Smart thermostat: handy gadget or unnecessary?

Another key advantage of the smart thermostat is that you can modulate heating. When less heat is needed, your boiler will burn less efficiently. As a result, fewer large temperature differences need to be bridged, saving energy.

If your smart thermostat is connected to the IFTTT app, you can automate tasks. If you want your heating to automatically lower the temperature when you're more than 500 meters away from home, you can set this up. The heating will automatically turn down every time you leave the house. The advantage of this is that you won't forget.

How much can you actually save with a smart thermostat? It's striking that percentages are mentioned for lower heating energy consumption (such as a 28% reduction in energy consumption), but little is explained about the basis for such figures. It is a fact that modulating heating saves energy: the boiler will fire less efficiently once the desired temperature is reached.

Whether a smart thermostat's self-learning capability saves energy is debatable. With this feature, the thermostat stores your behavior after a "learning period" and will adopt it. However, this only works for people with a regular daily routine.

Even if you're already careful and frugal with energy , you won't save much more with a smart thermostat. Furthermore, most smart thermostats aren't connected to your smart energy meter. This means you have no insight into your energy consumption. In some cases, the energy savings are disappointing, and you'll primarily benefit from remote control.

In short, a smart thermostat has advantages and disadvantages. It's important to know that a smart thermostat isn't compatible with every central heating boiler. A building inspector can advise you on the existing boiler in your new home and which thermostat is best for your situation. Our building professionals perform structural inspections . Do you have questions or would you like to schedule an appointment? Feel free to contact us without obligation.

The cost of a building inspection (up to 250 m²) is only €489 including VAT. We'll conduct a comprehensive building inspection and you'll receive a building report. Do you have any questions? We're happy to help and can schedule an appointment with an expert inspector right away if you wish!