When connecting a heated floor system, the room must be constantly maintained at an optimal temperature. To solve this issue, a thermostat for heated floors is used. You can’t do without it when installing. This is an integral part of the operation of the entire system.
Concept
- By power. The device will not be able to fully operate above the maximum permissible load. You should carefully study this item during purchase and before connecting. If necessary, they can be used in separate rooms to share the load. To prevent system overloads, an additional magnetic starter is purchased, which creates a protective barrier in this direction.
- According to installation option. When installing built-in thermostats, a hole is made in the wall. And overhead ones - a special mounting box is used, which is simply attached to the wall. Each unit is supplied with a diagram at the time of purchase. This should be used as a guide during installation.
- Control of a system with built-in or remote floor heating sensors.
- By the amount of functionality.
- By appearance etc.
Installation location
There are practically no serious restrictions on where exactly to install a thermostat for. The main thing is that the temperature sensor for the heated floor works fully. There are only basic wishes. It is not recommended to mount them low, as it will make it difficult to manage them and create a program. A special place is occupied by wet rooms (bathroom, sauna), when the device can only be located outside it, that is, outside. This will keep it in working condition throughout its entire service life.
Almost all thermostats are classified as leaky. With increased humidity levels, they begin to work incorrectly and fail. They do not have any protection class, which leads to the creation of certain conditions for safety.
Savings begin when installing the device in adjacent rooms. You can install a dual-zone thermostat that can control the temperature level in a single room. They will not cause any harm to each other.
Connecting a thermostat to water heated floors
When used in operation, the thermostat is presented in the form of a device capable of controlling a servo drive. It regulates the supply of coolant to heating areas. Their control can be not only manual, but also electronic. Here, the floor heating thermostat sensor controls the temperature of the air, not the floor. Everything is connected with the high inertia of heating. The installation sequence is as follows:
During the work process, various materials for heated floors can be used, among which are fittings for heated floors. During installation, please turn off the power circuit breaker for your own safety.
Connection with electric heated floors
Before starting work on installing the thermostat, you should competently and correctly arrange the electric heated floor itself. For this, all preparatory measures are carried out, a heating cable or infrared film is laid. After this, the selected one is made, after which the flooring or other finishing surface is laid. Only then can you begin to configure and connect the thermostat for a heated floor strictly according to the points:
Right choice
When choosing a heated floor thermostat, it must perform the functions of not only connecting or disconnecting the power to the entire system, but also controlling the temperature level in the room. In this case, the switching power must be fully respected. Typically it is 3 kW.
If it comes to the air temperature level sensor, then you should be careful and careful. Heat can be affected by drafts, operation of electrical appliances and household appliances, air flows and many other reasons.
The most popular are electronic devices, having floor sensors. They are distinguished by reasonable cost of production, ease of use, high level reliability during operation. In certain situations, sensors and devices alone may be ineffective for operating and maintaining indoor temperature conditions.
In any case, installing thermostats helps reduce energy costs and financial investments. They pay for themselves very quickly and are subsequently used for their intended purpose.
Video: thermostat for heated floors, review and setup
The presence of thermostats on heating system devices is currently not a luxury, but a necessity. Three reasons suffice to support this:
- The presence of thermostats allows you to constantly maintain a comfortable temperature in the room, and each specific room has its own;
- Installing these devices allows you to get significant savings on heating costs, especially if we are talking about a private house with an autonomous heating system;
- Installing a thermostat on a battery in an apartment located in apartment building With centralized system heating, make it possible to level out significant temperature differences inherent in such systems.
Installation of thermostats on radiators begins with their selection and purchase.
When choosing them, you must remember that changes in room temperature are influenced by the following external factors: drafts, direct sunlight, changes in outside air temperature, the presence in the house of additional sources that produce/absorb heat (electric heaters, cold and hot water supply pipes, etc. .).
Any thermostat consists of a sensitive element (thermal sensor or bellows) and a valve, which operate without the need to connect external power sources. A thermal sensor or thermal head is structurally made of a regulator, an actuator (liquid, gas or elastic) and a drive.
The decision on how to connect the thermostat to the radiator is made taking into account its design features.
Today, trade offers a very wide range of similar products, which are usually divided either by filler (liquid or gas-filled) or by operating principle (mechanical or electronic).
Installation of any type of thermostat can be carried out on radiators in any heating systems. They are easily adaptable to collaboration with the radiator thermostats available in new houses.
