This invention relates to an outdoor heating system for houses and other small buildings wherein the hydronic boiler and associated burner, including other controls normally associated therewith and preferably including the fuel supply, are located completely outside and housed within insulated modules.
Presently and especially in the less temperate climate areas of the United States and elsewhere, hydronic home heating systems are almost entirely located within the house structure itself and most often in the basement. There are situations, however, when basement or indoor locations of such hydronic systems are either impossible or impractical. Thus when a home is converting from electric to oil or gas heat, it is usually necessary to include a chimney structure which is not always present and is expensive to provide. Additionally when space is at a premium, it would be desirable to use the required heating system space for storage or living space.
Further drawbacks of interior hydronic heating systems include the noise, oil combustion fumes, and odors associated with the storage and combustion of the fuel, generally oil, but also including natural and LP gas as well. Furthermore with such interior placement of burner units, it is necessary that combustion air either be drawn from the outside or that already heated interior air be used for such purpose which generally requires either added structural complexities or a lower heating system efficiency. This is particularly true with today's highly insulated homes in which oxygen starvation for the burner unit is often a problem due to the reduced outside air infiltration. Also, the location of a burner in the basement of a home produces a slight negative pressure therein which tends to draw undesirable pollutants, such as radon gas, from the surrounding ground soil into the home atmosphere.
It is thus apparent that these above-indicated problems could be eliminated by the outside placement of the home heating system. While some such earlier attempts have been made primarily through necessity due to inadequate interior space, they have not met with particular success.
Previous outdoor boilers do not attempt to locate the boiler and all its components inside a separate inside enclosure as the outdoor heating module. They take a conventional boiler and replace its insulated jacket with a non-corrosive insulated jacket which also encloses the burner and controls. This exposes the boiler burner and controls directly to low outside temperatures causing condensation to form on the boiler, burner, and controls with resulting corrosion and service problems. Previous outdoor units also make no attempt to enclose the air elimination tank and equipment and purge and fill stations. Their design requires them to be located inside the dwelling. Previous units do not employ a forced draft flue gas exhaust system as the outdoor heating module. They rely on an opening in the top of their units to remove flue gases by natural draft. The arrangement produces varying positive draft conditions which prevent proper exhaust of the flue gases and also causes positive pressure to accrue inside the combustion area. The result is numerous service problems and excessive soot accumulation.
Such outdoor placement of the heating system components further includes the common outdoor placement of a storage tank, that is, a free standing, uninsulated tank most commonly feeding a boiler and burner unit located indoors. It is also commonly known to bury storage tanks also most commonly associated with the indoor location of boiler and burner units. Such limited outdoor disposition of heating system portions has not met with general acceptance and has furthermore led to specific problems associated with such outdoor disposition.
Thus, it is now becoming apparent that buried underground fuel storage tank leaks can cause environmental problems as well as being costly to repair. Also, normal outdoor disposition of oil storage tanks further can cause condensation inside the storage tank which mixes with the fuel oil causing fuel stoppage when the condensation freezes in the oil line or direct sludging of the fuel oil itself from exposure to very low temperatures also causing fuel stoppage. Problems associated with the outdoor boiler placement revolve around its exposure to low outside temperatures which can cause condensation to form on the boiler, burner, and controls with resulting corrosion and service problems. Such known outdoor boiler units also made no attempt to enclose the air elimination tank, much of the electrical equipment, the circulation system, and purge and fill stations. Normally, such systems located such equipment within the house. Also, previous systems have never attempted to joint a heating module with the fuel supply.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an outdoor hydronic heating system which eliminates the above-discussed problems and is convenient to use, trouble free in operation, and provides the maximum positive results from such placement. Such is accomplished by having a standard hydronic boiler unit with its associated burner controls within an insulated module and connecting such module to an insulated fuel storage module such that both modules are interconnected and insulated in such a fashion that the heat produced from the boiler provides a desirable warm atmosphere to the entire heating system located outside the house it services. In addition, substantial benefits are provided by solely positioning the entire hydronic boiler system within its own completely enclosed and insulated module located entirely outside the house to which a conventionally located fuel supply system (either in the house, buried or free standing) may be connected.
Accordingly, these and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by the provision of a self-contained, complete hydronic home heating module adapted for outdoor use adjacent the home, said heating module comprising a rigid base on which a hot water boiler including an associated fuel burner is attached, side walls upwardly extending from said bottom wall and a top wall attached to said side walls so as to completely enclose the interior spaced formed by said module, at least said side walls and said top wall being insulated, one of said walls having a combustion air inlet to supply outside air to a forced air draft system in turn operatively associated with said boiler and including an exhaust gas outlet passing through one of said walls, said module further containing a hot water circulating system including a pump with attached inlet and outlet piping for connection to the inlet and outlet positioned within the home and in turn connected to the heat distribution system located therein, and an electrical system for energizing said burner, said draft system and said hot water circulation system, and at least one of said side walls being a quick removable panel to provide working access to the interior of said module.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.