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HouseHeat FAQs
What is HouseHeat?The HouseHeat system from HouseTech is a remarkable wireless heating-control system for radiator based hot-water central-heating systems. It is a high-quality German-engineered product that is already in use in many domestic and commercial buildings throughout Germany and Scandinavia, but still new to the U.K. market.Back to top Why use the HouseHeat system?The HouseHeat system provides you with control of your heating consumption, and gives you unparalleled, customisable and accurate temperature control throughout your property. It offers you the benefits of significantly reducing your heating consumption and your heating bills, while at the same time enabling you to take care of the environment by reducing your contribution to greenhouse-gas emissions and lowering your carbon footprint. No conventional heating-control system operates the same way that HouseHeat does, nor offers the same advantages.Back to top What other advantages does HouseHeat offer over conventional heating systems?With conventional hot-water central-heating systems using thermostatic radiator valves, temperature-measurement errors arise because the thermostat is too close to the radiator. With HouseHeat the Wireless Room Thermostat is not physically connected to the radiator and may be placed wherever desired in the room so temperature control is more precise and is sensed in the desired location in the room itself, not next to a radiator.Furthermore, the room temperature only needs to be set at one location in the room - namely on the HouseHeat Wireless Room Thermostat. With a conventional heating system using thermostatic radiator valves, the temperature needs to be set on each individual radiator. A fully customisable daily and weekly programme enables the temperature to be precisely regulated separately in every room in a house, delivering accurate control of individual room temperatures according to your personal needs and requirements. Separate day- and night-programmes for each day of the week are definable. There is also an override function to allow you to temporarily change the temperature if required - for example, if you go away on holiday. Because the HouseHeat system operates wirelessly, no cables, wires or pipes are required for its installation - which means no disruption of your home or damage to your décor. Installation is fast and simple, with no need to drain radiators during installation. Back to top What is the typical 'pay-back' time for a HouseHeat system?The time it takes to recoup the investment in a HouseHeat system varies according to the size of the property, how well it is insulated, the room-temperature requirements of the occupiers, the way the thermostats are programmed and numerous other factors. However, a 'pay-back' time of one to two years is typical.Back to top How does the system work?The thermostatic radiator valve heads currently fitted to your central-heating radiators are removed and replaced with HouseHeat Wireless Radiator Valve Motors - one wireless valve motor on each radiator.A typical thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) consists of a plastic valve head and a metal valve body. Only the plastic head is removed when installing HouseHeat - the metal valve body is left in place, attached to the radiator. A HouseHeat Wireless Room Thermostat is then placed in each room or zone of your property at the location where you would like to measure and set the room temperature. The room thermostats communicate wirelessly with the radiator valve motors, automatically adjusting the output of all the radiators in the room to deliver precise, responsive and accurate control of the temperature you set on the room thermostat. Each room thermostat may be programmed over a day or week to give a customised heating programme for each individual room in your property. - something conventional heating-control systems just cannot do. Back to top Can I start with just one room?HouseHeat can be installed on a room-by-room basis. You can start by fitting it in just one room, and then at a later date you can expand your system to more rooms. The more rooms which have HouseHeat installed, the more money you will save and the greater the amount of CO2 emissions you will reduce.Back to top Is HouseHeat easy to install?Very easy, provided you have thermostatic radiator valves currently fitted to your radiators (as many homes in the UK already do). Installing a wireless valve motor on each radiator can be carried out by someone with no special skills or tools in just a few minutes.You simply need to follow the instructions provided in the box to replace the thermostatic valve head currently fitted on each radiator with a HouseHeat Wireless Radiator Valve Motor, mounting the wireless valve motor on the thermostatic valve body (which remains in position on the radiator throughout). It is not necessary to remove the valve itself, just the valve head, and draining the water or bleeding the air from the radiator is not necessary. If the supplied valve adaptor does not fit your valve, we can supply other valve adaptors for a broad range of thermostatic radiator valves to enable you to fit your HouseHeat system. The other key component of the HouseHeat system, the Wireless Room Thermostat, is even simpler to install. It is either mounted on the wall in a convenient place, or used in the manner of a remote control and placed anywhere in the room, such as on a coffee table or bedside table, or next to a sofa or armchair. No unsightly wires, cables or pipes are required to be installed, as the system is fully wireless, and there is therefore no damage to your