Thermostats are critical to improving your heating energy efficiency and reducing your costs – but finding the right one is surprisingly tricky.
Types of thermostat
- Basic thermostat with timer
- 0% efficiency
- Typically installed in the hallway or some other central room
- Configured using simple on-off schedules
- Heating turns off when thermostat hits target temperature
- Basic “Smart” thermostat
- Improves efficiency by 10%
- Managed by a smartphone app
- Connected to the internet
- Can either manage the heating on a schedules or adapt to usage patterns
- Smart thermostat with modulation
- Improves efficiency by 17.5%
- Communication with boiler is more advanced than simple on-off request
- Gradually adjusts the boiler’s output as the desired temperature is reached
- Requires compatible boiler
- Smart thermostat with weather compensation
- Improves efficiency by 22.5%
- Uses an outdoor temperature sensor and adjusts the temperature inside accordingly
- Requires compatible boiler
Things to consider when choosing a thermostat
- Although a significant upfront cost, upgrading your thermostat could result in a payback in as little as 2 years based on the current price of energy
- Checking compatibility is still much harder than it should be so check your boiler manufacturer’s website to see what thermostats they offer/recommend
- Contact me for help