HVAC heating
HVAC stands for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment used in building and homes. The purpose of HVAC is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor quality. Heating systems regulate adequate temperature in a building / residence so that tenants feel satisfied i.e. the room is neither cold nor hot.
A central heating system consists of a central boiler, pump, thermostat, pipes, valves and radiators in multiple rooms. The boiler uses a energy source e.g. by burning fossil fuel to heat water. A heating pump uses electricity to suck water from the boiler and push heated water through pipes to radiators in building residence. The radiators transfer heat to the room and the water temperature drops down. This is closed circuit i.e. cold water will return to the boiler and this cycle will continue.
A heating pump or a circulator setting needs to be configured based on number of radiators and amount of piping in the house. E.g. a home may have 30 radiators and 150 meters of piping. These factors as well as pump settings affect the amount of time it takes to circulate water in the house. An optimal pump setting result in reduced electricity bill. Manufacturers such as Grundfos have added Bluetooth to their heat pumps. This allows user to run diagnostics, change control settings remotely via an app on their mobile phone . One of multiple modes such as constant pressure mode , fixed speed mode etc can be selected based on the use-case.
The main thermostat regulates the temperature by turning on or off the heating system. A smart thermostat can enable the user to control the residence heating from anywhere via mobile phone app or Alexa or internet.
Various rooms in a house may need different temperatures based on occupancy, time zone etc. This concept is referred as zone. A house can be divided into multiple heating zones to enhance comfort and energy efficiency. This requires using multiple radiator valves to control the flow of heated water. When a zone needs to be heated, the radiator valves opens and heated water flows through the pipes into radiators. When the zone reaches the required temperature, radiator valve is turned off which stops the flow of water into the system.
One way to setup zone is to use smart valves with built in thermostat and Bluetooth connectivity. The user can set timers, temperature profiles etc. either manually or through a mobile app. A user can take off a manual radiator valve and replace it with a smart radiator valve.