existing décor. Full instructions are included in the box, or view the HouseHeat Installation & User Guide Back to top I have old-fashioned manual radiator valves, not thermostatic radiator valves. Can I still install HouseHeat?Yes, if you first replace your manual radiator valves with thermostatic radiator valves prior to installing the HouseHeat system.Back to top Will HouseHeat fit my existing thermostatic radiator valves?You will normally be able to mount the HouseHeat Valve Motor on to the valve body without need of an adaptor. However, if you find you cannot do this, we can supply universal adaptors which will enable you to mount the Valve Motor on the majority of thermostatic valves available on the UK market.Please note that in order to fit the HouseHeat Wireless Valve Motor on to the thermostatic valve body, there must be a minimum distance of 30mm between the edge of the radiator and the centre (not the edge) of the thermostatic valve. If the clearance is less, you should still be able to fit HouseHeat to your system if you fit some washers or a valve extension between the radiator and the valve body to increase this distance to 30mm or more. However, this would involve draining down the radiator first. Alternatively, a plumber would easily be able to increase the clearance for you. Back to top How many radiators can be controlled by one Wireless Room Thermostat?Each Wireless Room Thermostat can control up to eight Wireless Radiator Valve Motors, and therefore up to eight radiators. In the event that you have more than eight radiators in a single room, you can use two room thermostats in the same room with each room thermostat controlling a zone within the room.Back to top Why don't I just switch off the boiler at night to save money?It is a fact often quoted by heating and energy experts that if the heating system is shut off completely or reduced to a very low level, it can actually take more energy to warm the house up again than if the heating system is simply turned down a few degrees, since walls, floors and other structures in a building which become 'cold-soaked' - not to mention the components of the heating system itself - need a lot of heat energy to warm up again. So switching the boiler off completely at night may save you very little, if anything, and you also have to live with the discomfort of a cold home at night.Back to top Won't thermostatic radiator valves do the same job as HouseHeat?In theory yes, but in practice you would need to remember without fail to go to every TRV on every radiator in your house and turn them all down a few degrees at night, and then turn them all up again a few degrees in the morning; then ideally turn them all down again before leaving for work, and then turn them all up again on coming home in the evening. In other words, several times each day, day in, day out; week in, week out; year in, year out! HouseHeat can be programmed to do all this for you effortlessly, so you can simply forget all about it and enjoy the energy and fuel-bill savings. The biggest advantage of the HouseHeat system is that you can create a custom heating programme for each room in your property on an individual room-by-room basis, taking into account how often and for what purpose rooms are used. This is the key to delivering big savings on your energy usage and your fuel bills.Furthermore, temperature control with a HouseHeat system is more accurate and responsive than with conventional TRVs, which typically only allow you to set a rough temperature using the scale from '1' to '5' marked on the thermostatic valve head. With a HouseHeat system, you are able to set the temperature in each room digitally and that temperature is maintained to a high degree of accuracy - each HouseHeat room thermostat co-ordinates the output from all the radiators in the room connected to the HouseHeat system to deliver the temperature you request. Finally, since the HouseHeat thermostat can be placed where ever you wish in the room, the temperature you set is delivered at the place where it matters to you - such as next to the sofa in the living room, for example. With conventional TRVs, the temperature measured can be subject to error since the temperature is sensed in the thermostatic valve head which is mounted on the radiator itself - not where you are sitting. So you may well feel cold if you are in a 'cold spot' even though the TRV 'thinks' that the room is at the correct temperature. With the HouseHeat system, temperature-measurement errors arising from the thermostat being too close to the radiator are avoided and temperature control is more precise. Back to top My property has BOTH a central timer/programmer AND thermostatic radiator valves - surely I can achieve everything a HouseHeat system can give me without needing to install HouseHeat?Installing a HouseHeat system will in most cases still reduce your energy consumption and save you money on your heating bills!If your boiler switches off fully at night, the house can become uncomfortably cold during the night hours. Heating and energy experts often say that if the heating system is shut off completely or reduced to a very low level, it can actually take more energy to warm the house up again than if the heating system is simply turned down a few degrees. This is because the walls, floors and other structures in a building become 'cold-soaked' and need a lot of heat energy to warm up again. The critical temperature is typically around 14 degrees Celsius. Below that temperature, it will take more energy to warm up the cold heating system and cold house than if the heating system had been running continuously. So switching the boiler off completely at night may save