heating zones and controls
heating zones and controls

The efficiency of a heating system is greatly increased by dividing the home into distinct heating zones covering different heating needs. In most cases there is no need to heat bedrooms during the day, when they are not in use, or to run the whole system at the same temperature.

Zoning is especially useful where unique time and temperature control of a part of the dwelling is required, such as for a granny flat, home, office or conservatory.

The latest Building Regulations Part L1 specifies that in new houses with a total heated living space floor area of over 150m² the heating circuit must be split into two, fully controlled, separate zones along with the fully controlled hot water zone.

Three zone system:
two heating and one domestic hot water.

Each zone should have its own independent time and temperature control and each zone can fire the boiler independently. The first zone to require heat switches the boiler on and the last zone to reach the preset temperature switches it off.

Thermsaver have a range of programmable room thermostats available - the ThermSave Celect LCD-RF-3, the ThermSave Celect LCD-3, the Honeywell CM67, the ThermSave Celect and the Towerstat RSP to meet these requirements.

In the Building Regulations this is referred to as Full Zoning, as it provides a boiler interlock - when there is no call for heat from any zone, the boiler is off.

For a new house with a total living space floor area of between 50m² and 150m², the installation must have more than one heating circuit zone, generally separating the sleeping from the living areas but, while the greatest efficiencies will be achieved by timing the second zone independently of the first, timing is optional in a house of this size.

For more information on gaining greater control of the heating zones got to our full featured control information page.