Good reasons for good controls:
- Heating and hot water accounts for over 80% of the energy consumption in the home.
- The installation of a minimum standard of controls in a wet system (which previously had no controls) can reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 20%.
- Controls to reduce the average temperature in the house by 1oC, will reduce consumption by up to 10%.
- Reducing the heating “on” time by 2 hours a day will reduce consumption by up to 6%.
Future Proof Energy can supply and install a range of electronic control equipment that may often be retro-fitted to existing boilers and other heat sources, introducing many of the most modern efficiency techniques including outside weather compensation, sequencing and continuous monitoring of flow and return temperatures to match heating demand.
Savings of 15-40% are often achievable. Full payback is usually generated within two years, often far less. These systems are suitable for domestic and commercial boilers.
Upgrading to renewable energy systems may not be immediately possible or practical, consequently there are other opportunities to improve the performance of existing oil and gas systems. With such systems it is possible to intelligently control the amount of time a heating system operates for, subsequently reducing its carbon emissions and costs without reducing its heating performance.
Advanced controls for underfloor heating installations (for new builds or extensive renovations only).
Cost of advanced controls for an average house (approx. 150 sq m) ranges from £500.00 to £1,000.00. Considering that an average HE gas or oil boiler cost from £700.00 to £2000.00, spending half of heat source value on controls may seem expensive. However, savings begin from day 1 after advanced controls are installed.
In case of Renewable Energy heat sources, like ground or air heat pumps, when value of the installation often exceeds £10,000.00, investing additional £1,000.00 in advanced controls is more economical and easier to rationalise. In addition, underfloor heating is the best option for heat pumps as it's low temperature and very efficient system to distribute heat throughout the house.
OK, but what do we really mean by “advanced controls”?
It's nothing else than system of thermostat sensors that allow to control the temperature in each individual room of the house, instead of setting one temperature for the entire house. Similar results can be achieved with thermostatic valves on radiators, metaphorically it's the underfloor heating equivalent of TRV's.
Below, please find 2 examples highlighting the inconveniences arising from lack of proper temperature control.
Example 1 – Fireplace.
Quite often there's a fireplace in the livingroom. Now, depending where in the house is the central thermostat controller, we can have one of two scenarios. When the central thermostat is installed in the livingroom, the warmth of our fantastic focal point of the room – fireplace – will switch the heating off in the entire house. Which means, effectively, that only the livingroom will be nice and warm and rest of the house will be cold.
Second scenario is when the central thermostat is placed in other room that the one with fireplace. Analogically then, the entire house will be nice and warm, but livingroom with fireplace will be too hot. That will lead to opening the windows and wasting all that heat and money.
Installation of the controls in each room will provide the heat equilibrium in the entire house, as each room will be individually controlled.
Example 2 – location of the house.
There are many factors involved in heating of the house and if the house is well insulated (like most new build houses) the heat generated by the heating system, but also radiated from people living in the property, cooking and the sun will stay within the house for quite some time. Automatically, some rooms of the house will be – almost by default – warmer than other.
Location of the house and its windows is quite important here. Rooms with windows facing south will get more heat (from the heating system and from the sun) and rooms at the north will get less heat from the sun. When the temperature from the heating system is constant and distributed equally throughout the house, that taking us to the first example and obvious advantages of each room being controlled individually.
Examples like the above can be multiplied. Three most important aspects of individual controls over your heating system are comfort, ecology and economy.
Please note that reducing the temperature only by 5°C in the room which is not permanently in use (like guest room or home office) will reduce the cost of heating that particular room by as much as 50%!
