A buyer’s guide to smart heating
Intelligent heating solutions for self builders and renovators
Remote-controlled heating has been one of the first real success stories in making home automation affordable to everyone. The benefits of app-operated thermostats are clear – where would we be without being able to boost the heating from the sofa or switch it on before we get home? But there’s opportunities to take things further if you’re self building.
Simple solutions
Companies such as Nest and Hive have aimed themselves squarely at the retrofit market, making it easy for anyone to get a smart thermostat at a cost of around £200. As well as being easy to control via apps, they’re compatible with voice-activated assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home. They’re also part of a diverse family of products, from light bulbs to security cameras, that can all be controlled from one place in order to make life easy.
Besides allowing you to remotely switch your heating off and on, or the temperature up and down, they have some more advanced features. For example, they can learn how long it typically takes your home to heat up, so instead of programming a time for the heating to come on, you can set when you want it to reach a certain temperature.
Combine a central thermostat like these with smart thermostatic radiator valves (STRVS) and you’ll have more nuanced control over individual zones – so, for example, if you’re coming home at night and going straight to bed, you can just switch the bedroom radiator on for an hour. Hive has just launched its own version (costing £54) and other brands include Tado (whose products are Apple compatible, where Nest and Hive are not). Some of the boiler companies are also getting involved in the market. Bosch’s Easycontrol system, for instance, is designed for optimum compatibility with Worcester boilers.
The importance of zoned heating
Simon Roberts, head of research and development at Evergreen Energy, which designs bespoke renewable energy systems, says that these bolt-on setups are not ideal for self builds, simply because they are not as compatible with the multi-zone underfloor heating that is a feature of nearly all the projects he works on. Evergreen Energy uses either Honeywell’s Evohome system or Heatmiser’s Neo, with Evohome having the edge if you want to include radiators with STRVS in your setup.
Simon says that homeowners he works with typically want zoned heating, with a thermostat in every room. “But in practice, within 12 months they will have worked their way around and set every thermostat to 21°C,
which is much the same as having one central thermostat in the hallway,” he says. “It’s more important to ensure the underfloor heating is balanced correctly on installation, with, say, a restricted flow rate for a downstairs toilet that’s right next to a manifold. If you get that right, you shouldn’t need to be tinkering with thermostats afterwards.”
He does suggest individual thermostats for bedrooms, though, since that’s where people tend to have different temperature preferences – or some bedrooms may be unoccupied altogether. As well as the ability to control heating and hot water via a single control panel or app, clever functions include Evohome’s ability to turn the thermostat right down if there’s a sudden temperature drop, which it interprets as someone opening a window.
Integrated systems for self builders
If you are building a home from scratch, then it’s worth considering a fully integrated approach, since it’s more cost-effective to do it than if you were retrofitting. Wiring your home in a star configuration, so each circuit cable runs back to a main hub, offers the ability to connect heating with lighting, security and audio-visual systems.
You won’t need to juggle separate apps or control panels for each of these elements, and with an integrated approach you can do some clever things, such as having a ‘holiday’ one-button setting that not only shuts down the heating but puts lights on at dusk, with timed opening of automatic blinds to give the impression you’re at home.
Your heating could also be linked to rooflights, so they can be instructed to open or close automatically when temperatures reach a certain level, taking a temperature reading from underfloor thermostats. Andy Moss, MD of Moss Technical Services, which designs and supplies Niko Home Control, explains how “Niko adds intelligence with conditional actions. For example, if the temperature is greater than 25°C, it isn’t raining and you are in the house, then the rooflight can open automatically – or it can remain closed if it’s raining or if you’re out.”
It can also integrate with MVHR systems, so for example you could include a feature where the ventilation goes off if smoke alarms are activated. In terms of compatibility with heating, Andy says “it’s worth noting that some MVHR systems take excessive heat from one part of the house and put it in another area to help boost the temperature in a lower room (since heat rises). However, this can conflict with zone heating where you might want different climates in certain rooms, so it is very important to research how each system works and therefore how they can integrate with one another. We can help and advise with that – an early-stage design will ensure you always get it right.”