you very little, if anything, and you also have to live with the discomfort of a cold home at night. A HouseHeat system in comparison allows you to automatically turn the thermostat down in each room by just a few degrees - enough to make significant heating and cost savings, while still keeping the property sufficiently warm during the night to be comfortable. Many modern boilers don't actually 'switch off' fully when the timer 'switches off' the central heating - rather, they continue to run, albeit at a lower, reduced maximum output level. Indeed, most boiler manufacturers recommend that the boiler is not shut off completely at night, but rather run at reduced output, as it requires a large amount of energy to re-heat a completely cold central-heating system. At night (unless you have manually adjusted them before going to bed) the TRVs on all your radiators are still set to the same value as they are during the day so they are still demanding the same amount of hot water from the boiler to maintain the same room temperatures. The fact that the boiler is now running at a lower night-time output level and delivering less hot water means that all the thermostatic radiator valve heads on all the radiators simply 'open up' their respective valves to try and compensate for the lower boiler output and 'grab' sufficient hot water to maintain each room at its day-time temperature. The result is a boiler operating with reduced maximum output running at or close to that maximum (reduced) output to try and satisfy the demands of radiator TRVs which are now demanding as much hot water as possible for each radiator. The end result: minimal or limited savings on your heating consumption. A HouseHeat system works differently and more intelligently. The wireless room thermostats in each room command the wireless radiator valve motors to close down the radiator valves at night to reduce the room temperatures. This means that significantly less hot water is demanded from the boiler, and the boiler is thus effectively just 'idling' or 'ticking over' during the night: most of the hot water produced by the boiler returns to the boiler at almost the same temperature, meaning that the boiler consumes significantly less fuel. This is what accounts for the considerable savings in energy consumption which translate directly into reduced heating bills and less greenhouse-gas emissions with a HouseHeat system. There are also other benefits which a HouseHeat will give you compared with a TRV-based central-heating system: You can create a custom daily or weekly heating programme for each separate room in your property on an individual room-by-room basis, taking into account how often and for what purpose rooms are used, which is the key to delivering big savings on your energy usage and your fuel bills. Furthermore, temperature control with a HouseHeat system is more accurate and responsive than with conventional TRVs, which typically only allow you to set a rough temperature using the scale from '1' to '5' marked on the thermostatic valve head. With a HouseHeat system, you are able to set the temperature in each room digitally and that temperature is maintained to a high degree of accuracy - each HouseHeat room thermostat co-ordinates the output from all the radiators in the room connected to the HouseHeat system to deliver the temperature you command. Finally, since the HouseHeat thermostat can be placed where ever you wish in the room, the temperature you set is delivered at the place where it matters to you - such as next to the sofa in the living room, for example. With conventional TRVs, the temperature measured can be subject to error since the temperature is sensed in the thermostatic valve head which is mounted on the radiator itself - not where you are sitting. So you may well feel cold if you are in a 'cold spot' even though the TRV 'thinks' that the room is at the correct temperature. With the HouseHeat system, temperature-measurement errors arising from the thermostat being too close to the radiator are avoided and temperature control is more precise. In summary, conventional TRVs - even combined with a central/thermostat/timer - simply cannot come close to matching the benefits offered by the HouseHeat system. Back to top Who should consider buying a HouseHeat system?The HouseHeat system can be used to control any conventional radiator based hot-water central-heating system. It is suitable for houses, flats, holiday homes, offices, schools, shops, businesses and restaurants - in short, any domestic or commercial building where hot-water radiators are fitted.Back to top Are there any other requirements in order to fit a HouseHeat system?In order to fit HouseHeat, the radiators should have thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) already fitted, as many radiators in the UK currently do. If the radiators in your heating system do not have TRVs, but instead have old-fashioned manual radiator valves, you can still fit a HouseHeat system - but you will first need to replace the manual radiator valves with TRVs.Back to top Do the HouseHeat Wireless Room Thermostats need to be wall-mounted?No. They can either be wall-mounted, or used like a remote control and placed anywhere in the room. You can also mount them on the wall, and simply remove them temporarily for ease of programming before replacing them on the wall mount.The big advantage of being able to site the thermostat where you like in the room (next to you on the sofa, if you like!), is that it will then adjust and coordinate the output of the radiators in the room to deliver the precise temperature you have requested at the place in the room you have requested it. In comparison, conventional