Managing the heating

Wall-mounted consoles in a smart home, such as those we described in the previous part, decidedly increase the comfort of use and system capabilities. They can have multiple buttons, different shapes and colours, and they can be remote-controlled. Apart from this they sport thermostats and displays, from which you can i. e. read the temperature in the room.

House heating is another very important component. Often when designing a house and its installations you focus on savings that can be brought by building it economically. Seldom does one ponder future use and upkeep costs of the house.

Integrating the heating with your smart home system brings substantial savings. The energy is kept at the lowest possible consumption level, at the same time ensuring a high level of comfort.

Heating zones

Intelligent control allows each room to have an individual ambient temperature (after all, we need different conditions in the living room than in the children’s room), independent of external conditions (two similar rooms in different parts of the house require different amounts of heat at various times of the day, a feat which is not easily achieved with traditional methods). One can control all types of heating, even warm air heating (hardest to control) – the air is heated by the fireplace (or a furnace), and ducts distribute it in the house.

Can one control the heating even if they have radiators installed? How is this accomplished?

Of course, almost every house with a KNX/EIB system has radiators. Their control is exercised as follows: the thermostat in a given room’s control console measures the ambient temperature, and if it is different from the programmed value – it sends a heating/cooling signal to the control module (the so-called heating actuator). This module simply powers the actuator that opens the valve, allowing water to flow into a given radiator. The radiator begins heating, and the room gets warmer. When the temperature reaches the programmed level, the thermostat sends a STOP signal. And this is a continuous process, so the family members feel comfort (stable temperature) and save money (it is not too warm). Control of air-conditioning, ventilation and air humidity is effected in a similar fashion.