Controls
Central heating controls play an important part in your heating system. Controls provide you with flexibility in allowing you to have your boiler on at different times of the day, at different temperatures, with modern controls even automatically sensing the temperature and adjusting the boiler operation to provide the ultimate comfort in home heating.
As well as providing you with greater flexibility and comfort, they play an important part in energy saving. For the relatively low additional investment when upgrading your boiler and central heating system, controls can save up to 10% of your energy usage.
Controls Legislation that you should be aware of
One third of all CO2 emissions in the UK come from our homes. The government has introduced legislation to help lower emissions from homes to assist the achievement of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT).
CHeSS – Central Heating Standard Specification
CheSS focuses on the central heating system and highlights recommended best practice. An installer following the CHeSS best practice guidelines will install a programmer, a room thermostat, a cylinder thermostat (if applicable), a boiler interlock, thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) on all radiators (except in rooms with a room thermostat) and an automatic bypass valve on new heating installations. All of the above components ensure that when installing a condensing boiler that it operates to it’s maximum efficiency and that you minimise wasted energy.
Part L of the Building Regulations
It is now a mandatory requirement under Part L of the Building regulations that ON/OFF controls are fitted on new and upgraded heating systems and that the property is divided into at least two independently controlled heating zones, generally separating the sleeping and living areas. ON/OFF controls normally comprise a thermostat and programmer control.
Different types of boiler controls
ON/OFF Controls
ON/OFF controls normally comprise a room thermostat and a programmer which switches the boiler on or off. The thermostat will register changes in the room temperature, when the room has reached the desired temperature it will transmit this information to the programmer to switch the boiler off. Wireless versions of these programmers now make it easier to install these controls on existing properties and can save up to 6% of energy usage. Turning your thermostat down by 1° saves between six to 10 per cent of annual fuel use. A room thermostat and programmer allows you to set one temperature, whereas a programmable room thermostat can have different set temperatures for different times of the day.
Programmable Room Thermostats
For additional flexibility and energy saving programmable room thermostats are available, which control when the heating (and hot water, if applicable) is turned on and off. They allow you to decide when heat or hot water is required over a 24-hour period – some also provide two-day / five-day or even seven-day options, recognising that demand for heat varies from day-to-day and at the weekend. For example in the living room a fairly high temperature could be set for a couple of hours in the morning, which could then be reduced during the day when the house is unoccupied and then boosted again in the evening.
Advanced Heating Controls
The very latest innovation is built in Opentherm technology, Vokèra boilers have this technology built in as standard allowing the Vokèra Wireless Opentherm Protocol control to maximise your energy saving in the home.
The output flow temperature is just enough to maintain the required room temperature, which enables much lower return temperatures in comparison to a standard programmable room thermostat, enabling the condensing boiler to be held in condensing mode as much as possible. When the condensing boiler is in condensing mode it is at its most efficient.
With standard controls, the boiler is programmed to come on when the temperature drops below the set temperature and off when it rises above it. This constant ‘on-off’ cycle is inefficient as the boiler has to keep firing up. It is like a car being most fuel efficient when being driven at a constant speed and less efficient if it slows down and accelerates, effectively this is what the Vokèra OpenTherm protocol control and Vokèra boiler achieves.
For a more cost conscious solution an outside Weather Compensation control is an option. Unlike the OpenTherm technology that senses the internal temperature, the Weather Compensation control independently regulates the boiler in line with external weather conditions. All Vokèra boilers have outside Weather Compensation technology built in as standard and can be connected to the Vokèra Weather Compensation control.
Vokèra Controls
For more information on the types of controls Vokèra offer, download the PDF leaflets below or call us for more advice on: 0844 391 0999.
