How much does an electric heating boiler consume per month?

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 easily be considered one of the best heating devices. But it “eats” a lot, so it is important to carry out energy consumption calculations in order to select the optimal operating mode for the existing boiler. Or suitable power in the case when the unit is to be purchased.

How much energy does an electric boiler consume per month?

The simplest way to calculate is based on power. It is applicable if the heating system is already installed and the owner just needs approximate figures. For example, to assess the feasibility of switching to a two-tariff meter.

With such rough mathematics, half the rated capacity of the boiler is taken and multiplied by the number of hours in a day. If you need a calculation for a month, then the result obtained is also multiplied by the number of days. So, a 10 kW unit uses 5*24=120 kilowatt-hours per day. In a month, approximately 120*30=3600 kW will be generated.

Only half the power is taken into account, because most of the time the boiler works to maintain the set coolant temperature. To put it simply: it turns on and heats the water, then turns off and waits for it to cool down. With a properly installed heating system, the standby mode can be assumed to be equal to the operating mode.

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 required boiler power, you will need to know the following parameters:

• volume of heated premises, V;
• temperature delta Dt;
• insulation coefficient k.

The volume is obtained by multiplying the sum of the areas of the rooms by the height. Delta is the difference between the desired temperature inside a home and the average of the five coldest days of the year.

Insulation coefficient (approximate generalized values):

• for a house with an insulated facade and triple glazing it is approximately 1;
• non-insulated walls and double windows - 2;
• thin walls and single window - 3;
• The final formula looks like this: Q = V*Dt*k/860.

For example:

1. The total area of ​​all rooms is 100 m2, ceiling height is 2.5 m. V= 100 * 2.5 = 250 C.
2. It is advisable to maintain the room temperature at 20 C, the winter minimum outside is - 25 C. Dt = 20 - (-25) = 20 + 25 = 55 C.
3. The walls are not insulated, the windows are double glazed. Accordingly k = 2.
4. The resulting values ​​are substituted into the formula. Q =250 * 55 * 2/ 860 =27500/860 = 31.9 kW.

A hypothetical oligarch would need a 32 kW boiler to heat his living space. Average hourly energy consumption will be 16 kW.

The same formula can be used to calculate the energy actually spent by a double-circuit boiler with hot water supply specifically for heating.

What affects consumption?

The calculation results are alarming, but in reality everything is not so scary. The second example shows calculations of the maximum hourly energy consumption on the coldest winter nights. But usually it’s much warmer outside and, accordingly, the temperature delta is much smaller.

It makes sense to carry out calculations based on the monthly average, which can be found from archived weather service reports. When determining the delta, this figure is substituted for the minimum values.

This way you can find out the average maximum hourly energy consumption in a particular month Qmax. To get the monthly average, the formula is useful: Q = Qmax/2*24*x, where Q is the energy consumed per month, and x is the number of calendar days. An example of its use is given in the first section of the article.