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heating plant

heating plant

1 3.7
A system in a building that makes warm air and sends it to rooms
  • noun
  • /ˈhiːtɪŋ plænt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : central térmica
  • The university's new heating plant ensures that all classrooms remain warm during the winter months.
  • district heating plant

Examples

  • In particular, he was bothered by the inefficiency of the base's central heating plant.

    Blog text (7)
  • During the sample periods, the medical school heating plant generated an average of 4,086 kg of steam per hour, with a greater than 90 percent recovery rate.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Starting in 1983, the main district heating plant used natural gas.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Steam generated at the medical school heating plant is piped to the main building complex located about 180 meters away.

    Academic text (1993)
  • A building like this is either fed steam from a central heating plant, or it has a chimney poking out of the roof with a lot of hot exhaust gases.

    Blog text (26)
  • The return condensate is stored at the heating plant in a deaerated holding tank from which it is fed back to the boiler's steam manifold.

    Academic text (1993)
  • With a deal made with the Facebook data center, Fjernvarme Fyn in Odense, Denmark, will be able to receive the excess heat and avoid the investment cost for replacing an old district heating plant.

    Academic text (2018)
  • At the heating plant, engineers monitor the efficiency of the boilers and the distribution of heat throughout the building.

  • The residential heating plant provides hot water and heat to multiple apartments in the complex.

Synonyms

furnace
vsheating plant
93 4.1

A closed chamber that makes very high heat for melting metal, burning waste or heating buildings

is the full onsite facility, not just a single heat chamber
heating system
vsheating plant
8 2.8

A system that warms a building by moving hot air or water

is the larger facility that produces and distributes warmth throughout the building
central heating
vsheating plant
5 2.5

A system that warms a building by making hot water or air in one place and sending it to rooms

is the overall facility that produces and moves that warmth across the site
gas heat
vsheating plant
  • US
1 2.6

Heat from burning natural gas to warm a building

is the building facility that provides warmth regardless of its fuel type
hot water plant
vsheating plant
  • Specialized
3.7

A place that makes hot water to heat homes and buildings

is the general facility for making and sending warmth, not limited to one method

How Powerful

heating plant
  • Specialized
1 3.7
boiler
  • Specialized
54 3.4
furnace
93 4.1
space heater
  • US
11 3.1

Surface Forms

heating plant singular

Morphology

heating + plant

The meaning 'a facility that generates and distributes heat' is directly derivable from combining 'heating' (equipment or process that provides heat) with 'plant' (a building or complex for industrial production). This straightforward noun+noun compositional pattern is common in English (and in many other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Heating plant comes from combining heating, meaning making warmth, and plant, meaning a 'place with machines' that makes something. Imagine a room full of big machines and pipes that make heat and send it to all the rooms, and that's why heating plant means the facility or system that provides heat today.