The electric boiler is inexpensive, easy to maintain and easy to install. If it were not for the high cost of the energy source, it could be safely ranked among the best heating appliances. But he "eats" a lot, so it is important to carry out energy consumption calculations in order to choose the optimal mode of operation of the existing boiler. Or a suitable capacity in the case when the purchase of the unit.
How much energy does an electric boiler consume per month?
The easiest way to calculate is from power. It is applicable if the heating system is already installed and the owner needs only indicative figures. For example, to assess the feasibility of switching to a two-rate counter.
With such rough mathematics, half of the boiler rated power is taken and multiplied by the number of hours in a day. If you need a monthly calculation, then the result is multiplied by the number of days. So, a unit with a capacity of 10 kW per day uses 5 * 24 = 120 kilowatt hours. For a month, approximately 120 * 30 = 3600 kW will run up.
Only half the power is taken into account, because most of the time the boiler works to maintain the set temperature of the coolant. If it is simpler: it turns on and heats the water, then it turns off and waits until it cools down. With a correctly installed heating system, the standby mode can be taken equal to the working one.
How to calculate more accurately
In the event that you need to know the amount of energy Q spent on heating a house in order to determine the necessary boiler capacity, you need to know the following parameters:
- volume of heated rooms, V;
- temperature delta Dt;
- insulation coefficient k.
Volume is obtained by multiplying the sum of the areas of the rooms by height. Delta is the difference between the desired temperature inside the house and the average of the five coldest days of the year.
Warming coefficient (approximate generalized values):
- for a house with a warmed facade and triple glass, it is approximately equal to 1;
- non-insulated walls and double window - 2;
- thin walls and a single window - 3;
- The final formula looks like this: Q = V * Dt * k / 860.
For example:
- The total area of all rooms is 100 m2, the ceiling height is 2.5 m. V = 100 * 2.5 = 250 C.
- It is desirable to maintain the temperature in the room at around 20 C, the winter minimum on the street is - 25 C. Dt = 20 - (-25) = 20 + 25 = 55 C.
- The walls are not insulated, the windows are double-glazed. Accordingly, k = 2.
- The obtained values are substituted into the formula. Q = 250 * 55 * 2/860 = 27500/860 = 31.9 kW.
A hypothetical oligarch will need a 32 kW boiler to heat the living space. Average hourly power consumption is 16 kW.
The same formula can be used to calculate the energy actually spent by a double-circuit boiler with hot water supply for heating.
What affects consumption
The calculation results are worrying, but in reality, everything is not so scary. The second example calculates the maximum hourly energy consumption on the coldest winter nights. But usually the street is much warmer and, accordingly, the temperature delta is much lower.
It makes sense to carry out calculations, focusing on the average monthly figure, which can be found in archived weather reports. When determining the delta, this figure is substituted for the minimum values.
So it turns out to find out the average maximum hourly energy consumption in a particular month Qmax. To get the average monthly value, the formula is useful: Q = Qmax / 2 * 24 * x, where Q is the energy spent per month, and x is the number of calendar days. An example of its use is given in the first section of the article.
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