Central thermostat
Such a thermostat is located far from your boiler and usually allows you to turn the heating on or off throughout the house. Older versions are wired to the boiler, newer systems tend to send signals to the device's command post. It is with devices of a new type that quite expensive, but effective devices are equipped: double-circuit boilers Ferroli, Beretta and domestic AOGV.
The most famous are room thermostats for a double-circuit boiler of the Gsm and Protherm trademark. They have a built-in dilatometric thermostat for the boiler, which, depending on the model, can work remotely, often this technology is used for an electric boiler or solid fuel units.
The room thermostat turns off the heating of the system as needed. It works by measuring the air temperature and turning the heating on when the air temperature drops below the thermostat setting and turning it off when the set temperature is reached.
Advice:
- It is recommended to set the thermostat at 20°C;
- At night, the set temperature should be between 19-21 ° C.
- It is desirable that in the children's room it was about 22 ° C.
- The temperature should not fall below 22°C in a room for the elderly and people with disabilities.
As a rule, the temperature of the whole house or individual rooms is based on only one climate microcontroller in the heating system. The best option is to place it in the living room or bedroom, which should probably be the most visited place in the house.
Room thermostats need a free flow of air to sense the temperature, so they should not be covered by curtains or blocked by furniture. Appliances adjacent to the electric thermostat may interfere with the correct operation of the device. These include lamps, televisions, neighboring boilers through the wall, touch switches.
How to connect a room thermostat to a gas boiler
To mount the regulator, you do not need any professional skills or special tools, it is enough to understand the installation scheme, follow the instructions of the manufacturer of the gas boiler and regulator, and observe the safety precautions for working with electric current. Then the installation can be done independently, without resorting to the help of a specialist.
Wiring diagram
The gas boiler diagram should indicate whether it is possible to connect a thermostat to it
It is important to make sure that the installation of additional equipment is permitted by the manufacturer and will not harm the heating system.
Incorrect installation can lead to damage to expensive equipment and void the warranty.
In the case when the installation of the control unit will be carried out inside the boiler, find a suitable place for it. If necessary, you can use the installation box.
Important! When connecting a thermostat, it is strictly necessary to comply with the requirements of the boiler manufacturer!
If you study the diagram of the main board of the gas boiler, you can see that it has two contacts connected to each other by a jumper, where the electric current first leaves the board and then returns to it, controlling the turning on and off of the heating boiler. In many modern models, for ease of installation, this jumper is located on a separately output block, where the thermostat is simply connected.
Photo 1. Printed diagram of the gas boiler board. Circled in red is the part showing the possibility of connecting different thermostats.
But on some types of heating equipment, the installation location will have to be looked for directly on the board.In this case, unscrew the screws that hold the jumper, remove it, and mount the wires leading to the thermostat in this place.
A correctly connected thermostat passes through itself an electric current going to the boiler from the network, thus controlling the switching on and off of the entire heating system. If the air in the room is heated more than set on the regulator during its adjustment, the device turns off the gas boiler, and when the temperature drops below the specified limit, the heating turns on again and the air in the house is heated.
Materials and tools
No special tools are required to mount the thermostat to a gas boiler. Everything you need to install the device in the heating system is included in the delivery kit.
To install the regulator, you will need the technical data sheets of the thermostat and the heating boiler for checking electrical connection diagrams, a household screwdriver, a tester for checking the presence of voltage in the network, a set of tools for mounting the device on a wall in a residential area.
Choosing a place to install the thermostat
Before starting installation work, choose the installation location of the thermostat
It is extremely important to choose the right room for the device, because it is by the temperature and humidity of the air in this room that the entire heating system in the house will be adjusted.
The thermostat must be installed in the living room, and not in the technical one. Usually choose the coldest room in the whole house, for example, the corner. Installing the appliance in a boiler room or pantry will lead to incorrect heating operation. Do not hang the regulator near radiators, household appliances that emit thermal noise: stoves, heaters. It is not recommended to place the regulator in a draft, near windows, or where it will be exposed to direct sunlight.
The thermostat must be easily accessible and visible so that you can change the temperature settings or replace the batteries at any time.
Installation rules:
- Mounting height is not more than one and a half meters above the floor level.
- Do not install on an external, cold wall of the house.
- The device must be freely accessible.
- Do not hang near stoves, air conditioners, windows.
- Avoid direct sunlight on the device.
Efficient heating control is a vital part of the efficient operation of the boiler and home heating system. Proper use of the controls will reduce the energy consumption of the unit, while creating a comfortable temperature in every room of the house, avoiding overheating of the premises.
And the thermostat (or programmer) controls the operation of the boiler, depending on the temperature in the room.
