Room thermostat for gas boiler (thermostat)
In addition to the water heater, the heating system is also recommended to be equipped with various useful automation with sensors. One of these devices is a room thermostat for a gas boiler, which greatly simplifies the control of equipment for heating the coolant. This thermostat helps to significantly reduce fuel costs and ensures that the air temperature in the house is as comfortable as possible for people.
Why is a thermostat needed?
Without a room thermostat, a conventional gas boiler turns on and off by monitoring the temperature in the water heating pipes. When initially turned on, it heats the coolant to the set parameters, and then extinguishes the torch in the furnace. Then, as the water cools, it restarts and starts the heating cycle to the desired values again.
However, not only heating radiators affect the air temperature in the room. With equally heated batteries on a sunny day, it is slightly higher in the room, and on the contrary, on a cold night, it is slightly lower. The flow of heat from the sun and heat loss through windows with walls do not disappear anywhere.
As a result, the burner of the gas boiler constantly lights up and goes out, and there is no need to talk about thermal comfort in the rooms - sometimes it's cold, sometimes it's hot. You have to regularly open / close the taps on the radiators. However, not every heating scheme for a private house provides for this, which forces you to manually adjust the operation of the boiler itself. And this is inconvenient and requires constant walking to the water heater.
Installation of room thermostats for gas boilers allows you to:
Simplify maintaining the desired temperature in a heated cottage;
Save on gas, its consumption in the presence of an air thermostat is reduced by 20–30%;
Get rid of the need to control the boiler settings all the time;
Extend the life of boiler equipment.
Temperature control - saving you money
Water in batteries cools faster than room air. To keep the coolant hot, the gas boiler has to turn on for a couple of minutes four to five times an hour. And with it, the circulation pump usually works. Such a hard regime inevitably leads to their rapid wear. But if the system has a room thermostat, then the number of “on / off” cycles of the water heater and pumping equipment is reduced by one and a half to two times.
As a result, with an air thermostat, the equipment lasts longer than without it. Moreover, they are recommended to equip both gas and electric boilers for heating a private house or apartment. But with a solid fuel analogue, such a device should not be installed. It will be possible to regulate the process of burning wood or coal with it only if the stove has a fan for forced oxygen supply.
The principle of operation of a room thermostat
The air thermostat for a gas boiler has a temperature sensitive element inside. This temperature sensor contains a gas that expands when heated and contracts when cooled. As a result of these processes, the contacts of the gas equipment power circuit are closed / opened.
Depending on the model, the thermostat may have:
One or more temperature sensors;
Digital timer for programming the operating modes of the boiler;
Mechanical regulator for setting the required temperature;
Display with software control unit.
The simplest is a device with a mechanical switch, with the help of which the parameters of the modes for turning on and off the boiler equipment are set. The most advanced are thermostats with a programmable control unit that allows you to set the operation settings separately for day and night. It's like a pumping station and a simple pump for a well - in general, they perform the same functions, but their capabilities differ.
The main types and features of thermostats
According to the technology of signal transmission from the room temperature sensor to the control unit, the thermostats in question are wired and wireless. In the first case, the thermostat with a gas boiler is connected by wires laid throughout the cottage. The second option is a separate module next to the water heater and temperature sensors in the rooms of the house, transmitting information to the control device via a radio channel.
According to the functionality of the thermostat can be:
Simple (mechanical) - designed only to maintain a given room temperature.
Programmable - allows you to set modes for different times of the day and every day of the week.
With optional humidity sensor.
The choice of a specific model depends on the configuration of the heating system and the wishes of the owner of the house in terms of the level of microclimate control in the home. But the more functions and capabilities the device has, the more expensive it is. Often it is best to choose the simplest, most reliable and inexpensive option.
When choosing a model of a room thermostat for a gas boiler, one should be guided by the temperature limits available for the device, the size of the room and the characteristics of the heating water heater.
If the repair in the rooms has already been done, then it is worth picking up a wireless device. You don't have to run wires for it. If at the forefront is the desire to optimize the functioning of the entire heating system as much as possible, then there is no better option than a programmable thermostat. It allows you to more carefully control the temperature parameters of the air and the operating modes of the boiler.
When installing the regulator in question, it is necessary to ensure that the temperature sensors:
They were located at a height of about 1.5 meters and on the inner walls;
They were not closed with curtains, curtains and furniture;
They were at least a meter away from windows, doors and heating radiators.
The air around the temperature sensors must circulate freely. Putting them in a closet or behind the decor is unacceptable. Also, these sensors should not be mounted on walls facing the street and near doors. This will result in incorrect readings due to drafts and greater cooling of the outer building envelope compared to the inner partitions.
Ideally, room thermostats should be purchased from the same manufacturer that made the existing boiler. So they are easier to connect and configure, and they will work together with fewer failures and last longer.
To install such a regulator, you do not need to have special skills in electrical engineering and thermal power engineering. Remote sensors are mounted on the walls. And the connection of wires is carried out by means of terminals on the case. You just have to not mix up the strands. In the instructions for the boilers and these devices, the connection diagrams are described in as much detail as possible. Such a device in a programmable version is not cheap, but it pays off in just a couple of heating seasons.