Brief: Smart heating with an electric heat source (such as electric underfloor or panels)
Heating projects that contain electric heaters are not necessarily the most energy-efficient. However, it is often the case that the technology is already installed at the customer’s premises – and you’re being asked to turn these electric heat sources into a zoned smart heating solution.
This leaves you with little choice to offer something cost-effective to your customer. However, with Loxone, there is a chance to configure a smart electric heating solution which allows your customer to keep the existing electric heating source (such as underfloor heating or electrical heating panels) while increasing in energy efficiency and ultimately reducing their energy bills as a result.
Solution: Smart electric heating for four zones
An affordable low budget heating solution can be achieved via the Loxone Miniserver, which provides 8 relay outputs, so potentially 8 heating sources can be controlled. Unlike analogue heating systems, it is possible to use PWM ON/OFF control with pulse width modulation. So, if you need 30% of the energy to maintain the room temperature at 22°C, you will have 30% ON, 70% OFF, 30% ON, 70% OFF, … in a very short period of a few seconds.
This can be used for electric underfloor heating, convectors, etc.
Next, we have to measure the temperature in the room to regulate it correctly. There are a variety of options, the cheapest is to use the Miniserver’s 4 analogue inputs for 4 rooms. If you have 8 rooms, you can expand it with an AI Analog Input Expansion.
What you get: Perfect temperature in every room which can be adjusted through the Loxone App – which will ultimately save money.
Hardware:
4 zones/rooms
- Loxone Miniserver
- 4x Temperature sensor 0-10V (3rd Party)
8 zones/rooms (optional/additional items)
- AI Extension
- 4x Temperature Sensor 0-10V (3rd Party)
Configuration:
Download the sample file:
Electric Heating Control
Why you and your customer should consider automating electric heating sources
Especially for electrical heating which is fast reacting, you can reduce energy usage and ultimately heating bills with proper regulation and heating times