Smart heating without a smart home. How to do it?

The topic of “smart home” has been discussed many times, but only a small number of interested readers understand the specifics of its implementation. Smart heating without a smart home or a smart home without smart automation can be done. This is implemented analoguely using relays, as well as microcontrollers if more complex solutions and processing scenarios are needed.

Analog climate control for a heating system with a solid fuel boiler

What is smart heating? This is heating with climate control

So, when we talk about smart heating, we are talking about automatically turning the boiler on and off, as well as adjusting the circuit temperature. Most solutions for gas or electric boiler models offer temperature correction based on readings of water heating in the heating circuit. Additionally, you can install devices that allow you to measure and adjust the temperature in a specific room. 

The operating principle of such smart heating is quite simple. The boiler regulates the temperature in the heating circuit by changing the pump speed, that is, pumping water and adding cold water if the system has a three-way valve. The temperature in the rooms is regulated using devices installed on batteries, we are talking about mechanical or digital thermostats. With their help, the flow of water in the battery is limited or increased.

The system can become more complex using analog or digital solutions. For digital solutions, microcontrollers are used that regulate the power of the boiler depending on the needs of many consumers. These include radiators with control thermal heads and underfloor heating thermostats.

Climate control in unregulated heating circuits

Climate control with automatic PLUM

Moving from theory to practice

Thus, climate-controlled heating can be realized using a boiler or a control system that controls the pump and digital thermal heads with temperature sensors. To some approximation, such a solution can be called smart heating.

An option with smart devices is also available, mainly for apartments, which are usually classified as a smart home, but in fact this is far from a fully functional system. You can install thermostatic valves on the radiators and control the temperature if you have good heating in your apartment and it can be limited.

 

Smart heating with a developed control system involves the regulation of many devices, automatic connection of the boiler during the heating season, work with multiple heating circuits and “fine” temperature regulation in each heated room with an objective power consumption of the boiler.

Of course, such a solution will be expensive; it is better to choose heating devices that control one heating device. But such a solution is objectively cheaper in cases of organizing complete autonomy and OFFGRID solutions from one powerful boiler. In our case, from a boiler running on cheap pellet fuel.

Climate control in an apartment with central heating

Acquainted with organization of heating with climate control you can on the page: pellet boilers FOCUS with climate control.