In the past, houses were heated continuously throughout the heating season, maintaining a temperature of 21°C around the clock during autumn, winter, and spring. This approach resulted in significant energy and monetary waste, prompting people to invest in timer thermostats. These devices allowed for scheduled heating, simulating occupancy and reducing energy consumption. However, this system was only partially efficient.
While timer thermostats prevented heating when the house was empty, they still caused the entire house to be heated as soon as occupancy was anticipated. Ideally, the bathroom would be set to 22°C, the living room and office to 21°C, and the hallway and bedrooms to 19°C, but heating would still be activated throughout the house whenever presence was expected.
Then came smart thermostats, able to really detect presence in the house. They gave the ability to stop heating when the house was unoccupied, but still, then entire house was considered as a whole.
This is where multi-zoning is coming into play. Creating a multi-zone heating, means splitting the house in multiple zones that are heated independently and depending on the occupancy of the zones. With electric underfloor heating, each room is heated independently as there is a thermostat attached to every heating circuit.
Consider a bathroom, which is typically used for only 1 or 2 hours each day. It is inefficient to heat the room for 8 to 10 hours just because someone is at home. By regulating the heating of each room based on expected occupancy, or even better, actual occupancy, you can significantly improve efficiency. This approach ensures energy consumption aligns with the actual need for heating.
Precise temperature control allows each area to be heated to your preferred level, eliminating overheating or cold spots. If you have solar panels and home batteries, combining them with multi-zone underfloor heating is a smart choice. Solar panels generate electricity on sunny days, and excess energy can be stored in home batteries to provide heat precisely when needed.
Multi-zoning is the right way to go, and electric underfloor heating makes this possible. When combining electric underfloor heating with presence detection in addition to renewable energy, you are not only reducing your energy consumption, you are also increasing your comfort while reducing your impact on the planet.
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