In this article, we explore how automating your electric heating using smart controls can save you money and make your life easier.
What do we mean by ‘automate your heating’?
Home heating automation means employing smart technology and Artificial Intelligence to control your heating remotely and automatically manage your energy usage. This smart technology includes wireless smart controllers and modern electric radiators with smart features like these:
- built-in energy monitors
- open window detection
- room occupancy detection
- automatic switching between modes (between eco and comfort, for example)
These intelligent devices allow you to set the temperature of your home with incredible ease, by using a mobile app, for example. This means you no longer need to use the traditional thermostat on individual radiators or storage heaters. These older heaters have basic temperature settings and a manual timer which can be inconvenient and lack accuracy.
Smart controls are generally easy to install and set up but you need a compatible electric radiator that connects to the controller. New electric radiators will be required to work this way in the future so smart controls will soon be the default for every electric radiator and storage heater.
Smart controllers work easily with the WiFi in your home using your existing computer, tablet, or mobile. You can then control your electric radiators from anywhere in (or outside) your home.
How automation saves you money and makes your life easier
Only heat the rooms you need to
With traditional heating systems like gas or oil, you have limited control over how hot each room gets. You need to manually adjust each radiator. This takes a bit of experimentation to get right and it’s not the most accurate process. And the process can be complicated by the condition and age of each radiator.
However, when using a digital controller, you can control the temperature of each radiator and warm each room to your liking – right down to the exact temperature. And if you’re not using a room, you can set the temperature to the minimum level.
Digital controls require a simple push of a button or a tap of the finger to avoid spending money on heating rooms more than you need to. Things are great when you automate!
Of course, you can also set your entire home to a single comfortable temperature for consistent heat in every room.
Pre-warm your home for coming home
After a long journey or a long day, you need to come home to a warm house. If you can control your home’s heating using an app, you can easily set your heating to come on at a specific time and temperature.
And if you’re on your way home after a holiday during the winter, for example, you can get your home warmed up while you’re still on the move. Some systems even have geofencing technology that tracks your location and overrides your scheduled heating timer to switch your heating on in time for your return.
So no more arriving home to a cold house and wearing coats while it heats up!
Smart controls are getting smarter
SMART stands for “Self-Monitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology”. In simple, understandable terms, this means modern smart controllers and devices can learn what temperatures work best for you and your home. It sounds like science fiction but it’s true.
Smart controls learn by tracking the inputs you make using the device to adjust temperatures and timings, like how warm or cool you like certain rooms to be. And what time you leave home and what time you return.
Some smart controls can even respond to the weather conditions and adjust the radiator or heater temperatures automatically. This is tried and tested technology that you can trust to save you money.
Benefit from instant temperature changes
A major benefit of electric heating is there’s very little waiting around for your radiators to warm up. And with home heating automation, you can set radiators to warm up in advance or use an app to get more or less instantaneous heat in the room.
See how much you’re spending
Some smart controllers allow you to see how much energy you use on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to heat your electric radiators. Sometimes, they can also work out the cost based on what you are charged for electricity on your current tariff.
Receive alerts when things get too cold or hot
Some smart controllers can send alerts to your computer or mobile when temperatures reach a certain level (either too cold or too hot). And some let you to see how much energy you use on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to heat your electric radiators. They can also sometimes work out the cost based on what you are charged for electricity on your current tariff. Pretty clever!
Conclusion
We hope this article has helped you to understand what automating your electric home heating means and how it could benefit you. If you have any questions or would like a free electric heating design estimate, please get in touch with our friendly team of electric heating experts.
