Using Central Heating Thermostats Effectively

How To Use Your Central Heating Room Thermostat Effectively and Correctly

There is one area where people often slip up and waste energy. The best way to use a correctly positioned thermostat is to “set it and forget it”, and then use your time switch to set the on/off periods. Have your heating come on for 15-30 minutes before you need it so as to get a comfortable temperature when you need it, such as in a morning upon waking up. Constant fiddling is not needed, and the time to heat up to your desired temperature will not change when altering it, but the final temperature will, and this could be too high.

Ensure your radiators are balanced, in that they are all heating up about the same, and that they are bled by using the radiator key to remove the air from them and improve efficiency.

• Dial Type Central Heating Room Thermostat

Basic Thermostat

This “old style” of room thermostat is most common in mechanical type of thermostats, but are also available in electro-mechanical versions, often in much older systems (bi-metallic strip, or bellows). To control these type of thermostats you simply turn the dial round to the temperature that you would like the temperature to reach. On many dial thermostats you would usually hear a click when the boiler will fire up (model shown uses an LED light).

A disadvantage of this type is that the difference between on and off can be quite large, and so the minimum setting will have to be higher to avoid a “cold period” during the longer off cycle time than on a digital thermistor type discussed below. An advantage is that they don’t need a second mains power feed to supply them with power for most kinds, unless it is a relay operated type or it is a thermistor or more modern type.

• Non-Programmable Central Heating Room Thermostat

Danfoss Room Thermostat

A digital room thermostat operates in much the same way as dial thermostat apart from instead of turning the dial to set your desired temperature you use the buttons and see the temperature reading on the screen. On a digistat (digital Thermostat) you can usually see the current (temperature in the room now) and desired temperature (what you want it to be), (large temp is current and small temp is targeted temp on model shown). On some thermostats you can pull down the front flap to reveal further controls. On the model shown you can set two different temperatures for night and day (by pressing both buttons in). Day mode illustrated with ‘d’ or night mode illustrated with ‘n’ will then be displayed on the top left of the screen. You may also have the opportunity to set a time on your thermostat, offering a simple on/off to a desired time. These offer more flexibility than the simple mechanical stat, and are often more accurate.

Another benefit is that the difference between on and off are less, and so the off time and on times are closer together, resulting in better temperature regulation, and less “cold” periods before it switches back on again to top up the temperature again.

They usually need a separate mains power supply, or they run on batteries, which can be a disadvantage during fitting, or remembering to change the batteries.

• Programmable Central Heating Room Thermostat

Danfoss Programmable Room Thermostat

A programmable room thermostat is undoubtedly the most complex type of thermostat, but it is also the most beneficial if used correctly. Many of the basic features are retained from a non-programmable thermostat such as the way to set a target temperature whilst also seeing the current temperature. The biggest difference and the part that often causes confusion is when trying to use the timing function to set different temperatures for different parts of the day(s). Most of the buttons used to program the unit are usually located behind a flip down panel. One of the first things to set would be the clock settings (including summer time adjustment if applicable). Once you have the correct time displayed you can then go through day by day setting the number of events and the required temperature for each event. On the model shown you can have up to 6 events per day, meaning you can change the temperature up to 6 times each day.

You do not always have to keep to the programmed times and/or temperatures exactly, there are a number of override options available. On the model featured these are located on the front, with the top left button enabling either +1, +2 or +3 hours override. This means if for example you have programmed a temperature of 20 °C between 8am-9am and you want to extend this temperature across further comfort ranges you can press this button to extend the temperature for a further 1, 2 or 3 hours. The button below this is used to select the program setting, with the more curved line representing the 1 – 6 event programmed settings and the more constant single line representing an override to maintain event 1 temperature throughout the day up until event 6.

These can be tricky to set up, and you need a manual, and to keep this safe. They can also run on batteries, or need a separate mains feed to power them.

How to Set Your Central Heating Room Thermostat

• Standard Mechanical or Digital Central Heating Room Thermostats

Mechanical Thermostat

The way to set and use your room thermostat is to find the lowest temperature setting that you are comfortable with, and then simply leave it alone to do its job. It can be somewhat trial and error to find the correct temperature to use. You must firstly start with a lower temperature such 18°C – and then turn it up by one degree each day until you are comfortable with the temperature.

Once you have found the desired and comfortable temperature you will not usually have to adjust the thermostat any further and may simply waste energy and cost you more money if you do. You can of course adjust the temperature if it is a particularly cold day, or adjust from season to season, but the important thing to remember is always try to find the minimum required temperature to save energy and money.

