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Hydronic Heating & Cooling
The word ‘hydronic’ means a cooling or heating system that transfers heat by circulating water through a closed system of pipes. The water can be heated or cooled to provide a home heating or cooling system. Find out more about the benefits of using hydronics to heat or cool your home and how Australian Hydronic Heating and Cooling can help you find the best solution.
While hydronic systems are usually associated with heating your home, they are also efficient at providing cooling for your home. Just as hydronic systems increase the water temperature to provide heating, a small decrease in the water temperature can provide cooling to your home in the summer months.
Hydronic heating and cooling systems are also considered healthier than air conditioning systems as they don’t blow allergens and contaminants around your home, or create drafts. While the upfront costs are often higher, the long term financial and health benefits are worth the initial investment. These systems can be installed when renovating or in new builds.
What is Hydronic Heating?
Hydronic heating heats water within a boiler, usually via gas, heat pumps, solar or wood or pellet burners. Once used the water is returned to the boiler to be reheated, as demonstrated in the diagram to the right. This ‘heating’ system is separate to the homes domestic hot water supply.
Panel radiators or pipes installed underfloor operate as heat emitters, pushing out natural radiant heat which spreads evenly. The radiators or underfloor heating in each room can be individually adjusted via thermostats to provide different temperatures in different areas of the house
Hydronic heating is popular all over the world, and is becoming increasingly popular in Sydney and across Australia.
Benefits of Hydronic Heating
- Cost effective: Most hydronic heating systems use gas boilers which are incredibly efficient. You could also use solar to power your boiler, which makes it even cheaper and more efficient to run.
- Less carbon emissions : If you choose a gas or solar powered system to heat your water you will be reducing your carbon footprint.
- Zoning functionality : You can zone the heating so that only the areas that you want heated are instead of the whole house, and use thermostats to keep the temperature at a constant level.
- Recycled water : The water pumped around the hydronic pipes is constantly recycled and recirculated so you don’t use much water, apart from having to top it up a little every year.
- Comfort : Hydronic systems provide a gentle heat that warms your whole house, rather than recycling stale air as air conditioners do. The heat radiates up through the floor or out through specially placed radiators and keeps the air at a constant temperature.
- Silence : With no fans running this means no noise, so you can have your system operating in complete silence.
- Healthy : No fans are required to move warm air, so no dust is blown around to potentially aggravate asthma or allergies.
- Stylish : If you opt for a system that uses radiators, the radiator panels are available in a huge range of styles and actually become a feature of the home rather than something you try to hide.
- Safe : If using radiators, these only heat to mild temperatures so are safe to touch and ideal for houses with young children. With underfloor heating there is no part of the system exposed to create hazards. There are also no exposed flames or electrical connections for fire hazards.
- Reliable : The only working parts are the boiler and pump so there is less chance of breakages. Many of the boilers, pumps, radiators and pipes come with long warranties which provides peace of mind.
The other popular heating method for hydronic systems is underfloor heating, where pipes are installed under the floor providing an even radiant heat throughout the room. The pipes can be placed below any floor surface (tiles, wood, carpet, concrete, marble, etc.) and are installed either within a concrete slab, within screed above the slab, or directly below the floor covering. Read more …
Often installing underfloor heating or radiators is not an option for many homes, but there are hydronic alternatives. Plinth Heaters offer a great alternative if you want to heat your kitchen or laundry but don’t want to take up valuable room with radiators or wall mounted air conditioners. A similar space saving alternative is ThermaSkirt, which replaces your skirting board with a hydronic heating system that heats your home. Trench heaters or Fan Convectors use your hydronic system to pump heated air into your room through trench heaters in your floor or fan convectors on your walls.
While gas, heat pumps and solar are the most popular methods of energy for heating the water used in hydronic heating, wood or pellet burners offer a viable alternative, either as large boilers located in a garage or shed, or as a feature stove in a living room. Read more …
Once your hydronic heating system is installed it is important to have it cleaned and flushed regularly. Australian Hydronic Heating and Cooling use top of the range technology to flush the radiators and pipes to ensure the most efficient operation of your heating system. Read more …
Full Hydronic system installation
Australian Hydronic Heating and Cooling (a division of AJ’s Plumbing Pty Ltd), based in Sydney, is able to offer a full hydronic heating service, from installation of the boiler, installation of the radiator or underfloor heating system, through to maintenance and repair. We have access to the full range of the world’s leading hydronic underfloor heating and radiator products to satisfy most heating requirements and are equipped to cover industrial, commercial, and domestic work.
We recently completed a full hydronic system installation in the Blue Mountains. The images below show a full boiler fit out located in a separate room of the house. This boiler then provides both heating for the home as well as hot water, with the system feeding into underfloor heating as well as wall radiators. Having both their water and their home heated with the same system reduces both running costs and maintenance costs.
Hydronic Hot Water Storage Tanks
Australian Hydronic Heating and Cooling can provide you with a range of hydronic hot water storage tanks, and can work with you to source the best option to suit your needs. An example of a storage tank that we use is the Exegi Premium Duplex Stainless Steel Buffer and Combi tanks. These are mains pressure storage tanks that can be located both internally and externally. They can be used with any energy source such as heat pumps, wood fires or solar. The main features of these tanks are as follows:
- Made from tough 2205 Duplex stainless steel
- Rubber feet to keep tank of the ground to prevent rusting.
- 25mm-32mm ports to increase application options.
- 3 x sensor ports.
- 2.4KW-4.8KW electric element boosting options.
- 28mm Stainless steel corrugated heat exchange coil options.
- Drain port.
The storage tanks are available in 200ltr, 300ltr, 400ltr and 500ltr sizes so there is sure to be one to meet your requirements.
Hydronic Cooling
Just as hydronic systems can be used to heat water and your home, they can also be used to cool water and therefore cool your home in summer. Similar to the heating system, cold water is passed through pipes which can be installed in ceilings, floors or walls. The water temperature only needs to be a few degrees below the desired indoor room temperature. This means it is very efficient to run and provides an even distribution of temperature compared to an air conditioning system.
Combining a hydronic heating and cooling system can provide you with year round temperature control for your Sydney home – a very efficient and cost effective solution. Find out more about our hydronic cooling solutions. Read more …
