It’s all too easy for householders to turn on the heating and then forget to turn it off. It’s also inconvenient for homeowners if they have to keep remembering to do this. Most householders have a lifestyle pattern that their heating system can be matched to, either when they are at home, at work or on holiday. User convenience is a major benefit of time controls.
Installing heating controls is also a low-cost energy saving measure, with little immediate expense to the homeowner and easily identifiable payback.
Taking the time to save energy
Time controls can quickly help to save energy and reduce fuel bills.
By limiting the time the heating system is on and automatically turning it off when heat is not required, time controls can prevent energy wastage. They can also shorten the ‘heating on’ period, once a householder learns how long it takes the heating system to warm up.
Reports suggest that installing a time control programmer could save 261kg of CO2 and £187.08 in fuel bills. These figures will strike a chord with energy and cost-conscious householders.
Choosing the right product
Most basic time controls such as simple mechanical time switches will help to save energy, although they are not really flexible enough to generate real energy savings.
Electronic programmers can deliver more tangible benefits and offer a range of energy-saving features that can be easily used by the homeowner. They allow householders to set on, off, once or timed heating periods and also feature advance, override or boost buttons, which allow the heating programme to be temporarily adjusted.
A programmer will also provide a choice of timing periods per day to suit different lifestyles. These can include 24-hour timing periods either common or separate for heating and hot water, right through to 5 day/2 day separate timings for heating and hot water.
Programmers will also stop the heating and hot water from coming on, even when the room thermostat drops below a specific temperature, providing more control and additional energy savings.
The most effective type of time control is a programmable room thermostat. This combines a programmer with a room thermostat so that householders can specify when the heating is on, as well as what temperature it should reach. It offers time control and temperature control in one for maximum flexibility and offers greater potential energy savings than a conventional room thermostat.
Features include pre-defined standard programmes to get householders started, together with a choice of user-selectable time/temperature events per day to suit homeowners’ lifestyles and heating requirements. This allows householders to choose different temperatures at different times of the day on different days of the week.
Plus, with many wireless versions on the market, they are a practical retrofit solution, minimising disruption to the homeowner and reducing installation time.
For additional savings, installers can also recommend programmable room thermostats with an intelligent delayed start function. This can generate a further 10% saving in heating fuel, by measuring the room temperature when the heating is due to switch on and delaying the heating start for up to an hour, if the room is already relatively warm, when the weather is milder for example.
How to recommend time controls
When recommending time controls, installers should consider a number of different factors.
Gauge how much the householder is prepared to spend, but also emphasise the potential energy savings that will be achieved by investing upfront in more advanced controls now, which will mean lower bills in the longer-term. It’s worth using last winter as an example, when most householders’ will have seen their fuel bills rise.
User-friendliness is another important consideration, as a householder must feel comfortable when using their controls. It doesn’t matter how many advanced energy-saving features a control has, if the user is unsure of how to use them.
Finally, it is also worth noting where the controls will be installed, as most homeowners will be concerned about their aesthetics, especially if they are visible within the main living areas.
The heat is on
There is no better time for recommending intelligent heating controls, which lower energy bills, reduce emissions and offer installers a viable way of creating new sales opportunities. Time controls prevent energy wastage, reduce inconvenience and give householders greater control over their heating usage, fuel bills and carbon footprint of their home.
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