Technical data

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And, whereas saving 10% on a fuel bill wouldn’t have been
very significant 10 years ago, nowadays depending on your
level of fuel consumption it could amount to as much as
£150 a year, very quickly covering the cost of the
chosen control.
Code for Sustainable Homes
The Code for Sustainable Homes, which has been in effect
since April 2007, introduced minimum standards for energy
and water efficiency. At the moment the Code only applies
to social housing, but it is due to apply to other dwellings in
the near future, enforced through the Building Regulations.
The Energy Related Products Directive (ERPD)
The planned ERPD will set Europe-wide rules for the energy
efficient design of heating equipment and other products
that use energy. It will be accompanied by an ‘energy
labelling’ scheme that, for heating, will take account of the
whole system.
In the case of boilers, the SEDBUK scale of boiler
classification is expected to change so that it takes account
of the efficiency of the entire system, rather than just
the boiler. As a result, controls will become even more
important and we may even see the end of simple on/off
boiler controls as they simply won’t be efficient enough.
Looking forward to intelligent control
For all of these reasons, the next generation of controls
will offer far more than simple on/off control and will move
towards two-way communication between the boiler and
room thermostat or weather compensation controller.
At the same time, no matter how ‘clever’ controls get they
need to be easy for the homeowner to use, otherwise they
won’t be able to control their heating and hot water to full
effect. So a simple user interface that the customer grasps
very quickly is an important requirement of any control.