Automated heating in offices

Automated heating in offices - what gives

Does it make sense to deploy automated heating in offices? The answer will depend on the context, whether it is an office building, a detached house with a relatively small area, or an office in an office center. The goals, objectives and implementation of the approach will vary significantly in all cases, but automation of heating in offices is an increase in the level of comfort and an opportunity for savings. For example, there is no point in heating rooms when there are no people at night or on weekends. 12-15 degrees is enough to maintain the temperature. An automated heating system can regulate the room temperature based on scenarios and sensor data.

Note that automated heating as a concept still implies the automation of a boiler room, and not a separate office riser operating from an unregulated central heating. But we will consider all options.

 

Automated heating in an office building

An office building, like any administrative center, requires high-quality heating. Tenants in some cases can be very demanding, but for the center itself, automated heating in an office building implies convenience for tenants, increased prestige and energy savings.

An office building differs from any other building in the presence of office apartments; heating is usually included in the rental price by default. But you can display this as a separate item and expenses on which you can save. This is possible if the apartments are heated in a separate riser and/or have a heat meter. Otherwise, the solution will be similar to heating an apartment with climate control devices, including sensors, touch panels and thermostats.

If the owners of an office building install a pellet boiler room, then heat can be supplied “on demand” throughout the year. Taking into account different heating conditions, it is better to heat office premises with three types of devices - heated floors, radiators with fans and standard radiators. 

 

Office heating settings with automated heating can be accessed by the user through a touch panel and touch thermostats. Heating parameters are controlled using installed temperature and motion sensors. Users can use a low-temperature heating circuit in the off-season and in extreme cold, radiators, as well as zonal heating with air masses (simulating air heating from radiators with water coolant), and also adjust the parameters based on their requirements.

In addition to user scenarios, an automated office heating system in an office center can operate on “smart” algorithms, that is, reduce the heating temperature when there are no people in the office, as well as independently increase the intensity of heat supply when the temperature in the room or a given zone drops.

We have described the user features, but we are talking about the automation of a separate riser. Taken together, the boiler room looks as shown in the illustration. This involves cascading connection of boilers to the heating circuit and deployment of a climate control system based on the ECOMAX860 weather controller.

Heating an office located in a small historical building

Such premises are located in 3-5 storey buildings that require heating. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to place a roof boiler room in such a house due to destructive vibrations, but it can be installed in the basement. In this case, we will be talking about a multi-circuit heating system on one riser with climate control control. The deployment diagram is shown in the illustration.

Pellet boiler room for a historical building

Organization of high-quality heating in an office in an administrative building

If you have an office with insufficient heat supply in winter, unfortunately, there are not many opportunities to improve the quality of heating. 

At your disposal:

• ceramic panels with temperature control, they are quite economical;
• fan heaters;
• for example, film heated floors.

You can install the necessary equipment during the process of redecorating your office. Warm floors will save you from the cold in the off-season, and will also create a pleasant atmosphere in a dance school, gym, yoga class or massage parlor. Fan heaters will warm up the room in the mornings and in cold weather. Ceramic panels will also be an additional source of heat.