Smart heating controls are the components that work alongside your boiler to give you precise control over your central heating and to keep the central heating system as energy efficient as possible. There are well-known brands such as Hive, Nest, Danfoss… that offer Smart heating controls.
How does a smart home heating system work?
SMART stands for 'Self Monitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology'. In a standard system the thermostat and timer speak to the combi, conventional or system boiler with general time settings when to come on and what temperature to reach in that time period. Smart controls take that further, allowing you to control each room, constantly changing pre-set settings as you wish, all from the control of your smartphone so you do not have to be in the house when turning heating on or off. Smart thermostats can work on your location, and when you are a certain radius away from the house, send a notification to your phone, prompting you to turn the heating on before you arrive home. Smart controls are compatible with radiators and underfloor heating.
Smart heating can learn your habits, detect motion and switch off heating.
How much will it cost to upgrade my controls to smart heating controls?
Switching to Smart heating will save you money in the long run. On the days your heating is set to come on when you usually get home from work, the nights you don’t go home first due to plans out, means you can actually switch off the heating while seated in a restaurant or in the office on the way out, to avoid heating your home when it is empty.
Before you make the switch, you need to consider whether you would like a wired or wireless thermostat and how many Smart products you are wanting to add to the Smart thermostat. E.g.; would you like to also have Smart radiator valves like the Danfoss Eco™?
Once you have chosen your Smart device and extra components, you will need your gas heating engineer to install the system for you and this visit will cost a couple hours labour. Most gas heating engineers will ask you to buy the product and have it waiting for them, as there are a few different brands on the market and they prefer you to make the choice on which will suit your needs. Bearin mind with some products, that although the Smart thermostat may be more expensive, there might be more choices of compatible products. E.g.; Nest costs more than Hive but you will have a wider choice of compatible products to use with Nest, rather than having to stick with expensive Hive TRVs.
|
How much labour costs to fit smart heating controls |
Per |
Average total labour cost |
|
Replacing a thermostat with a smart thermostat |
Per hour |
£100 |
|
Replacing a thermostat with a smart thermostat and replacing 5x Smart TRVs |
Per hour |
£300 |
|
Replacing TRVs with 5x Smart TRVs |
Per hour |
£200 |
|
Fitting 4x room thermostats for underfloor heating |
Per job |
£250 |
Wired vs wireless Smart thermostat
Smart thermostats come as either wired or wireless thermostats, both having their advantages.
A wired Smart thermostat, e.g.; Danfoss TPOne, has one desired position fixed to the wall and this means everyone in the home will always know where the thermostat is and as it is in one place permanently it can learn the routine to learn household habits. This way the thermostat is less likely to be left in the coldest room, which will never give a true indication of the rest of the house, therefore the heating will not work efficiently.
A wireless Smart thermostat, e.g.; Hive Thermostat, means the thermostat is not fixed to a wall and you can pick it up and carry it to a room of your choice, changing which room you would like to have the thermostat sit and read the temperature of. This means you can spend time investigating which room and where in a room is the perfect position to control the heating making the central heating system as energy efficient as possible. The wireless thermostat needs a hub or receiver box to communicate to the boiler.
What happens if my WIFI is down?
Smart heating controls also have a pre-set schedule like an ordinary thermostat and timer. If the WIFI in your area is down, the Smart heating will resort back to the pre-set schedule. It just means that during the time of no WIFI, you will not be able to control the heating with your smartphone.
You will also be able to override schedules by manually using the controls on the thermostat to turn heating off / on and adjust temperature settings.
Is my boiler compatible with smart heating controls?
Most boilers, combi or conventional boilers are compatible with smart thermostats and smart heating controls. Of course, a very old boiler may be the exception but it is best to chat with your gas heating engineer before you rule out the possibility. Your home will need; a boiler (gas, oil or electric), smart controls, a smartphone or computer to operate and access the app as well as a power socket for the hub and WIFI and / or bluetooth connections. Smart heating is not compatible with storage heaters.