Lake District Holiday Home
- Country UK, Lake District
- Build year circa 1850
- LOXONE partner EVE North
Challenge
We were tasked with providing remote control of the heating and hot water systems within two adjacent properties used as holiday homes. Between the two properties there are two central heating systems supplied from oil boilers, five night storage heaters, two immersion heaters and two electric underfloor heating systems.
The client was facing large energy bills due to the heating systems running when the property was vacant, as well as third party guests increasing heating temperatures to unreasonable levels during their stay. The client wanted to retain the property's ability to provide a comfortable stay, while preventing wasted energy when the property was unoccupied. All this was to be achieved without any damage to the building's fabric/decorating required.
The client was facing large energy bills due to the heating systems running when the property was vacant, as well as third party guests increasing heating temperatures to unreasonable levels during their stay. The client wanted to retain the property's ability to provide a comfortable stay, while preventing wasted energy when the property was unoccupied. All this was to be achieved without any damage to the building's fabric/decorating required.
Solution
We utilised Loxone's Air technology to allow the installation of the system within the minimal amount of cabling required.
The Miniserver was installed within the primary property's utility/plant room, adjacent to the consumer units. Within the cabinet we installed a 1-wire extension, cabled to a 1-wire temperature probe installed in the hot water cylinder located in the same room. Relay control of the same cylinder's immersion heater elements was provided by utilising a relay output of the Miniserver to energise the coils of third party relays, with a switch provided within the Loxone App to allow the client to turn these on in the event of the boiler not working.
A Miniserver relay output was also used to switch further third party relays to control the power supply to night storage heaters - the control of which is provided by a schedule in the app that only energises the heaters when the property is being supplied from a cheaper overnight electricity tariff.
A Nano IO Air was installed adjacent to the controllers of both electric underfloor heating systems, switching the output of these controllers. This was done to keep costs down, minimise disruption, prevent the existing controllers losing their memory should they not be energised for a while and avoid the need to replace the existing floor temperature probes. Nano IO Airs were also utilised to extend the Air mesh further through the property to allow reliable connection of the Comfort Sensor Airs as the 1 metre thick stone walls proved a significant impediment to existing wireless systems in the house. These are again controlled by a switch within the app, supplemented by a schedule to ensure the bulk of the heating of the floors is done during times where the electricity cost is lower.
We then installed cabling to the exterior wall of the main property to allow installation of a Tree to Air bridge within an enclosure affixed to the external wall to provide Air range to the nearby barn conversion. On the barn conversion we installed a Nano IO Air externally to connect to the main property's Air mesh and repeat it within the barn conversion. Adjacent to the boiler a Nano IO Air was again used, with a relay used for the central heating in place of the existing thermostat and the second relay used to switch the hot water demand of the combi boiler off when the property is unoccupied.
Both properties are fitted with Comfort Sensor Air to monitor the temperatures within and to provide feedback to the owner. Central heating systems are controlled by Intelligent Room Controllers to allow scheduling and to provide optimal start times for the heating systems.
Two switched were programmed within Config, one for each property. These allow the client, with one tap, to set the properties' heating systems to operate in different ways dependent on whether they are occupied or not.
Within the main house, if the switch is set to "vacant", the night storage heaters are all switched off and remain off, the hot water temperature demand is reduced to ten degrees Celsius, both electric underfloor heating systems won't heat, the immersion heaters are prevented from turning on and the central heating demand is reduced to a building protection temperature of five degrees Celsius.
Within the barn conversion, if the switch is set to "vacant", the central heating moves to a building protection temperature of five degrees Celsius and the hot water demand is switched off.
The Miniserver was installed within the primary property's utility/plant room, adjacent to the consumer units. Within the cabinet we installed a 1-wire extension, cabled to a 1-wire temperature probe installed in the hot water cylinder located in the same room. Relay control of the same cylinder's immersion heater elements was provided by utilising a relay output of the Miniserver to energise the coils of third party relays, with a switch provided within the Loxone App to allow the client to turn these on in the event of the boiler not working.
A Miniserver relay output was also used to switch further third party relays to control the power supply to night storage heaters - the control of which is provided by a schedule in the app that only energises the heaters when the property is being supplied from a cheaper overnight electricity tariff.
A Nano IO Air was installed adjacent to the controllers of both electric underfloor heating systems, switching the output of these controllers. This was done to keep costs down, minimise disruption, prevent the existing controllers losing their memory should they not be energised for a while and avoid the need to replace the existing floor temperature probes. Nano IO Airs were also utilised to extend the Air mesh further through the property to allow reliable connection of the Comfort Sensor Airs as the 1 metre thick stone walls proved a significant impediment to existing wireless systems in the house. These are again controlled by a switch within the app, supplemented by a schedule to ensure the bulk of the heating of the floors is done during times where the electricity cost is lower.
We then installed cabling to the exterior wall of the main property to allow installation of a Tree to Air bridge within an enclosure affixed to the external wall to provide Air range to the nearby barn conversion. On the barn conversion we installed a Nano IO Air externally to connect to the main property's Air mesh and repeat it within the barn conversion. Adjacent to the boiler a Nano IO Air was again used, with a relay used for the central heating in place of the existing thermostat and the second relay used to switch the hot water demand of the combi boiler off when the property is unoccupied.
Both properties are fitted with Comfort Sensor Air to monitor the temperatures within and to provide feedback to the owner. Central heating systems are controlled by Intelligent Room Controllers to allow scheduling and to provide optimal start times for the heating systems.
Two switched were programmed within Config, one for each property. These allow the client, with one tap, to set the properties' heating systems to operate in different ways dependent on whether they are occupied or not.
Within the main house, if the switch is set to "vacant", the night storage heaters are all switched off and remain off, the hot water temperature demand is reduced to ten degrees Celsius, both electric underfloor heating systems won't heat, the immersion heaters are prevented from turning on and the central heating demand is reduced to a building protection temperature of five degrees Celsius.
Within the barn conversion, if the switch is set to "vacant", the central heating moves to a building protection temperature of five degrees Celsius and the hot water demand is switched off.
The client wanted a simple to use interface and to prevent having a myriad selection of different apps. The need to install with minimal disruption to the property was of major importance, therefore wireless technology would need to be used, and thus the reliability of Loxone Air was desirable.<br /><br /> Due to the properties' remote location the internet connectivity can be unreliable, therefore a system that was not IP based and would continue to operate (without remote access) was essential.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> The client can often go for prolonged periods without visiting the property, therefore would like to add further monitoring abilities in future (such as reading energy meters, water leak detection etc.), therefore the ease of scalability within Loxone was of great appeal.
Robert Rigg, Director
Products
- Nano IO Air · 100153
- Tree to Air Bridge · 100451
- Miniserver · 100335
- 1-Wire Extension · 100014
- 1-Wire temperature sensor set · 200109
- Air Base Extension · 100114
- Room Comfort Sensor Air White (Temperature, Humidity) · 100264