If your heating system is a boiler with radiators, there will usually be only one room thermostat to control the whole house. But you can have different temperatures in individual rooms by installing thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) on individual radiators or through separate zone heating. If you don’t have thermostatic radiator valves or zone heating, you should choose a temperature that is reasonable for the whole house. If you do have thermostatic radiator valves you can choose a slightly higher setting to make sure that even the coldest room is comfortable, then prevent any overheating in other rooms by adjusting the thermostatic radiator valves.

Don’t have a thermostatic radiator valve in the room where the thermostat is, because it will hardly eve turn off if the radiator valve is turned down or off, because the other rooms may be warm, but the thermostat will be fooled into keeping on because of an isolated cold room if there is a thermostatic radiator valve fitted.

This can be overlooked if a thermostatic radiator valve system is upgraded to one with a wall mounted room thermostat.

Drayton Digital Room Thermostat

Room thermostats need a free flow of air to sense the temperature, so they must not be covered by curtains or blocked by furniture. Nearby electric fires, televisions, wall or table lamps may prevent the thermostat from working properly.

• Programmable Central Heating Room Thermostats

Programmable Thermostat

To initially set your programmable room thermostat you must follow the same procedure as a normal room thermostat, find the lowest temperature that you are comfortable with. This will form the basis of settings especially throughout the day. Once you have found the lowest temperature that you think will be sufficient throughout the day you will then need to work out your lifestyle pattern to work out how many different temperature changes are required throughout the day. For example if you and any other occupants are always out throughout the day then there is no need to keep the heating as high (but never turn it off fully), so you would want to time the heating to come on to the required temperature when you or other occupants return home.

There is no exact science behind programming your room thermostat and a great deal of the settings will come from trial and error, but there are a few simple patterns that are usually always most appropriate.

• Early morning temperature set before you actually wake up as to give chance for the heating system to reach temperature maybe half an hour before you get up.

• Reduce temperature mid-morning to save energy, especially if the house is unoccupied.

• Further reduce temperature in the afternoon, especially if your home is to be left unoccupied, but always leave the heating temperature set to a minimum ambient temperature, or for frost protection.

• In the later afternoon increase the temperature to a higher temperature than throughout the day ready for when you arrive home possibly.

• In the late evening and throughout the night reduce the temperature back down to a more ambient temperature, perhaps to 15°C, there is nothing worse than sleeping in an overheated bedroom, and then going cold in the night. Use frost protection settings to avoid freezing up the pipework in the winter.

• When unoccupied, always enable a frost setting of 5°C to 10°C to avoid freezing of the pipework which could result in them splitting and leaking upon thawing, which would be disastrous.

The time on the programmer must be correct. Some programmer types have to be adjusted in spring and autumn as the time changes between Greenwich Mean Time and British Summer Time. Some are automatic, check the manual, and keep it in a safe place to refer to at any time.

Programmable Room Thermostat

In other respects your programmable room thermostat needs the same requirements for positioning as a normal room thermostat. You can also use a programmable room thermostat in conjunction with thermostatic radiator valves throughout the home to offer a more flexible heating system, but not in the same room, as they will conflict as mentioned above.

• If you don’t want your settings tampered with, get a controller with lockout passwords, or a dial cover in the case of the “old fashioned” dial type.

Tamper Proof Thermostat Cover

• Keep your manual handy in a safe place that you usually store such items; although the manufacturer may have a copy online, or to send to you; there is nothing worse than being stuck without a manual, especially in the winter 2 days before Christmas. Keep it with your boiler and other system controller manuals at all times!

Remember These Key Points…

• A central heating  room thermostat simply switches the heating on and off as necessary. It works by sensing the air temperature, switching on the heating when the air temperature falls below the thermostat setting, and switching it off once this set temperature has been reached.

• Turning a central heating room thermostat to a higher setting will not make the room heat up any faster. How quickly the room heats up depends on the design of the heating system, for example the size of the boiler and radiators.

• Neither does the central heating setting effect how quickly the room cools down. Turning a Central Heating room thermostat to a lower setting will result in the room being controlled at a lower temperature, and saves energy.

• The central heating system will not work if a time switch or programmer has switched it off. This often catches people out, especially if the programmer has stuck (mechanical time switch), or the settings have been lost, (digital type – loss of power or flat batteries for example)

• A silly point to conclude on… your central heating system will not operate during a power cut, a power failure, or another fault tripping the mains in the house. Electrical power is needed for all of the central heating  controls, and the boiler, as well as for the pump!

• Just reducing the thermostat setting by one degree Celcius will save you around 5% of your annual heating bill!

Mark Lawton

http://mark-lawton.com

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