In this piece, we are going to take a look at different central heating controls, which are placed away from a boiler to regulate turning the temperature 
up or down, or switching a boiler on or off. Note that whereas older boilers used wires, modern ones use wireless technology!
Room thermostat
Room thermostat has the capability to sense air temperature. It basically turns the main heating system off and on when necessary. The system is activated as soon as the temperature of air decreases compared to the thermostat setting, and vice versa.
Things to keep in mind
- It is best to set thermostat temperature at 20°C
- At night, keep the temperature anywhere from 16 to 19°C
- For sleeping babies, 18°C works best
- Persons having impaired mobility and elder persons must not let the temperature decrease more than 16°C
- As bathrooms and living rooms are preferred warm, it is best to keep room thermostat in either of the places
Keep your room thermostat away from walls, lamps, electric fires etc. Further, do not put curtains above it or furniture nearby, because free air flow is necessary.
Programmable variety of room thermostats
Programmable type of room thermostats are advanced and allow you to decide when the device needs to start and at what specified temperature. Many such thermostats allow different temperature settings for weekends and week days. Some even allow different settings for each and every day!
In case the heating system you utilize is a boiler having radiators, only a single programmable thermostat is generally provided to control your entire house. Check the time for accuracy though, because during autumn or spring, some devices need time re-adjustment.
For temporary adjustment of heating programme, if provided, keep the following in mind:
- ‘Party’ option enables heating for a certain selected hours
- ‘Override’ option lets you temporarily override an already applied programme
- ‘Holiday’ option disables heating for certain specified days
In case of programmable thermostats too, covers must not be used as free air flow is demanded. Also, keep unnecessary things away.
Thermostatic radiator control valves or TRVs
These valves control radiator water flow based on room temperature. Detection of local air temperature is done with installed technology. However, boiler control is not performed. You can customize temperature requirement for each of your rooms where TRVs exist. Note that putting a TRV near to your primary thermostat is a bad idea since altering your TRV will compel re-adjustment of the thermostat.
Also, at a certain end, you will find that TRVs contain one fat valve having a * mark as well as numbers ranging from one to five. This * setting helps regarding frost protection. Furniture blockage or curtain covering is to be avoided in this case too, as good air flow is necessary in this particular situation as well.
It is always important to understand the different controls, since smart utilization of the controls can save energy costs to a great extent. In addition, overheating issues cannot happen if you know how to control the different devices well.