Smart Home for a small house: smart heating, lighting and other functions

Electric heating can be an effective solution for a small home, especially if there is no access to gas or other fuel sources. Based on it, you can successfully organize a Smart Home for a small house using electronic-analog devices. If you do not want to depend heavily on the network, build a fireplace stove in your house (including one with a water circuit), when using it, the electric boiler will turn on when the temperature drops to a certain point.

Types of heating for a small house

• Electric heaters. Simple and affordable to use, electric heaters are suitable for small spaces such as bedrooms or living rooms. They can be portable or wall-mounted, allowing you to choose the optimal location for heating.
• Fan heaters. These devices quickly heat the air and can be used for local heating of bathrooms, kitchens or other small spaces. They can be installed on walls or floors, making them easy to use.
• Thermal curtains. Thermal curtains can be installed at entrance doors or windows to prevent heat loss and maintain a comfortable temperature inside the house. They are effective for small spaces and provide even heat distribution.
• Warm floor. Electric underfloor heating can be a good solution for heating the entire house or individual rooms. They provide uniform and comfortable heat distribution over the entire area and can be controlled using thermostats.

Our recommendation for organizing smart heating in the Smart Home concept for a small house is to use radiators around the perimeter to maintain the temperature of the walls and warm the air from the windows and heated floors for comfort. Thermal curtains and water-based fan heaters in such a system can be used for zone heating to increase the level of comfort in winter. However, these heating devices, which provide air heating, completely replace fireplace stoves.

 

About sensors for Smart Home

You don't have to use complex and expensive devices for Smart Home. Although using analog devices for these purposes may limit the functionality and flexibility of your home control system, you can still create a smart home by integrating and automating available devices. The main thing is that they are compatible and can interact with the controller to achieve the desired goals. It is better to purchase equipment of the same series and from the same manufacturer.

Three types of sensors can be used to regulate heating:

• coolant temperature sensor;
• room temperature sensor;
• external temperature sensor.

Despite the fact that the electronics from the Polish company PLUM are quite expensive for budget solutions, they demonstrate well how to solve the task at hand - the task of automating the heating of a small house.

A manually loaded oven will not ignite even with automatic ignition, but you can use an external controller Ecomax 260 to regulate the air supply to the firebox and regulate the coolant temperature with a three-way valve. First of all, so that it is not too hot and does not damage metal-plastic pipes and radiators designed for temperatures of 95 degrees Celsius.

But the electric boiler can turn on automatically when the temperature drops below a certain point, controlling two or three parameters (coolant temperature, indoor and outdoor temperature) using a controller. This can be done successfully Ecomax 360 / Ecomax 860. But this equipment will cost much more, since it allows the deployment of complex smart heating systems, including apartment buildings.

Some electric boilers have built-in automation, but not all of them are economical to operate. In our opinion, electrode boilers (Gazda) are more suitable for small houses; they work with programmable automation and are also available in a monoblock version; this model allows them to be mounted on a heating circuit together with a pumping group. Such a boiler room turns out to be compact, smart and multifunctional.

You can control the temperature of radiators using programmable thermostats controlled via Wi-Fi. They are not connected to the main heating system, but block the flow of coolant in a specific radiator or underfloor heating circuit. This is quite enough for a small house.

List of available PLUM devices for example

Ecomax 260 controller for manually loaded boilers

Controller for central heating systems Ecomax 360

Ecomax 860 P for pellet boilers

Ecomax260, 850. 860: flue gas temperature sensor

Ecomax260: touch control panel

Ecomax: coolant temperature sensor

Ecomax 360: Internet module with Wi-Fi

Ecomax 850: touch control panel

Ecomax 850: weather sensor

Ecomax 860: touch control panel

Ecomax 860: weather sensor

Smart Home for a small house - light control

In addition to heating in the house, it is advisable to control the lighting. For these purposes, use light sensors, motion sensors, and programmable timers. This is all implemented using electromechanical and electronic relays, controlled via Wi-Fi using a router and a mobile application and having a very affordable price on AliExpress.

A smart home can be fully implemented using electronic or electromechanical analog devices such as thermostats, relays, timers and sensors. Here's how it can be done:

• Programmable thermostats: You can use programmable electromechanical thermostats to automatically control the heating and air conditioning in your home. They can be set to certain temperature conditions at different times of the day.
• Relays and timers: You can use relays and timers to control lighting, heating and other devices. For example, you can install a relay to automatically turn lights on or off at certain times or under certain conditions.
• Sensors: Sensors can be used to automate the control of devices in your home. For example, motion sensors can turn on lights when they detect movement in certain areas, and temperature sensors can activate heating or air conditioning when a certain temperature is reached.
• Integration with security systems: You can integrate analog devices with security systems such as alarms and CCTV cameras to improve the security of your home. For example, thermostats can be set to automatically turn off the heating when a burglary alarm is triggered.

Moreover, only in a number of cases is it necessary for all devices to work together; it is enough to organize the functionality of a certain group. For example, a motion sensor and a lighting lamp. Such devices are available for sale in monoblock format. But there are other options for organizing work. For example, when a motion sensor reacts, the camera turns on, a message is transmitted to the user’s mobile device, and the lights turn on indoors or outdoors.

 

Eventually…

Such systems fully implement the desired Smart Home functions for a small home, but their final cost is significant. However, you can implement the described smart heating functions without putting an undue burden on your budget. They will also provide heat savings by working according to scenarios, that is, reducing the temperature in the room during the period of absence of residents and controlling heating when the temperature rises above a certain level.