thermostatic radiator valves sense the temperature next to the radiator (since that is where the thermostatic valve is located). This is fairly meaningless, as it may well be warm next to the radiator, but there may be a draught, window or door close to where you are sitting, and you may not feel warm at all - a conventional thermostatic valve cannot react to that, as it only senses the temperature next to the radiator. Back to top Will the HouseHeat system work with underfloor heating systems or electric radiators?No, HouseHeat only works with radiator-based hot-water central-heating systems using thermostatic radiator valves.Back to top How will the HouseHeat system reduce my heating bills?According to the Energy Saving Trust, 59% of energy consumed in the average home is used for heating. The key to saving heating energy is programming each HouseHeat wireless room thermostat to automatically reduce the room temperature at night by 3 to 5 degrees Centigrade - and ideally also at other times when you know your property will be unoccupied, such as when you are out at work. A reduction from a day-time temperature of 20-21 degrees down to a night-time temperature of 16-17 degrees will not affect your comfort, but will have a large impact on your heating consumption.A reduction of 1 degree typically delivers up to a 10% saving on the heating bill for the average home-owner. Furthermore, this results in a typical reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of around 100kg per year - one of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Reducing the temperature by 3 to 5 degrees at night can therefore deliver really significant savings on your heating bills. Consider a family with a yearly heating bill of £2000. Saving up to 20% - 30% on their heating consumption could mean saving up to £400 to £600 each year on heating costs. The savings can be even greater if you also set a lower temperature in rooms which you use little, or not at all - like spare bedrooms, utility rooms, extra bathrooms and studies or offices, or rooms which you simply pass through briefly, such as hallways, corridors and entrance areas. The same applies for commercial properties: HouseHeat allows you to automatically turn down the room or zone thermostats after employees have left the building in the evening, and automatically turn them up again to a comfortable level in the morning before workers arrive, delivering significant savings in energy usage, heating costs and CO2 emissions. Back to top How does HouseHeat reduce my CO2 emissions?According to DEFRA, the residential sector is responsible for 27% of the UK's CO2 emissions. To reduce these emissions we either have to cut the energy lost from our property (the reason for many of the products on this website) or we have to use less energy. By programming your HouseHeat system to reduce the temperature of your rooms at night-time by 3-5 degrees, you could save up to half a tonne of CO2 emissions each year - a valuable contribution in the fight against global warming.Back to top Can I take the HouseHeat system with me if I move home?Yes. You just remove the Wireless Valve Motors from each radiator and replace them with the thermostatic radiator valve heads which were removed when the HouseHeat system was installed. As before, no draining of radiators is necessary. Replacing the original thermostatic valve head is extremely easy and can be carried out by someone with no special skills or tools in just a few minutes. As the HouseHeat system is fully wireless, it can be easily re-installed in your new property without mess.Back to top Can I control my HouseHeat system remotely, using the internet or my mobile phone?Yes, a product is available to allow you to do exactly that: HouseHeat WebConnect. This allows you to control a HouseHeat system remotely from anywhere in the world via a web-browser interface on your mobile phone, PDA, laptop or desktop computer using an internet connection or the GPRS (mobile telephone) network. It will enable you for example to turn up the heating at home if you are planning to leave the office earlier than expected, set the heating in your holiday home on the other side of the world before you arrive there, or manage the heating in an office block remotely from another location in the city or country.Back to top The system operates wirelessly - is it reliable?The HouseHeat system delivers a high level of reliability owing to its use of the highly secure 868MHz wireless frequency band.Back to top Can different HouseHeat Wireless Room Thermostats in the same building or room interfere with each other?No, they are designed and intended to operate in the same building - even in the same room - without interference since each unit is assigned a unique code. There are 10,000 possible codes available.Back to top How is the HouseHeat system powered if there are no wires or cables?Both the Wireless Room Thermostat and the Wireless Radiator Valve Motor use normal AA household batteries. The use of highly efficient, low-power technology means that the battery life under typical conditions is around one year for the thermostat and two years for the valve motor, thus keeping battery costs low. The Wireless Valve Motor provides an optical and acoustic warning signal over an approximate four-week period prior to the battery needing replacement.Back to top What if I go away for the weekend or on holiday? - do I need to re-program all the Room Thermostats?No. The Wireless Room Thermostat has an 'override' function which means that there is no need to re-program any room thermostat. There is also a built-in frost-protection function. |
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