Types of timing controls

Making use of the right type of timing controls will enable your central heating system, to warm your home in a productive way. This increase in your home’s efficiency will allow you to lower your carbon footprint and energy bills.

A programmer will automatically switch your heating off when you have no need for it. For this technology to work, you will have to set on and off time periods, whereby your home’s central heating will be activated.

You can also set your programmer to have a warm-up and cool-down time. This can be done, by timing how long your home takes to warm up on a cold night, then observing the time it takes for it to become uncomfortably cold. Setting your programmer within these timeframes, means the heating will not only come on before you wake up but it will switch off before you leave the house.

You should only set your water to heat up when you need it. If you have a well-insulated hot water cylinder, there is a possibility that the hot water supply from the morning stays hot enough until you need it in the evening.

Households have different heating needs, throughout certain periods of the day. While you can change the temperature of each radiator manually, this is not always the most convenient method. With zone control, you can do this automatically. For this, you will need to have separate heating circuits for each part of the house, with each circuit accompanied by a separate programmer.

To help limit your heating bills, when you have a new heating system fitted, you can consider zone control. If a large house is being equipped with zone control, then you might need to have two different zones, to meet regulations.

If you are not fitting a new system, then it is important to be aware that converting your existing pipework to work with zone control is not always practical. Instead, you can consider programmable TRVs.

Like standard TRVs, but equipped with the addition of timing controls, programmable TRVs are heating controls for individual radiators. This allows homeowners to set each radiator to heat up at a different time, meaning the temperature of each room can be controlled independently.

To ensure your home is up to a comfortable temperature by the time you need it, an optimiser calculates the time it takes to heat the property. One way to benefit from an optimiser is to set your programmer to the time you get up in the morning. By applying your desired temperature to the thermostat, your optimiser will determine the correct time to fire your boiler up.

As the process of heating your home will take longer during periods of colder weather, the optimiser will trigger the boiler earlier. Whereas, in warmer conditions, it will hold back, saving you energy and money.

Automated heating control systems decide when to turn the heating on. They make this informed decision by, determining whether there is anyone at home, or approaching it. Automated heating control systems do this by either, using sensors in the home, or tracking the homeowner’s phone. An automated system is often compatible with smart heating controls, as well as an optimisation function to help decide when to switch the heating on.