Thermostat Installation & Replacement
With the ever increasing cost of fuel, homeowners are constantly looking at how they can reduce their utility bills. While a boiler upgrade is the obvious choice, for many the cost is often prohibitive. There are however, other areas of upgrading your heating system that can also help bring those costs down.
What thermostats do you have fitted?
If your central heating system is over 15 years old, it may well be operating with just a hot water tank thermostat, or old analogue radiator thermostats, and they could be costing you a substantial amount of money through your utility bills. In fact, if your central heating servicing has been somewhat lax, concentrating on just a boiler service, old analogue thermostats may be hardly operating at all, costing you far more.
All mechanical thermostats operate in a similar fashion. For instance: When you set the temperature on an analogue radiator thermostat at 20°C, you are actually setting a temperature range. The rad will heat up to 22-23°C before the thermostat cuts in. The rad will then cool to around 17-18°C, before the thermostat cuts back out and the boiler starts to reheat the water and hence the radiator. In all, a temperature range of between 4-6°C, to keep your radiator (and room) around 20°C, plus or minus. That constant heating and cooling continues 24/7 (if your heating is on at night).
When you consider people like the Energy Saving Trust maintain that reducing your central heating temperature by just 1°C can save you around £80/year, it makes sense to use the most accurate thermostats available. Other heating controls which can affect the overall efficiency of your heating system are: Timers, to switch your boiler on and off, and programmers, which allow you to set different temperatures on different days of the week for your hot water and central heating. You can also include zoned heating, which allows you to set different temperatures in different rooms. Although analogue thermostats are cheaper to buy, getting to grips with the latest thermostatic technology will make a noticeable difference to your annual energy bills. Let No1PHD show you how!
Get smart with digital thermostats
Thermostats today are available in analogue and digital, wired or wireless. Add to that the number of different manufacturers, and that some brands of thermostat operate more efficiently with certain heating set-ups, and trying to decide what is best can become something of a minefield. Contact No1PHD, the thermostat experts. Our long serving heating engineers spend much of their time upgrading older systems, and can offer expert advice on the type and brand of thermostats best suited to your central heating installation, and what you want it to do.
Remember our mechanical thermostats, or rather that four or five degrees swing every time the thermostat kicked in or out? Digital thermostats are much more accurate. Typically, a digital thermostat will operate with just 1° of fluctuation. Keeping your room temperature where you want it to be. That said, if your needs are just to have a system that is on or off, then using an analogue thermostat will achieve that purpose, and save the cost of a more expensive unit.
Joining the Internet of Things
If your end objective is total control of your home heating system to lower your utility bills, then smart gadgets are the way to go. There is a whole range of different smart heating accessories which can be controlled from an app on your smartphone. Using smart thermostats you can switch your heating on, on the way home from work, or off, if your home is empty. You can adjust the temperature up or down remotely. Your smart system can change the heating levels to compensate for increasing or decreasing outside temperature. You can start to warm bedrooms an hour or so before bed, and lower the temperature in empty rooms.
Not only that, but smart heating systems can provide a substantial amount of information as to whether you are using your heating in the most economical way, and give a real time display of your energy usage.
Give Us A Call
If you would like more information on whether installing or replacing your old thermostats would improve your central heating, contact one of No1PHD local heating engineers, for an in-depth assessment of your needs. Call 08006906777 or email info@no1phd.co.uk
emergency service
0800 690 6777
After noticing that the house was unusually cold, we found that the heating wasn’t coming on and that our hot water had also failed. We called the team at No 1 PHD who dispatched an engineer to investigate. After discovering that the culprit was a faulty boiler part, they ordered in a new part and got it fitted as quickly as possible. The guys were great, and we couldn’t be happier.
Mr Lincoln
For days, we’ve noticed a foul smell coming from outside and a gurgling sound coming from one of the drains. Whenever it would rain, the area around it would flood slightly and take ages to drain. We tried buying drain unblockers, but none seemed effective. Eventually, we turned to No 1 PHD and were left wondering why we didn’t do this sooner.
Mrs Griffin
