Comparative study of continuous versus intermittent heating for local residential building: Case studies in Jordan

Abstract In this work, a comparative study of continuous versus intermittent heating in homes was performed. The thermal response factor and intermittent heating factor was found for a typical apartment building in Amman, Jordan. A comparison between several wall, roof, and floor constructions and several levels of insulation thickness was made and the heating load calculations for those constructions (steady state analysis and dynamic behavior) were performed. It was found that more comfort and more fuel saving and less initial and running costs were achieved when continuous heating at low temperature was adopted. Also, the optimization of continuous and intermittent heating was studied in order to minimize fuel economy and maximize thermal comfort. It was found that for high insulated apartment buildings, the continuous operation of the boiler at low water temperature is more economical than when it is operated intermittently at high temperature for more than 14 h per day.