Frequently asked questions

Suitability of the solution

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What types of buildings is the solution suitable for?

The solution is suitable for almost every type of building with a water-circulating heating system. The solution can be used in new buildings, as well as historical buildings. The heat source is no limitation: the system can also provide significant benefits with district heating and heat pumps.

The solution can deliver excellent results in residential buildings, as well as office buildings and public buildings.

Is the solution suitable for water-circulating underfloor heating?

Water-circulating underfloor heating systems undergo more fluctuations than heating systems based on radiators. There is nothing stopping the system from being used with underfloor heating, but more details are required about the underfloor heating in order to gauge the suitability of the system. Contact us today and we will investigate the matter for you.

We have old cast-iron radiators. Can thermostats be installed in them?

If a traditional wax thermostatic element can be installed in the radiator, a smart thermostat can also be installed. In practice, all radiators can be equipped with our smart thermostats. We have a range of adapters for radiator valves of different ages and from different manufacturers.

How does the solution conform to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive?

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU) seeks to reduce the carbon footprints of buildings. This makes a big difference to overall emissions because buildings account for as much as 40% of all energy consumption. The majority of this is heating.

An amendment to the Directive took effect a few years ago (2018/44/EU) to accelerate the achievement of this goal by emphasising the adoption of smart systems. The Directive defines a set of criteria for smart systems in order to score them (the Smart Readiness Indicator or SRI). The criteria are energy savings, preventive maintenance, comfort, ease of use, user information, health and wellbeing, and energy flexibility (demand-side management and energy storage).  

SiMAP® OptiControl© offers a solution for all the SRI categories.

Benefits of the solution

Does it take long to install?

The system is very quick and easy to install. It takes a pair of installation experts about one working day to install the solution in a medium-sized apartment building, and it is not necessary to turn off the heating during this period. Installation in an individual room takes just a minute or two – about five minutes for an ordinary apartment.

What is done during installation?

The solution needs a base station, which is installed in the building’s engineering/utility services room or a public area. In practice, installation requires one hole to be drilled into the wall, after which the device is connected to an electrical outlet, and the device can be installed in a very wide variety of places.

In addition, a new thermostat is fitted to every radiator in the building. Replacing the thermostat does not require any special tools or expertise. The sensor that monitors indoor conditions is affixed to the wall with double-sided tape, so the installation is very quick and simple. It is not necessary to drill holes in the walls of apartments or other heated areas, so the installation does not cause any dust or noise problems.

Many clients also ask us to take thermal images when the building’s heating system is installed. This reveals any structural problems that may exist in the system.

What do the building’s occupants need to do to use the solution?

Residents or people working on the premises may not need to take any action in order to use the solution. The system has built-in automatic diagnostics, so it generally also communicates any problems and faults automatically to the property maintenance company.

Can rooms be set to different temperatures?

It is up to the person ordering the solution to decide whether occupants should be able to set the temperatures in different rooms. Two types of condition sensors are available, one of which allows the user to enter a set point for the temperature. During use, the building’s owner can also specify a temperature range within which the set point can be selected. If necessary, the building’s owner can also control the temperatures remotely, even if the building does not use the type of sensors that allow the temperature to be set.

In residential buildings, the solutions can also be configured to allow residents to adjust the temperature of the entire apartment at one time. It is very typical that stairwells and other common areas only have a remotely-controlled system.

Does the equipment make any noise?

The smart thermostats contain a small motor that operates the valve. The motor operates for a few seconds at a time, a few times an hour. The motor is controlled in a way that minimises noise. In practice, it is only possible to hear the sound if you are right next to the smart valve, so it will not disrupt anyone’s sleep.

Who owns the equipment?

The equipment is generally owned by the building owner.

How can the solution replace network rebalancing?

From time to time, it is necessary to rebalance the heating network (basic adjustment of the heating network, rebalancing of the radiator network) because some changes in flow rates occur over time. The aim of rebalancing is to ensure that every radiator receives the right amount of hot circulating water. In a well-balanced building, all the rooms are, in principle, at the same temperature when the circulating water flows freely through the radiators.

 

However, OptiControl© adjusts every radiator valve separately, so, in principle, the rooms are always at the right temperature. If the adjustments to the line are even a little imprecise, the flow rate to an individual radiator in the network may be too high, so the smart thermostat limits the flow. This also ensures that there is enough circulating water to reach the parts of the network where the flow rate would otherwise be too low. This keeps the heating system in balance at all times.