Up to 20% of the volume of consumed energy carriers can be saved using this kind of automation. And energy prices are quite high and the desire of every normal person to reduce their costs.
We consider the situation when the boiler is designed correctly, the necessary insulation of the premises is completed, and the heating system is functioning normally.
Main types of boilers and temperature control
There are several types of boilers: solid fuel, gas, electric and liquid fuel.
Boilers are widely used all over the world. There are domestic samples, there are boilers and imported ones. The material of manufacture is steel or cast iron. Easy to operate, economical, with the function of adjusting the temperature of the coolant. In cheaper models, this function is implemented using a special device - a thermocouple.
Structurally, a thermoelement is a metal product, the geometric dimensions of which, under the influence of temperatures, decrease or increase (depending on the degree of heating). And this, in turn, changes the position of a special lever that closes and opens the draft damper.The photo shows an example of such a regulator:
Photo: sample thermostat
The more the damper is open, the stronger the combustion process, and vice versa. Thus, the volume of air that enters the closed-type combustion chamber is fully controlled by the thermostat, and if necessary, its supply is stopped and the combustion process dies out. In more modern models, controllers are installed that, depending on the specified thermal conditions, control the air flow, turning on (or turning off) a special fan (see photo below):
Boiler with temperature controller
Gas boilers are the most common and cheapest units to operate. Boilers are single-circuit and double-circuit. Single-circuit boilers have one heat exchanger and are intended only for heating. The switching circuit is shown in the figure below:
Scheme of switching on a single-circuit boiler
Double-circuit boilers have two heat exchangers and are designed for heating and hot water production. The boiler connection diagram is shown below:
Scheme of switching on a double-circuit boiler
Some boilers have separate controls for heating and hot water temperature.
Thermostatic control valves
A thermostatic valve is a simple solution to the problem of obtaining a coolant of a given temperature by mixing colder water with warmer water. The view of the three-way valve is shown below:
Three-way valve
Scheme of including a three-way valve in the heating system:
Scheme of including a three-way valve in the heating system
Piping scheme for a solid fuel boiler using a thermostatic three-way valve:
Piping scheme for a solid fuel boiler using a thermostatic three-way valve
Scheme of piping a gas boiler using a thermostatic three-way valve:
Scheme of piping a gas boiler using a thermostatic three-way valve
The thermostatic radiator valve allows you to control the temperature in the room by changing the flow of hot water through the radiator. They regulate the flow of hot water through the radiator, but do not control the boiler. Such devices must be installed in order to adjust the temperature that is needed in each individual room.
This idea should be considered as an addition to a thermal control plant. Also, such devices need periodic readjustment and regular performance checks (every six months during the change of operating modes).
Programmable room thermostat
The programmable electronic room thermostat allows you to select the desired and comfortable temperature at any time, it is easy to reconfigure and change the operating mode. The timer allows you to set a different heating pattern for weekdays and weekends. Some timers allow you to set different settings for each day of the week, which can be useful for people who work part-time or in shifts. Many Terneo and KChM models are equipped with such thermostats.
Programmable room thermostat
A programmable room thermostat allows you to set individual heating standards for each day in accordance with your lifestyle and maintain the temperature at home all the time, regardless of the presence or departure of the owners. Video: Connecting a room thermostat to a gas boiler
If a boiler with a radiator is responsible for the heating system, as a rule, only one programmable room thermostat is needed to control the entire house. Some patterns need to be adjusted in the spring and fall when the clocks go back and forth or there is a certain change in climate. We also recommend changing the temperature settings when changing day and night.
Such a climate controller has several options that expand its capabilities:
- "Batch", which stops heating for a few hours, then resumes;
- "Override" allows you to temporarily change the programmed temperatures during one of the configured periods;
- "Holiday", increases the intensity of heating or reduces it for a certain number of days.
Electric boilers
A fairly common alternative to gas and solid fuel boilers. A lot of advantages, high efficiency, but a long payback period. The connection is simple, as with gas boilers, but without a cold water supply. Temperature control and overheating protection are provided.
Boiler mechanical timer
Using a simple mechanical timer for an electric boiler, there are three options for starting the central heating system:
- The boiler is off;
- The boiler supplies hot water;
- The boiler turns on and off at the set time.
Mechanical timers usually have a large round dial with a 24-hour scale in the center. By turning the dial, you can set the desired time and then leave it at that position. The boiler will turn on at the right time. The outer part consists of a set of tabs with a 15-minute period, which are inserted for the convenience of adjusting the operation and setting modes. An emergency reconfiguration is possible, which is performed when the boiler is connected to the network.
Mechanical timers are easy to set, but the boiler always turns on and off at the same time every day, and this may not satisfy the owners if the family is large and bath procedures are performed several times a day at different times.