The operating principle of mechanical thermostats is as follows: the required temperature is manually set on it. Installed at the inlet of the radiator, such a thermostat operates when the temperature rises, partially blocking the diameter of the inlet pipe, and when it decreases, increasing the latter due to opening to the maximum value.
Electrically controlled regulators are divided, in turn, into:
- Thermostats with a built-in function for controlling boiler heating or circulation pump;
- Controlling the control valve installed at the inlet to the radiator.
Electronic thermostats (ET) have a remote or built-in room temperature control sensor and operate based on its signals. ET models with analog and digital control are available on the market. Moreover, the latter are increasingly replacing the former.
Digital electronic devices, in turn, are divided into those with open or closed logic. In the closed logic version, only certain parameters can be adjusted. Open logic allows you to freely program the thermostat according to any parameters. These regulators, despite their obvious advantages, are used much less frequently, since they require certain qualifications to operate them.
The generalized operation diagram given below gives an answer to the question: “How to install a thermostat on a battery?” It looks like this:
- Before starting work, the corresponding CO riser (heating system) is turned off;
- The coolant descends from it;
- The existing horizontal pipe connections to the radiator are cut off;
- The cut off part of the pipeline and the tap, if one has been installed, are disconnected from the radiator;
- From shut-off valve and the thermostat valve, the shanks are disconnected (together with the nuts) and wrapped in the plugs on the radiator;
- The piping is reassembled and then installed in a pre-selected location;
- The installed piping is connected to the pipe connections existing on the riser, running horizontally. For these purposes, couplings and locknuts are used.
The thermostat is installed on a radiator either on the radiator itself or on a horizontal section of the inlet pipeline, close to it. If the radiator is covered by any interior items, then for its normal operation it is necessary to install an ET with a remote sensor for monitoring the room temperature.
The procedure for installing a thermostat on radiators
The thermostat is installed directly into the hole in the radiator plug, along the flow of coolant into it. At the same time, attention is paid to the strict horizontal installation. This allows you to maximally compensate for the effect of heating the pipe and valve on its operation. If a single-pipe heating system is installed in your house, then the thermostat connection diagram must provide for the mandatory presence of a bypass. This is the name of the pipe jumper, which ensures independent movement of the coolant in the CO from the pipes through which hot water is supplied to the radiator.
If you are installing thermostats in a private house that has more than one floor, then they should be installed from the upper rooms.
Features of installation and configuration of the temperature controller
- ET cannot be placed in the zone of rising flows of warm air that arise above an operating radiator;
- The connection diagram for the thermostat stipulates that it must be raised above the floor level by at least 800 mm;
- It must be protected from direct sunlight;
- The remote sensor, if available, must be firmly fixed to the wall;
- Do not block access to the thermostat with furniture or curtains for heat flows generated in the room.
After the end of the heating season, the thermostat should be switched to maximum flow mode (open) to avoid the appearance of deposits on the valve seat.
Nowadays, at a minimum, a valve must be installed in the heating system to regulate the flow of heat that enters the radiator. This will not only provide comfort, but also protect. This means that a regulating part is necessary. Just what to install: a ball valve or a cone valve, or maybe an automatic thermostat? Let's figure out what types of thermostats there are.
A ball valve alone will not cope, since it will either completely shut off the system, or it will be open. You can, of course, turn the tap handle between these 2 positions, but this will lead to depressurization of the system.
A cone valve for a radiator will be more convenient; at any time, if desired, you can cover the valve on the radiator. The disadvantage of this device is that you need to remember to return the valve to its original position. During the day the sun was shining through the window and the heat turned down, in the evening I forgot to turn the valve and froze at night. Therefore, the issue of rebuilding your heating system should be taken seriously so that everything works like a clock.
What are thermostats for radiators?
A thermostat for a radiator is a device that controls the air temperature in a room to obtain the desired temperature regime. In a heated room, natural heat exchange constantly occurs between the air and the heating system. As a result, the air temperature in the room decreases or increases. For the best comfort and rational use of energy in heating systems, it is necessary to monitor the amount of heat coming from the heating devices. Installing a thermostat on a radiator will easily solve all these problems.
They fit well into any interior, have an ergonomic design and are easy to customize. Thermostats can be installed in any heating systems. They have a long service life and do not require additional maintenance. When using thermostats, there is no need to regulate the air temperature by opening windows.
