do i need an extra burner?

[trian]

Hi all,
Let's say we have a house that is heated by an oil burner. Even on the coldest winter night, the burner spends most of the time NOT working.
Now, lets build another house, exactly the same as the first one, that has a common side wall with the first one.
Given that:
-Heated volume is now double
-Exposed surface is less than double (common wall)
-Oil burner was spending most of the time not working,

will the oil burner be able to cover the heating needs of both?

 

[slapper]

Lets say no, cause what you say is that it spends most of its time NOT working.

T

 

[trian]

Thanks for taking the time to answer,
Since it spends most of the time not working, it should be able to produce more than double the power it produces now, right?
And if it can produce more than double of the heating power it produces now, and only need to cover less than double heating (since adding an identical house with a common wall will not double the losses), it should be enough.
Where's the mistake in my thinking?

 

[rojaca]

rather than go down the route of using spurious logic I would suggest the tried and tested method of heat loss calculations.

 

[trian]

I would appreciate some reasoning instead of the evident proposal to go down the road of calculations, which is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I am not a mechanic, but I understand the way heat loss calculations work: It involves a lot of guessing, of aproximation and of adding a big safety margin, to make sure the system will work in case some of the initial assumptions were wrong. And thus it should be.

What we have here is different. We have confirmed by experiment (the first house) that the installed boiler is more than double of what it needs to be. Adding less than double of the initial heat losses, should result in a working system. Or not?
I do appreciate the answers given, but I feel my question has not yet been answered. Can you prove my logic wrong, or even better, right?

 

[Corgigrouch]

LOL Trian, in Greece heat load calculations may be very hit and miss... I guess this is why you have a boiler that is twice as large as it needs to be, but in the rest of the world we have it down to being pretty accurate... Materials made here and in most European countries have specific heat transfer characteristics that can be and are tabulated so that an engineer can tell the heat loss of the construction whilst it is still on paper

Following your logic, then I would say yes, your boiler is big enough, and if it aint, then you can either fit another bigger boiler or reduce the size of your house until it is big enough...

 

[trian]

Your ironic comment about Greece could strike someone as slightly rude, but being Greek I have to admit your are simply stating a fact.

Anyways, since you took the time to answer, and given that reducing the size of the house is not an option (at least not in Greece) and fitting another boiler is admiting defeat, am I correct to think that a boiler working less than half of the time can produce more than double the power? Is there a reason why it should not be working continously?

 

[Corgigrouch]

There is no reason at all why it should not run continuously, In my opinion running constantly or more often decreases wear in its electrical components.

Unless you can calculate your requirements you will not know until next Winter if your guestimate is correct.

I would hazard a guess that when running, your boiler is running at 100% of its set output for roughly 50% of the time.. the wisdom of this, I shall leave to the experienced oil experts to comment on.

"Rude" is my middle name..

 

[trian]

I would hazard a guess that when running, your boiler is running at 100% of its set output for roughly 50% of the time.. the wisdom of this, I shall leave to the experienced oil experts to comment on.

Maybe it can only be on and off?

 

[Terrywookfit]

Domestic sized burners are only on /off, so will run at rated output when there is any demand.

 

[Corgigrouch]

Domestic sized burners are only on /off, so will run at rated output when there is any demand.

Thought as much but I didn't want to say just in case one of you oil guys knew of some never heard of brand that did have the ability to vary it's output