Heating Controls
What are
Heating Controls
Did you realise that around 50% of your energy bill is likely to be on your heating and hot water system. Did you also know that by fitting appropriate heating control you could be saving around 17% of this cost?
By heating controls we’re referring to such things as thermostats, timers and other niche components that will help you regulate temperature and run your systems efficiently and effectively.
There’s something for everyone as heating controls vary from the fairly cheap traditional mechanical styles that are set manually, to the more expensive WiFi-connected “smart” controls that learn your habits and adjust settings automatically or allow you to override settings remotely.
It’s not just about having an energy efficient heating system – it’s also about using it efficiently and that’s why investing in good quality heating controls is so important and why the Government are even suppoting by way of grants in many cases.

Heating Controls Example
What are heating controls?
With the advancement in technology there are now so many different things you can do to control your heating and so many different gadgets and gizmo’s but, for the purpose of simplicity, we’re sticking to the basics here!
There’s really only three key things you need:
- A timer to ensure the heating can be set to turn on only at the times of each day when you need it to (obviously this can be over-ridden manually when needed).
- A basic thermostat to ensure that the heating system shuts down when the house is at the correct temperature (you can take this a step further by investing more money in thermostat technology that enables the splitting of the house into zones and regulating each one seperately).
- Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) so you can regulate the heat of each room and only fully heat the rooms that you need.
As we said – these are the basic heating controls which should be considered and will really make a difference to bills and energy consumption. If you already have these then don’t write off the potential benefits of upgrading your heating controls as, if they’re old, advances in technology could still prove highly cost effective.
How do heating controls work?
As we said, there are three main aspects to heating controls – all of which should be used in conjunction with each other to optimise the efficiency of your heating system in order to minimise energy wastage and save you money.
Timer:
The timer will enable you to specifiy the times when your heating should turn on and when it should tourn off depending on you and your lifestyle.
This could mean turning on half an hour before your alarm goes off in the morning so that the house is warm when you get up. It could mean turning off when you go out to work only to turn on again just before you return and swich off as you go to bed.
It can be pre-set to suit your routine and take into account individual days, weekends and holidays.
Room Thermostat:
The room thermostat enables you to set the required temperature when your heating is on. It can work in conjunction withthe timer to set different temperatues for different times of the day.
Quite simply the thermostat is a sensitive temperature sensor – set it to the temperature you want and as soon as the air temperature around the thermostat is reached it will switch teh heating off only to kick it back in when teh temperature drops below thet setting to boost it back up.
It’s important the thermostat is positioned correctly depending on the area it’s controllong. If it’s controlling the whole house it needs to be positioned accordingly – somewhere around the middle of your home will give you the most accurate average reading since it will measure the centrally circulating air. Don’t forget that heat rises so you don’t want it too high up either.
Thermostatic Radiator Valves:
Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs) are thermostats which are fixed on each individual radiator meaning that you can control the heat output of each individual radiator in any room of the house.
This means that you can turn down (or off) the heat output of a radiator in a room that you’re not using and by shutting the door you will be creatiing an “off grid” zone that you’re not wasting energy and money on heating or heating to the same temperature of the rest of your home.
SMART Heating Controls:
Smart controls simply take the above three key aspects to the next level by giving you extra control and even further automation hence saving more money.
What are smart heating controls?
We’ve explained what we mean by heating controls – a timer, a room thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves which you can manually pre-set and override to keep your home heated efficiently.
SMART heating controls take this principle a step further by connecting you heating system the the internet and a app on your smartphone, tablet or other connected device.
From this it’s then possible to view your energy consumption in real time and control your heating system to better effect (turning it off when you’re out and on when you’re on your way home for example).
Not only that but some can adjust your heating to certain climatic conditions (humidity for example) and even regulate it automatically based on your preferences and behaviour – saving you money without you needing to do anything!
They’re completely optional but yes, smart heating controls can save you even more but can be a little costly initially.
How much do heating controls cost?
Cost completely varies. For a good quality thermostat incorporating the timer too you’ll be generally looking at between £100 and around £300.
As for the thermostatic radiator valves – you can buy these from any DIY shop and start off at around £25 each but you’re probably looking in the region of around £50 to include fitting.
Don’t forget that Goverenment grants for heating controls may be available.
Is it worth installing / upgrading heating controls?
YES – the Government wouldn’t be supporting with grants if it wasn’t worth investing in heating controls.
As we mentioned earlier, you’re likely to be spending about half your energy cost on heating your home. Installing or upgrading your heating controls could save you about 17% of this cost through efficient heating and the resulting energy savings.
You’ll only be heating the parts of the home you need to and only when it’s required – that means there’s some serious savings to be had and some positive impact on the environment too.
Are grants available for heating controls?
Heating controls are included as a recognised energy efficiency measure within many of the Government grant schemes (the Great British Insulation Scheme for exampe) – such is the known impact to energy efficincy they have.
See our section on Energy Efficiency Grants for more information.