A Beginner’s Guide To… Gas Central Heating

Sure, many of us know how to bleed a radiator or a towel rail. But do we know the components of our gas central heating system, how they work and the process of how our homes are heated? No? Well, don’t worry because many of us here in the BestHeating office didn’t know at first either. So, we’ve decided to help you out with a handy beginner’s guide. Hopefully, it will make the concept of gas central heating that little bit clearer.

If you really want to get a heads-up before starting this guide, then take a look at our infographic on some facts you probably didn’t know about radiators.

Knowing what type of central heating system you have is very important – after all, we pay a lot of money ensuring our home is heated properly. Not only that, but knowing what type of system you have means you’ll have a better idea of how to cut costs.

The Main Elements of Your Gas Central Heating System

• The most common form of central heating in the UK is a gas central heating system using water-circulation. This involves one boiler and radiators positioned around your home. The boiler heats up the water which then circulates through the pipes around your home to the radiators. Your pipes may also be connected to a hot water tank which will provide a supply of hot water for bathing and washing.

• There are a number of different boilers available but here we’ve listed the four most common:

1. A conventional boiler is the most basic – it burns fuel to make heat for your hot water or heating. It has both a cylinder and a tank (typically located in your loft). When the hot water runs out on a conventional boiler, you have to wait for it to reheat.
2. A system boiler comes with a water cylinder (usually found in your airing cupboard) but doesn’t have a water tank. Again, the hot water can run out in which case it could be a lengthy wait if you need a shower.
3. A condensing boiler captures some of the waste heat in the gases given off when burning fuel. It’s energy efficient because you can get more heat from the same amount of fuel.
4. The most popular choice in the UK is a combi boiler. These boilers don’t need a tank or cylinder and provide heat and hot water on-demand.

   Image: Phil & Pam Gradwell via Flickr

• Vertical, slim panel, flat panel, chrome, black, in the shape of a T-Rex… Any idea what we’re talking about? Radiators! Another essential aspect of your gas central heating, they’ve become incredibly stylish over the last few years and are no longer the terrifying, noisy monsters desperately hidden away by settees/curtains/covers at the sides of our rooms.There are many types of radiators including copper and aluminium but generally speaking they are mostly made of steel. The radiator works by transferring heat to the air in the room as the air passes over the radiator panel. Then, the warm air rises and pushes the colder air back down and over the radiator surface again.
  If your radiator or heated towel rail doesn’t heat up properly, is cold at the top and warm at the bottom or is cold all over it may need bleeding. To bleed a radiator or heated towel rail, take a look at our step-by-step guides below.

• On to the actual boiler now; on the front of your boiler there should be a boiler thermostat. The thermostat will have a dial on the front. This setting on the boiler dictates how hot the water will get that circulates around your house.
  
• Then, there’s your room thermostat. By moving this dial up and down, you set the temperature for the room. If the boiler thermostat is set too low, you’ll find that even by modifying the temperature on the room thermostat your room will either take a long time to heat up or not heat to the specified temperature at all.
  
  *Nifty Tip – By reducing your room thermostat, you could cut your heating bills by up to 10%*

  Image: Top RQ via Flickr

• If you’ve got radiators heating your home, you’ll probably also have thermostatic radiator valves. By turning these valves, you get greater control over how hot the temperature in each room is. So, rather than each radiator working to the same power you can choose which rooms you’d prefer warmer…or cooler. Similar to the thermostat, the valve senses air temperature around it and regulates the flow of water to the radiator.

So, now you know all of the components that make up your gas central heating system.

But How Does it All Work Together to Create Heat?

Imagine the cycle as a circuit, the same water goes into the boiler, through all the radiators and then back again.

So, gas enters your house from an external pipe. It comes in where your gas meter is, on the outside of your property. The boiler burns the gas and then the heat from the gas is transferred into water.

An electric pump then pushes the heated water through the system (it’s so powerful it even pushes the water upstairs).

The water goes into one side of the radiator and comes out of another. Because each radiator is giving off heat, the water has cooled down by the time it leaves the radiator.

Your room thermostat monitors the temperature; switches the boiler off when it’s hot enough and then turns it back on when it’s too cold. Waste gas from the boiler leaves through a flue and gets dispersed in the air.

And finally, we’ve created a short video jam-packed with tips and tricks to make your gas central heating a little bit more efficient.

How do you heat your home? Do you use gas central heating? Here at BestHeating we want to expand our ‘Beginners Guides’ so if you’ve got any ideas for what we should include, post them below!

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