What is weather and load compensation and how can it help me reduce my gas consumption?
Posted on 25th January 2024 at 14:48
Weather compensation automatically adjusts the heat going to your radiators or underfloor heating, whilst monitoring your outside temperature. When the temperature outside drops the heat going to your radiators and underfloor heating will increase, ensuring ultimate efficiency and comfort. When the temperature outside rises, the heat going to your radiators and underfloor heating will reduce, again ensuring ultimate efficiency and comfort, with the potential to save on your energy bills.
What are the benefits of weather compensation over a standard time/temperature control?
Simple on/off (traditional) thermostats send information directly to the boiler to reach the desired temperature by heating the water in the radiators. This simply means that the boiler works at its maximum in order to reach the desired temperature. As the temperature cools and drops below the target the boiler starts up again at 100% and this cycle is repeated. This behaviour can be viewed in the diagram below:
What is load compensation compared to weather compensation?
Load compensation operates via a thermostat measuring the temperature inside the house. This temperature is using to calculate the boiler flow temperature enabling it to modulate and bring the temperature up to the desired temperature slowly without overshooting like the traditional ON/OFF diagram above. Once the curve is smoothed and temperature achieved the boiler flow temperature will be reduced allowing it to maintain.
In Summary, weather compensation is more proactive in its approach, as it alters the radiator output before the temperature drops in the property, therefore not having to ‘catch up’ and use higher flow temperatures. This increases efficiency gains, reduces cycling and is easier on the appliance.
Room compensation is more reactive and responsive to changes in demand, providing heat where needed or lowering the temperature if internal influences are detected like solar gains or cooking, which can be great to save gas on properties with irregular usage.
Both control options use lower flow temperatures which we advocate for the following reasons below, but as a preference we prefer weather compensation as temperatures are based on the whole properties heat loss rather than measuring the temperature in one area.
Benefits of using low temperature heating (weather and load compensation) include:
More efficient combustion/heat transfer
Slower corrosion rates
More condensing in the heat exchanger (self-cleaning)
More latent heat extracted from condensing
Less boiler cycling and boiler wear and tear
Higher comfort at lower room temperatures
Cleaner air in the house
Increased service life on expansion vessels
Reduced thermal shock to components
Less noise and creaking in the system
Reduced cavitation at pump and fittings
In order to determine which control option is best you should consider the following, thermal mass of the property, property size and layout, usage pattern, occupancy and insulation levels.
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