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A complete failure to understand the task at hand
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tooki:

--- Quote from: eti on December 05, 2021, 10:21:17 am ---“Furnace”? It’s a boiler. You’re boiling water not melting pewter.

--- End quote ---
In USA it’s common to refer to the hot-air-maker in a forced-air HVAC system as the “furnace”. I don’t know what they’re called in the UK. Either way it’s not a boiler since it’s for forced air. (In USA, we refer to boilers for radiator systems as “boilers”. A furnace is a different device. Radiator heat is comparatively rare in USA, found mostly in old buildings, sadly.)

However, the device to create hot water we generally call a “hot water heater”, and not a boiler, at least in the residential context.



--- Quote from: nali on December 05, 2021, 10:26:05 am ---
--- Quote from: eti on December 05, 2021, 10:21:17 am ---“Furnace”? It’s a boiler. You’re boiling water not melting pewter.

--- End quote ---

If yours is boiling water you need to get it looked at!

--- End quote ---
Steam heat is a thing, too. My first apartment in Maryland was heated with steam heat from a central boiler.
nali:
So, in the US you have furnaces that boil water and in the UK we have water heaters we call boilers. It's a funny old world...

I'm sure some industrial and/or municipial systems here probably use steam but in a domestic environment we normally heat water to something like 70C. Although that's changing with the move to heatpumps which is more like 40C AIUI.
tooki:

--- Quote from: nali on December 05, 2021, 02:10:30 pm ---So, in the US you have furnaces that boil water and in the UK we have water heaters we call boilers. It's a funny old world...

--- End quote ---
No, as I said, a furnace makes hot air. A boiler makes hot water or steam for radiator heating, and a hot water heater makes hot water for the faucets, bathtub, etc. (In commercial contexts, I believe “boiler” also encompasses hot water heaters, since they’re often more complex, integrated systems with heat exchangers.)


--- Quote from: nali on December 05, 2021, 02:10:30 pm ---I'm sure some industrial and/or municipial systems here probably use steam but in a domestic environment we normally heat water to something like 70C. Although that's changing with the move to heatpumps which is more like 40C AIUI.

--- End quote ---
I don’t think steam radiator heat was ever common in single family homes. But it was certainly used in large installations like apartment complexes.
jpanhalt:
In the US residential systems, a "furnace" heats air, which is then distributed throughout the home.  It is probably the most common residential heating and AC method.  A "boiler" is anything that heats water as the fluid. (https://www.servicechampions.net/blog/7-home-heating-system-types/ ) If one refers to it as a "hot-water heater" and calls for service, you are very likely to get the wrong person.  Boiler techs are trained specifically. A tech may do both, but a furnace tech without boiler training would/should not service a boiler system.

Boiler systems that heat water to below boiling (e.g., 180°F), which is then distributed are also called "hydronic" systems.  That distinguishes them from steam systems.  Hydronic systems are quite popular even in new homes.  They offer very constant temperature compared to forced air, but they also recover more slowly when a room gets suddenly cooler.
tooki:

--- Quote from: jpanhalt on December 05, 2021, 02:31:23 pm ---In the US residential systems, a "furnace" heats air, which is then distributed throughout the home.  It is probably the most common residential heating and AC method.  A "boiler" is anything that heats water as the fluid. (https://www.servicechampions.net/blog/7-home-heating-system-types/ ) If one refers to it as a "hot-water heater" and calls for service, you are very likely to get the wrong person.

--- End quote ---
Again, depends on the purpose: if it’s heating water for space heating (or for space heating and hot water), it’s called a boiler. If it’s heating water only to give you got water out of the faucet, it’s typically called a “water heater”.


--- Quote from: jpanhalt on December 05, 2021, 02:31:23 pm --- Hydronic systems are quite popular even in new homes.  They offer very constant temperature compared to forced air, but they also recover more slowly when a room gets suddenly cooler.

--- End quote ---
They exist, and are growing in popularity thanks to the loveliness of underfloor heating, but they are hardly “quite popular”: this source says only 5% of US heating is hydronic.
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