Heating your home is imperative to your overall comfort and warmth, especially in the cold winter months. There are many different options for heating your home and water, such as boilers, radiators, solar panels, electric storage heating, and pumps. Additionally, having the correct heating control system will allow you to adjust the temperature as you please, ensuring your home is comfortable and in line with your preferences.
The ideal heating control system will not cost you too much nor will it waste fuel or heat, making your bank account as happy as you are comfortable. Dependent upon the type of heating system you have, you may need a different set of controls. Additionally, if your home heating system requires water-filled pipes or radiators from a boiler, you will likely have to install a ‘wet’ central heating system. This means that your control system will include a boiler theromastat, timer, room thermostat, and thermostate for the radiator valves (TRVs).
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So, how much I can save?
The right controls for your boiler will allow you to preset your heating and hot water to turn on when the room reaches a certain temperature. With this, you will also be able to heat specific rooms to different temperatures, if you so desire. By turning down your room thermostat by one degree, you can save more than £65 and 260kg carbon dioxide a year. Additional savings will vary depending on the size of your home and type of heating system.
Room thermostats
Room thermostats are integral in controlling the temperature in your home. Ensuring a room isn’t getting warmer than it needs or too cold are both integral to your comfort, and energy bills. Room thermostats work best with a free flow of air that in turn senses the temperature, which means it is imperative to their efficiency that the vents are not blocked by furniture or curtains.
A comfortable room temperature to set your thermostat at typically ranges between 18°C and 21°C. It is also important to note that if you set properly, you will not need to turn your thermostat up once it gets colder outside. Your control system should automatically know when the temperature has dropped below your set temperature, therefore triggering the heat to turn on.
Get 4 Free Solar Water Heating Panels QuotesCylinder thermostat
Another type of heating system you may have is that of a cylinder. Thankfully, your thermostat and control system is in place to ensure your heat does not get hotter than it needs to. This works by turning off the heat supply to the boiler once the water has reached the set temperature.
It should be noted that turning the thermostat up will not cause the water to heat up faster. Additionally, cylinder thermostats are typically located about 1/3 of the way up the cylinder, so they may be difficult to find at first.
It is best to set the thermostat at between 60ºC and 65ºC. Not only is this hot enough to kill all harmful bacteria, but it will also burn you if touched.
Boiler thermostat
A boiler thermostat is one of the more popular options and it typically comes with a dial on it. This enables you to set the water temperature as you please.
Your boiler will usually have a dial on it, marked in numbers or from Min to Max. This sets the temperature of the water that will be pumped from the boiler through the radiators to heat your home. The higher this is set, the quicker and more effectively the system will heat your home. In fact, if this is not set high enough, when it is very cold outside your home may not reach your desired temperature.
If you have a room thermostat and a boiler interlock, you can set the boiler thermostat quite high, letting the room controls do their job. But set it lower if there is anyone vulnerable in the household who might hurt themselves by coming into contact with very hot radiators or pipes.
Your boiler control thermostat should always be set to a higher temperature than the cylinder thermostat. In most boilers, a single boiler thermostat controls the temperature of water sent to both the cylinder and radiators, although in some they are separate.
Timing controls
Programmer or time controls will allow you to automatically set your heat to switch off when you are not home or in a different room. You can set your programmer to ‘on’ or ‘off’ during specific time periods, which will allow you to better control your home’s temperature at all times. Most programmers also include a manual override, enabling you to deviate from your default settings at your leisure.
To set the programmer, it is best to choose a cold evening and keep track of how long it takes your home to warm up to a comfortable temperature. Once it has done so, turning your heating system of completely and time the amount of time it takes for house to get unbearably cold.
After you have completed these steps you will have a more accurate idea of where to set your timers for both warm up and cool down times. You should also take into consideration whether or not your home is insulated and with what material. This will contribute to the amount of time it takes for your home to reach a comfortable temperature.
You should also be sure to only turn up your hot water heater when absolutely necessary. Keeping it a more standardized temperature us more energy efficient.
Bottomline
It is always a good idea to look for the Energy Saving and Trust Recommended label when buying any new heating controls, as it will indiciate whether or not you are buying a unit that is the most energy efficient.Heating your home is imperative to your overall comfort and warmth, especially in the cold winter months. There are many different options for heating your home and water, such as boilers, radiators, solar panels, electric storage heating, and pumps. Additionally, having the correct heating control system will allow you to adjust the temperature as you please, ensuring your home is comfortable and in line with your preferences.
The ideal heating control system will not cost you too much nor will it waste fuel or heat, making your bank account as happy as you are comfortable. Dependent upon the type of heating system you have, you may need a different set of controls. Additionally, if your home heating system requires water-filled pipes or radiators from a boiler, you will likely have to install a ‘wet’ central heating system. This means that your control system will include a boiler theromastat, timer, room thermostat, and thermostate for the radiator valves (TRVs).
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