
ESTIMATING ANNUAL RUNNING COSTS 243
ESTIMATING FUEL CONSUMPTION
If all the heat transmitted from the furnace to the water in a heating
boiler could be used to perform useful work in warming the building,
a close estimate of the maximum hourly fuel consumption would be
given by the expression :
Maximum fuel _ Calculated building heat loss
used per hour
—
Calorific value of fuel χ boiler efficiency
In practice, however, this does not happen, because of heat losses
which occur from the heating mains and from other causes such as
poor design (involving overheating, badly planned distribution,
inefficient thermostatic control), bad building desig ...