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What Is a Condensing Boiler?

**Rentmeister Total Home Service No Longer Services Boilers Or Radiant Heating Systems, We Apologize If This Is An Inconvenience**

Boilers were the first whole-home heating systems. They are reliable and durable, and offer comfortable, energy efficient heating. These days, not only do you have a choice when it comes to fuel type for a boiler (oil, gas, propane, solid fuels), you also have a choice between condensing and non-condensing boilers. We’ll explain the difference between the two types of boilers below, but remember that for any heating repair in Salt Lake City, call the people you can count on: Rentmeister Total Home Service.

Condensing vs. Non-Condensing

Boilers work by generating heat in a combustion chamber that warms a heat exchanger; this heat exchanger warms the water in your system while also venting the gases from the combustion products. This brings us to the first difference between the systems: a non-condensing boiler has one heat exchanger while a condensing boiler has two. With a condensing boiler, instead of venting the combustion byproducts to the outside via your flue, these gases go through a secondary heat exchanger. As the hot gases cool, they turn into vapor from which the latent heat is extracted and circulated back to the primary heat exchanger. The non-usable vapor cools into water (aka, condensate), which is safely removed from your boiler by a condensate drain pipe. This water is slightly acidic, but poses no danger. At the end of the process, the exhaust of your boiler, which contains usable, latent heat energy, condenses this latent energy and capture it for use.

Why Consider a Condensing Boiler?

The main reason to consider a condensing boiler is the level of energy efficiency you can achieve. The average AFUE of a condensing boiler is over 90%, meaning that less than 10% of the fuel used to generate heat is wasted; this can be a significant savings for many homeowners. Additionally, many condensing boilers are smaller in size, which can save space.

Boilers are reliable, durable heating systems that can work with different outlets, including radiators, baseboard heaters and hydronic radiant heating. If you are interested in seeing what a condensing boiler can do for you, contact Rentmeister Total Home Service today!

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