So after much enjoyment of the new energy monitor and a new found fascination with how much energy the fridge uses I embarked on installing the new boiler control at the weekend.
This little gadget replaces the standard wall thermostat with a new one that is supposed to be more efficient. As Ecoalex I really thought I should give it a try. It was fairly easy to install, after turning off the power I removed the old wall thermostat and exposed the wires in the wall. Of course my wiring didn’t match the wiring colours mentioned in the installation booklet but a quick google search for the same set up helped here and I connected the new unit. After a careful bit of fiddling to get the covers on we were done.
Then I had to connect the thermostat to the internet via the Network Owl device. Once I had updated the firmware this was very straightforward and the whole installation would probably take half an hour if I were to do it again, maybe less.
Now it is all online I have a secure website which shows me what electricity I am using and what the heating is doing in my flat. More importantly I am able to programme the heating from the website or a smartphone. As I have a fairly new well insulated flat in Central London my heating bills are fairly low but anything I can do to reduce them further is a bonus. Also this is the sort of gadget you used to see on Tomorrow’s World so it is very exciting to have one at last. As well as setting the programme I can turn the heating on and off remotely using a smart phone. This means if I am out at the theatre or stay out unexpectedly I don’t need to heat the flat. Alternatively if it is freezing out and I am on the way home I can
turn on the heating before I get there and arrive at a warm flat.
I can also input holidays into the system so it turns off the heating when I am away automatically. As well as this I get to see what electricity the house is using on the same screen or on the smartphone app (to the left). So far I am very pleased with all the new toys and they seem to work very well. Once it has been installed a while I should also be able to get a better Idea of usage patterns and see what I can do to reduce my bills. Currently I only have 3 days data so it isn’t too exciting.
I also hope to use it to show to Ecoalex customers and illustrate how they might save money on their bills as well.
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