When it comes to controlling the heat settings in your home, it usually just entails setting the timer to turn the heat on in the morning and then again in the evening for a couple of hours. Maybe you also set the thermostat? Fiddle with a few radiator temperature settings? But beyond these relatively simple settings most people do not do anything else to control their heating in the home. What if we told you that you can now get devices that control the temperature in every room in the house, turning the heat up in one room and down in another. Welcome to the new world of clever heating controls, the latest products to hit the energy saving market in the UK.
Clever heating controls make it easier for you to control the heat settings in each one of the rooms in your home as opposed to the whole house as a whole. If you generally tend to spend all your time in the office during the day, then the social areas in the evening, you can set your heat to reflect your activity. The good news is that the devices on the market that allow you to do this can be used in conjunction with your current heating system. These gadgets are pretty cool and should be up there on your must have list.
Honeywell
At this current time, Honeywell is the market leader in multi room heating systems. Honeywell has been in the business of thermostats for years and is a global company. Here are some details on its latest product:
Evohome: Honeywell’s latest system is Evohome, a device that allows you to control the temperature in each room in your home via a smartphone app on your Apple or Android phone. You can separate your home into zones or rooms and control everything from your phone. In real life circumstances, say you know you are going to get home early from a holiday, or work, you can turn on your heating from your phone when you leave the airport or the office. You can also change the temperature in each zone in the house and set up a schedule for each week depending on your schedule. The system is so clever that it pays attention to how long your home takes to heat up and turns on with enough time to get the house to the desired temperature by the time you get home. Talk about spoilt!
Find out more about Honeywell Evohome Zoning Pack
Heat Genius
Heat Genius is new to the market and takes the Evohome concept a little further. This system actually learns how you use your home and aims to schedule everything in your home around the way you live your life. It will learn that you get up in the morning around 6.30 a.m. and take a shower. You have breakfast in the kitchen and then get dressed and leave for the day. It will learn that you get home at 5.30 p.m. and sit in the kitchen whilst opening the post and having a glass of wine. You then might go upstairs, get changed and make dinner before collapsing on the sofa. Maybe you go to the gym? Maybe on Thursdays you go out with friends. This system will learn your ways. Hence the genius part! It even goes so far as to check the weather so if sun is forecasted, it won’t heat up the home as much as it would with freezing temperatures in winter.
What does a system of this type include and how much does it cost?
Evohome comes with a central controller, radiator valves (for each radiator in your home) and a gateway so you can connect everything to your phone. The system will work with both underfloor heating and radiators and costs around £1,100 for a 3 bedroom house. Heat Genius comes with a central controller, valves and then motion sensors that monitor when you use a room and heat it up in preparation.
What other options are there?
You can find other types of systems on the market but they aren’t as advanced as Heat Genius and Evohome. Here are the other options:
Hive
You can control your heating from anywhere with Hive but it just turns on the heat in the whole house, not in zones and it doesn’t learn how you use your home.
Check out more about HIVE here
Tado
Tado is a smartphone app that works based on how far away you are from your home. So if you are a hundred miles from your home, your home will not be warm at all. Once you start moving closer to home, the heat will turn up and the house will warm up in time for your arrival.
Find out more about TADO here
Nest
Nest is a thermostat which learns how you use your home. Once you have used it quite a lot it learns your habits and helps you to save money on your heating.
Find out more about Nest Learning Thermostat
How much money will I save on my bills?
Depending on which system you choose, you can save anywhere between 20% and 40% on your heating bills.
Have you tried any clever heating controls in your home? Do you like them? Tell use about them in the comments below or connect with us on Facebook and/or Twitter.
Heat Genius – Investment worth every penny
I would like to share my story how I have managed to cut my gas bill by over £400 annually and that is largely thanks to installing a Intelligent Heating Control to manage my heating needs in my 3 bedroom home.
In the year 2012-2013 my Gas consumption was 8202 kW. For many of you this might not sound like very high usage and hardly a justification to go and buy a Intelligent Heating Control to try to reduce it, but what if I told you that I reduced my Gas usage in 2013-2014 by 32% or 3550 kW and that reduction amounts to annual saving of over £400 – not a bad investment as my full Heat Genius Intelligent Heating Control only cost my £811 to start with.