Smart thermostats - How smart heating controls can save you money

What is a smart thermostat?

Like any other device in your home that has the word "smart" in its name, the smart thermostat is one that connects to your Wifi. This allows you to connect to and control your thermostat remotely, usually via an associated app. As well as turning your heating on and off or adjusting the temperature even when you're not in the house, a smart thermostat offers other neat and useful features.

What can smart thermostats do?

Smart thermostats are designed to be more sophisticated than your traditional model. This means they can be tailored to your household routine and lifestyle, ensuring you're heating your home efficiently and only when it's required. They can also typically be programmed to work with your standard home devices, such as Amazon Echo or Google Nest, meaning you can control them using voice commands should you wish.

Smart thermostats can also provide reports on what energy you're using and when. Some smart thermostats also offer something called geofencing, which uses your phone's location to automatically control the temperature in your home. Heading off to work? Off goes the heating. Sat snuggly on your sofa? On it goes again.

How can smart thermostats save you money?

It goes without saying that the main way smart thermostats save you cash is by only heating your home when you need it, thereby keeping heating bills down. But by providing energy reports, you can also learn more about the cost of heating your home, and be able to highlight areas where you might be able to improve on efficiency. Smart thermostats can also alert you to any faults in your heating system or boiler, allowing you to repair issues in good time and potentially saving on the pricey cost of a full replacement.

What smart thermostats do you install?

We can install a wide varierty of smart thermostats depending on your budget, boiler and needs. We do recommend EPH, Drayton Wiser, Hive, and Nest.

Smart thermostats vs Smart meters

Don't get mixed up, that smart meter you may well already have in your home - likely provided for free by your energy supplier - is not the same as a smart thermostat. While the thermostat can cleverly control your home's heating, your smart meter is only there to measure your energy use. Typically they come with a user-friendly display that allows you to see what energy you're using and when, and they're also designed to send those readings to your supplier. So while a smart thermostat controls your heating, a smart meter simply monitors it.

How much do smart thermostats cost?

Prices on smart thermostats vary, with a typical range from around £80 to £200. In some cases, you may be able to install the thermostat yourself, but for anything more complex or sophisticated, you're better off getting the experts in.

Where to buy a smart thermostat

If you're interested in a smart thermostat, get in touch with us here at Koziwarm. Our qualified engineers can give you more information on a range of smart thermostats that we install, including EPH, Drayton Wiser, Hive, and Nest.