you should be prepared for the following costs:
- purchase and installation of equipment for the system;
- purchase of coolant;
- repair and periodic maintenance of the heating system.
Many country houses are made of such material as wood. And such buildings, if you do not heat them in the winter, can freeze very quickly. If you do not plan to reside at the cottage in the winter months permanently, it will be optimal to use electric heaters or a stove. If you want to live in a wooden summer house in the winter, additionally insulate it.
For a summer house made of brick, both the stove and gas heating can be optimal. In the case of short visits to the country house, the first option is preferable; in the case of permanent residence outside the city during the winter period, it is nevertheless preferable to gas heating.
What material to make the oven from?
For a summer residence, you can purchase a stove made of steel. This is an economical and quite popular option. Another popular solution for heating cottage housing is cast iron - and this material has several important advantages. The first is a longer exploitation period compared to steel. The second is a large heat loss. And the cast iron stove will be heated quickly enough.
A significant disadvantage of stove heating is that from time to time you will have to throw firewood or coal into the stove. Also a disadvantage can be called the fact that the furnace will periodically need to be serviced, and such a structure needs to be mounted exclusively with the assistance of a specialist. It is not recommended to equip stove heating on their own - this is extremely dangerous. It is important that the design of the furnace should be designed so that smoke does not enter the room.
What types of fuel for stove heating can be called the most effective? In the first place - firewood of such wood species as beech or oak. But spruce or pine burn perfectly, but they produce much less heat.
Gas heating
You can also warm the country house using gas as a heat carrier: if the gas main is nearby, this is not difficult. You can also use gas cylinders to create a similar heating system. Compared to stove heating, gas, of course, will be somewhat more expensive. But if you compare with stove heating, then this option will be much cheaper. The undoubted advantage of gas is that you do not have to look for a place to store the coolant with the onset of the heating season.
See also the video about the organization of the heating system at home: