Springhill: Thermostats and controls
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Springhill Care
Jan 18, 2012, 11:42:09 PM1/18/12
to Springhill Care Group
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/In-your-home/Heating-and-hot-water/Thermostats-and-controls
The right heating controls will let you keep your home at a
comfortable temperature without wasting fuel or heat – so you’ll
reduce your carbon dioxide emissions and spend less on heating bills.
If you have an electric storage heating and hot water system, with
storage heaters use the off-peak electricity to ‘charge up’ overnight
and then release heat during the day, you’ll need a different set of
controls. Find out more about electric heating and hot water controls.
If your home is heated by a system of water-filled pipes and radiators
running from a boiler, you have a ‘wet’ central heating system,
whether it is gas, LPG or oil-fired. Your full set of controls should
ideally include a boiler thermostat, a timer or programmer, a room
thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs).
How much can you save?
Temperature controls
Timing controls
What we recommend
How much can you save?
Whatever the age of your boiler, the right controls will let you set
your heating and hot water to come on and off when you need them, heat
just the areas of your home you want, and decide how warm you want
each area to be. Here are the average savings you could make in a
typical three-bedroom semi-detached home, heated by gas:
Install a room thermostat if you didn’t have one before: £70 and 280kg
carbon dioxide a year
Fit a hot water tank thermostat: £30 and 130kg carbon dioxide a year
Fit a hot water tank insulation jacket: £40 and 170kg carbon dioxide a
year.
You can also make savings by using your controls more effectively:
Turn down your room thermostat by one degree: save around £55 and
230kg carbon dioxide a year.
You can upgrade or install heating controls without replacing your
boiler, and it’s a particularly good idea to think about this if your
controls are over 12 years old. Room thermostats, for example, are
much more accurate than they used to be.
Temperature controls
Room thermostats
These prevent your home getting warmer than it needs to be: they will
turn the heating on until the room reaches the temperature you have
set, and then off until the temperature drops.
Room thermostats need a free flow of air to sense the temperature, so
they must not be blocked by curtains or furniture, or put near heat
sources.
Your room thermostat should be set to the lowest comfortable
temperature - typically between 18°C and 21°C. Try turning your
thermostat down a degree or two and seeing if you still feel
comfortable. You don’t need to turn your thermostat up when it is
colder outside: the house will heat up to the set temperature whatever
the weather. It may take a little longer on colder days, so you might
want to set your heating to come on earlier in the winter.
A programmable room thermostat combines time and temperature controls
and allows you to set different temperatures for different times of
the day. You can have different temperatures in individual rooms by
installing thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) on individual
radiators.
Look for Energy Saving Trust Recommended programmable room thermostats
and room thermostats.
Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs)
Thermostatic radiator valves sense the air temperature around them and
regulate the flow of water through the radiator they are fitted to.
They do not control the boiler. Set them to the level you want for the
room: a lower setting uses less energy and so will save you money.
Please note: We would not recommend using radiator covers because
thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) sense the air temperature around
them and control the flow rate depending on what level they're set at.
Having a cover over the radiator means that the TRVis enclosed, which
is likely to make it think that the room temperature is higher than it
actually is - because heat will be trapped between the radiator and
the cover.
If you already have a radiator cover that cannot be removed, then it
is still worth using TRVs to control the temperature as much as
possible, although the radiator will be more effective at heating the
room space without the cover. If you feel the radiator is not hot
enough at a particular setting, turn up the TRV.
Look for Energy Saving Trust Recommended thermostatic radiator valves.
Zone control
Save money by not overheating parts of your home that are unoccupied
or need lower temperatures – bedrooms or rooms with lots of glazing,
for example. You can have separate heating circuits with their own
programmer and room thermostat (or programmable room thermostat) or
set zones by using thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs).
Cylinder thermostat
If your hot water is stored in a cylinder, the thermostat will prevent
it being hotter than it needs to be. Once the water has reached the
temperature you have set, the heat supply from the boiler will be
turned off.
Turning the thermostat higher will not make the water heat up any
faster, and the water heating will not come on if a time switch or
programmer has switched it off.
Cylinder thermostats are usually fitted between one quarter and one
third of the way up the cylinder. They have temperature scales marked:
you should set them at between 60ºC and 65ºC. This is hot enough to
kill off harmful bacteria in the water, but it s also hot enough to
scald. For extra safety consider installing a thermostatic mixing
valve which will automatically ensure that hot water is at a safe
temperature.
Look for Energy Saving Trust Recommended cylinder thermostats.
Boiler interlock
This is not a control but a system of wiring that turns the boiler off
when neither the room thermostat nor the cylinder thermostat needs it.
Without this the boiler can continue to ‘cycle’, wasting energy.
Boiler thermostat
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 control
This will automatically switch your heating off when you’re not at
home, or when you can do without it, such as when you’re in bed.
Programmers allow you to set ‘on’ and ‘off’ time periods. Most models
will let you set the central heating and domestic hot water to go on
and off at different times. There may also be manual overrides. Check
that the timer on the programmer is correct before you set your
programmes. You may also need to adjust it when the clocks change.
Choose a cold evening and time how long it takes for your house to
warm up from cold to a comfortable temperature – this is the warm-up
time. Then turn the heating off completely and time how long it takes
for the house to start to get uncomfortably cold – this is the cool-
down time.
You can now set your timers including the warm up and cool down time.
So, for example, you can make sure that the heating goes on with a
warm-up time before you wake up and turns off before you leave the
house. If you insulate your home, it will warm up more quickly and
cool down more slowly, so you’ll save money on heating.
If you insulate your home, it will warm up more quickly and cool down
more slowly, so you’ll save money on heating.
Set your water to heat up only when you need it: keeping it constantly
hot uses energy. If your hot water cylinder or tank is well enough
insulated, you may even find that the morning’s hot water stays hot
enough to use in the evenings.
Look for Energy Saving Trust Recommended programmers , full
programmers and timeswitches.
What we recommend
Make sure you look for the Energy Saving Trust Recommended label when
you’re buying heating controls – it’s your guarantee that the product
you’re buying is the most energy efficient on the market and will help
you to save money and energy, regardless of how old your boiler is.
Check out these Energy Saving Trust Recommended products:
automatic bypass valves
cylinder thermostats
full programmers
programmable room thermostats
programmers
room thermostats
thermostatic radiator valves
timeswitches
The right heating controls will let you keep your home at a
comfortable temperature without wasting fuel or heat – so you’ll
reduce your carbon dioxide emissions and spend less on heating bills.
If you have an electric storage heating and hot water system, with
storage heaters use the off-peak electricity to ‘charge up’ overnight
and then release heat during the day, you’ll need a different set of
controls. Find out more about electric heating and hot water controls.
If your home is heated by a system of water-filled pipes and radiators
running from a boiler, you have a ‘wet’ central heating system,
whether it is gas, LPG or oil-fired. Your full set of controls should
ideally include a boiler thermostat, a timer or programmer, a room
thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs).
How much can you save?
Temperature controls
Timing controls
What we recommend
How much can you save?
Whatever the age of your boiler, the right controls will let you set
your heating and hot water to come on and off when you need them, heat
just the areas of your home you want, and decide how warm you want
each area to be. Here are the average savings you could make in a
typical three-bedroom semi-detached home, heated by gas:
Install a room thermostat if you didn’t have one before: £70 and 280kg
carbon dioxide a year
Fit a hot water tank thermostat: £30 and 130kg carbon dioxide a year
Fit a hot water tank insulation jacket: £40 and 170kg carbon dioxide a
year.
You can also make savings by using your controls more effectively:
Turn down your room thermostat by one degree: save around £55 and
230kg carbon dioxide a year.
You can upgrade or install heating controls without replacing your
boiler, and it’s a particularly good idea to think about this if your
controls are over 12 years old. Room thermostats, for example, are
much more accurate than they used to be.
Temperature controls
Room thermostats
These prevent your home getting warmer than it needs to be: they will
turn the heating on until the room reaches the temperature you have
set, and then off until the temperature drops.
Room thermostats need a free flow of air to sense the temperature, so
they must not be blocked by curtains or furniture, or put near heat
sources.
Your room thermostat should be set to the lowest comfortable
temperature - typically between 18°C and 21°C. Try turning your
thermostat down a degree or two and seeing if you still feel
comfortable. You don’t need to turn your thermostat up when it is
colder outside: the house will heat up to the set temperature whatever
the weather. It may take a little longer on colder days, so you might
want to set your heating to come on earlier in the winter.
A programmable room thermostat combines time and temperature controls
and allows you to set different temperatures for different times of
the day. You can have different temperatures in individual rooms by
installing thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) on individual
radiators.
Look for Energy Saving Trust Recommended programmable room thermostats
and room thermostats.
Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs)
Thermostatic radiator valves sense the air temperature around them and
regulate the flow of water through the radiator they are fitted to.
They do not control the boiler. Set them to the level you want for the
room: a lower setting uses less energy and so will save you money.
Please note: We would not recommend using radiator covers because
thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) sense the air temperature around
them and control the flow rate depending on what level they're set at.
Having a cover over the radiator means that the TRVis enclosed, which
is likely to make it think that the room temperature is higher than it
actually is - because heat will be trapped between the radiator and
the cover.
If you already have a radiator cover that cannot be removed, then it
is still worth using TRVs to control the temperature as much as
possible, although the radiator will be more effective at heating the
room space without the cover. If you feel the radiator is not hot
enough at a particular setting, turn up the TRV.
Look for Energy Saving Trust Recommended thermostatic radiator valves.
Zone control
Save money by not overheating parts of your home that are unoccupied
or need lower temperatures – bedrooms or rooms with lots of glazing,
for example. You can have separate heating circuits with their own
programmer and room thermostat (or programmable room thermostat) or
set zones by using thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs).
Cylinder thermostat
If your hot water is stored in a cylinder, the thermostat will prevent
it being hotter than it needs to be. Once the water has reached the
temperature you have set, the heat supply from the boiler will be
turned off.
Turning the thermostat higher will not make the water heat up any
faster, and the water heating will not come on if a time switch or
programmer has switched it off.
Cylinder thermostats are usually fitted between one quarter and one
third of the way up the cylinder. They have temperature scales marked:
you should set them at between 60ºC and 65ºC. This is hot enough to
kill off harmful bacteria in the water, but it s also hot enough to
scald. For extra safety consider installing a thermostatic mixing
valve which will automatically ensure that hot water is at a safe
temperature.
Look for Energy Saving Trust Recommended cylinder thermostats.
Boiler interlock
This is not a control but a system of wiring that turns the boiler off
when neither the room thermostat nor the cylinder thermostat needs it.
Without this the boiler can continue to ‘cycle’, wasting energy.
Boiler thermostat
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 control
This will automatically switch your heating off when you’re not at
home, or when you can do without it, such as when you’re in bed.
Programmers allow you to set ‘on’ and ‘off’ time periods. Most models
will let you set the central heating and domestic hot water to go on
and off at different times. There may also be manual overrides. Check
that the timer on the programmer is correct before you set your
programmes. You may also need to adjust it when the clocks change.
Choose a cold evening and time how long it takes for your house to
warm up from cold to a comfortable temperature – this is the warm-up
time. Then turn the heating off completely and time how long it takes
for the house to start to get uncomfortably cold – this is the cool-
down time.
You can now set your timers including the warm up and cool down time.
So, for example, you can make sure that the heating goes on with a
warm-up time before you wake up and turns off before you leave the
house. If you insulate your home, it will warm up more quickly and
cool down more slowly, so you’ll save money on heating.
If you insulate your home, it will warm up more quickly and cool down
more slowly, so you’ll save money on heating.
Set your water to heat up only when you need it: keeping it constantly
hot uses energy. If your hot water cylinder or tank is well enough
insulated, you may even find that the morning’s hot water stays hot
enough to use in the evenings.
Look for Energy Saving Trust Recommended programmers , full
programmers and timeswitches.
What we recommend
Make sure you look for the Energy Saving Trust Recommended label when
you’re buying heating controls – it’s your guarantee that the product
you’re buying is the most energy efficient on the market and will help
you to save money and energy, regardless of how old your boiler is.
Check out these Energy Saving Trust Recommended products:
automatic bypass valves
cylinder thermostats
full programmers
programmable room thermostats
programmers
room thermostats
thermostatic radiator valves
timeswitches
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