Condensing boilers work by using natural gas to heat up water inside your home or building’s boiler system. An electric pump
pushes the heated water through the pipework before heating the radiator, which in turn heats up the rest of your home or building. When the water circuits its way through the pipes, it begins to lose its heat, which is when the cooled water reaches the boiler again. The water goes through the heat exchanger, warms up once more, and the process begins all over again.
Condensing boilers are considered by many HVAC experts to be much more energy-efficient than regular gas boilers. The carbon-based fuel used by gas boilers produces a chemical reaction of carbon dioxide and steam, which then escapes into the air through a small chimney called a flue. This causes a lot of heat to escape, which wastes energy and costs you money. Condensing boilers have the flue gases pass through a heat exchanger, which subsequently heats up the excess water while reducing energy expended by the boiler.
One of the few drawbacks of condensing boilers is that the condensate is slightly more acidic (note, by acidic we mean it’s about as acidic as tomato juice). However, your flue will very likely need to be re-lined with stainless steel or aluminum alloy to handle the more acidic exhaust fumes.
Since the condensate drainage pipe often runs outdoors, freezing temperatures may also cause problems by freezing up and causing a blockage with ice.
How to Prevent the Condensate Pipe from FreezingCondensing boilers can also be much more expensive up-front despite offering cost savings down the road. Because the bulk of their expense presents itself at the point of purchase, many homeowners opt for the conventional option and concede the higher energy expense down the road.
HVAC service technicians at Hot Point Heating & Air Conditioning are one phone call away from comprehensive installation or repair of your condensing or non-condensing boiler system. When we quote you for service, you won't pay a cent over our flat rate price regardless of what happens on the job site. Hot Point provides a maintenance guarantee, offering 50% off should any of our installed products malfunction in the season in which we performed maintenance.
Of course, your best bet is to educate yourself about the boiler installed in your home and perform preventive boiler maintenance to ensure you never need to call us in a time of crisis!
You can trust Hot Point Heating & Air Conditioning to handle all of your boiler installation, retrofitting and repair needs. Call us at 262-567-9505 today.