Thermostats constantly maintain the set temperature (from 6 to 26 degrees), changing the amount of water passing through the heating device hot water and its heat transfer without the use of electrical or other external energy. To adjust the thermostat, you need to turn the knob until the marks on it align with the arrow. The marks on the scale correspond to temperatures: I(1)-14 degrees, II(2)-17, III(3)-20 and IV(4)-26.
The thermostat eliminates the supply of excess heat when necessary, thereby preventing overheating of the room and ensuring a comfortable air temperature in it. In addition to all this, if you have an individual residential building, the thermostat in the boiler room will save about 20% of thermal energy for heating your home.
In urban environments, installing a thermostat on a heating radiator will help create comfort. Many people think that it is most important to install it in the bedroom, but first of all, a thermostat is needed where there is additional heat: in the kitchen, in a room on the sunny side, in rooms where a lot of people gather.
In private houses, radiator thermostats are installed primarily on the upper floors, since everyone knows that warm air is lighter than cold air, and it rises, so on the first floor, as a rule, it is cool, while on the second it is very stuffy .
What types of thermostats are there?
There are two types of thermostats available to consumers on the modern market: liquid and gas-filled. With gas-filled radiator thermostats, gas always condenses in the cooler part of the sensor, which is located away from the control valve body, which means that the water temperature will not affect the thermostat, and it will always respond to changes in room temperature.
It is believed that gas-filled thermostats respond to changes in room temperature faster. And liquid ones more accurately and better transmit the consequence of this temperature change (change in pressure in the bellows) to the actuator. But no one will ever be able to determine which ones are better. The best one is reliable, which means it is well made.
What does a thermostat for radiators consist of?
The thermostat for radiators consists of 2 parts - a thermostatic element and a valve. A thermostatic element is a device that has a sealed cylinder (bellows), which is filled with a working substance - a gas that reacts to changes in air temperature in the room.
If the air temperature decreases, the substance and the bellows are compressed, thereby increasing the flow of coolant in the heating device. When warming, the substance increases in volume, stretching the bellows, and the valve stem moves in the direction of reducing the heat flow flowing through the coolant heating device. This continues until equilibrium is achieved between the gas pressure in the cylinder and the spring force.
Types of thermostat valves
The thermostatic radiator valve can be of two types: RTD-N and RTD-G. They also come in angular and straight versions. To select the type and size of the valve, you need to know the diameter of the hole in the plug of the heating device, the diameter of the pipe supplying water and the type of heating system.
The RTD-N valve is installed in two-pipe heating systems of new buildings, in cottages, if the circulating pump is running.
The RTD-G valve is installed in single pipe systems heating of any buildings, as well as in two-pipe systems of old multi-storey buildings and cottages where there is no circulating pump.
The valve is placed in the hole in the heater plug on the side where hot water is supplied to it. It must be positioned so that the thermostatic element then remains in a horizontal position, in which the influence of heat emanating from the pipe valve is completely eliminated.
When installing the valve, it is necessary to clarify the direction of water flow, since it must coincide with the direction of the arrow on the valve body.
There is a thermostatic element with a built-in sensor, which must be placed where air will circulate freely around it, and with a remote sensor. To prevent the built-in sensor from being heated by heat emanating from the pipeline, it must be installed horizontally.
If the thermostat is in a niche or the thermostat is covered with curtains and the built-in air temperature sensor cannot respond correctly, then you need to use a thermostatic element with a remote sensor.
How to install a thermostat sensor
Many people install the sensor parallel to the plane of the radiator so that it is almost unnoticeable, but this is not correct, since the warm air rising from the radiator affects the readings that the thermostat bellows is guided by and an error in the readings of the device will occur. That's why it would be more correct to install it perpendicularly.
Bottom line
From everything stated above, we can safely say that thermostats for radiators are the way to a healthy microclimate in a house (apartment), to energy saving, and, of course, to financial savings. If you have a radiator thermostat installed, you can be sure that the required heat will be supplied to the room. Thanks to sensors, it regulates the heat supply taking into account weather changes and the selected temperature regime. By the way, you can select the mode separately for each room, which also plays a big role.
Find out what thermostats are needed for and what the basic principle of their operation is (video):
Here you will learn how an automatic thermostat can be used, as well as what are some of the features of its use.
