Heating and Ventilating Systems 27

nace for warm-air heating used a system of pipes and flues and
heated the spaces by gravity flow. In the 1800s, high speed cen-
trifugal fans and axial flow fans with small, alternating current
electric motors became available and high-pressure steam heating
systems were first used. The 1900s brought the Scotch marine
boiler and positive-pressure hydronic circulating pumps that
forced hot water through the heating system. The heating termi-
nals were hot water radiators, which were long, low, and narrow,
as compared to steam radiators, and allowed for inconspicuous
heating. Centrifugal fans were added to furnaces in the 1900s to
make forced-air heating systems.

COMBUSTION

Combustion is defined as a chemical reaction between a fos-

sil fuel such as coal, natural gas, liquid petroleum gas, or fuel oil,
and oxygen. Fossil fuels consist mainly of hydrogen and carbon
molecules. These fuels also contain minute quantities of other
substances (such as sulfur) which are considered impurities.
When combustion takes place, the hydrogen and the carbon in the
fuel combine with the oxygen in the air to form water vapor and
carbon dioxide.
If the conditions are ideal, the fuel-to-air ratio is controlled at
an optimum level, and the heat energy released is captured and
used to the greatest practical extent. Complete combustion (a
condition in which all the carbon and hydrogen in the fuel would
be combined with all the oxygen in the air) is a theoretical concept
and cannot be attained in HVAC equipment. Therefore, what is
attainable is called incomplete combustion. The products of in-
complete combustion may include unburned carbon in the form
of smoke and soot, carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas), as well as
carbon dioxide and water.

BOILER HEATING SYSTEMS

Heating systems provide heat to designated areas by trans-

28 HVAC Fundamentals

porting heat energy generated in the boiler. The two types of

boiler heating systems are steam heating and hot water heating.
The difference in the two heating systems is the medium used to
transport heat energy from the boiler to the area to be heated.
Steam is used to transport heat energy in the steam heating sys-
tem, and water is used to transport heat energy in the hot water
heating system.

STEAM HEATING SYSTEMS

Steam has some design and operating advantages over hot

water heating systems. For instance, one pound of steam at 212°F
when condensed (latent heat of condensation) into one pound of
hot water gives up approximately 1000 Btu per pound of steam.
On the other hand, a hot water heating system with supply water
temperatures at 200°F and return water temperatures at 180°F
only gives up 20 Btu per pound of water (1 Btu/lb/°F). Another
advantage is that steam, based on its operating pressure, flows
throughout the system on its own while a pump and motor is
needed to circulate hot water.
In an open vessel, at standard atmospheric pressure (sea
level), water vaporizes or boils into steam at a temperature of
212°F. But the boiling temperature of water, or any liquid, is not
constant. The boiling temperature can be changed by changing
the pressure on the liquid. If the pressure is to be changed, the
liquid must be in a closed vessel. In the case of water in a heating
system, the vessel is the boiler. Once the water is in the boiler it
can be boiled at a temperature of 100°F or 250°F or 300°F as easily
as at 212°F. The only requirement is that the pressure in the boiler
be changed to the one corresponding to the desired boiling point.
For instance, if the pressure in the boiler is 0.95 pounds per square
inch absolute (psia), the boiling temperature of the water will be
100°F. If the pressure is raised to 14.7 psia, the boiling temperature
is raised to 212°F. If the pressure is raised again to 67 psia, the
temperature is correspondingly raised to 300°F. A common low
pressure HVAC steam heating system will operate at 15 pounds