 

In some cases, the network may be so imbalanced that there is simply not enough heat in some parts of the building. OptiControl© can also help in these situations because the data it collects clearly shows which radiators are not receiving a sufficient flow of water. This makes the problem much quicker to fix than with conventional network adjustments because there is no need to carry out laborious calculations and measurements in order to identify the right action to take

How many devices can there be in the radio network?

A radio network with one base station can have 1,000 measurement devices or 500 measuring and regulating sensors.

Large buildings may have more than 500 radiators, so one base station will not offer enough capacity. However, this poses no practical problem because there can be several parallel networks in any one building. In practice, the capacity of the radio network does not limit the types of buildings in which OptiControl© can be installed.

What is the range of the radio signals?

Buildings can be challenging environments for using radios because the structures can attenuate or even block radio waves. However, we have developed our radio technology specifically for this challenging environment, and in most cases, entire buildings can be covered by a single base station installed in the heat distribution centre, for example.

Even large buildings are usually no problem. Our technology is used for purposes such as measuring the conditions in a large shopping centre, where one base station handles measurements from about 200 commercial units. Similarly, we have installed the solution in a residential building where the base station is in the heat distribution centre on level -2 of a nine-storey building made from prefabricated concrete elements, beneath an underground car park.

However, if it transpires that the building cannot be covered by a single base station, two or more base stations can be used without significant additional costs.

 

Installation and operation of the solution

Voiko ratkaisuun liittää muita mittauksia?

Ratkaisuun voidaan tarvittaessa liittää esimerkiksi muita sisäilman olosuhteisiin liittyviä mittauksia (esimerkiksi CO2-mittaukset) tai talotekniikkaan liittyviä mittauksia. Niitä voidaan liittää mukaan jo asennusvaiheessa tai tarvittaessa myöhemminkin tarpeen mukaan.

How does the solution save on heating costs?

The solution ensures that each room is only heated as much as it needs to be in order to keep the room at the desired temperature. Naturally, this improves comfort while minimising the amount of energy used for heating.

Very typically, buildings and rooms are overheated somewhat so as to ensure that the temperature is not uncomfortably low. Furthermore, the activities of people in the building, such as cooking, heat up the premises. Conventional heating systems cannot take this into account, so some rooms are heated too much and energy is wasted.

Some sites may use demand-side management, which adjusts the temperatures of rooms slightly according to the availability and price of energy. This can help to avoid consumption peaks, which can lead to substantial money savings. In practice, the temperatures of rooms only need to be adjusted by a few tenths of a degree – imperceptible to humans – in order to make a significant change to energy consumption.

In residential apartment blocks, cutting the rate of overheating typically reduces energy consumption by 7–8%. Moreover, if the building’s heating system can be precisely controlled, it is usually possible to reduce the average temperature because there is no concern about underheating. A temperature decrease of one degree is about 5% in terms of heating energy, so energy consumption falls by 12–13% in a typical building.

 

How does the system affect my carbon footprint?

Heating buildings is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions throughout Europe. Reducing the need for thermal energy automatically reduces the carbon footprint. In general, the carbon footprint decreases more than in proportion to the consumption of thermal energy because when consumption drops, energy production also falls at the plants with the highest emissions.

Demand-side management is also an effective way of reducing your carbon footprint. If the demand for district heating can be controlled in such a way that the peak demand is lower, district heating can be produced in tandem with electricity in a combined heat and power plant, and it is not necessary to use dedicated heating plants, which generate a lot of emissions. The same also applies to the use of heat pumps; when electricity is cheaper, electricity is generally produced with lower emissions.

The precise reduction in carbon emissions depends on many factors, but here is a quick example. A medium-sized apartment in an apartment block consumes approximately 15 MWh of district heat annually. If the solution saves 12% of heating energy, this equates to 1.8 MWh per year. According to Motiva, district heating in Finland emits an average of approximately 154 kgCO2/MWh, so the saving per apartment is about 250 kgCO2.

By comparison, a return flight from Helsinki to Berlin generates just over 200 kgCO2 in carbon emissions.

Can the solution be connected to the ventilation system?

SiMAP also offers unique, affordable and easy-to-install technology for ventilation measurements. Ventilation is a significant factor in the energy consumption of buildings, so it can be highly beneficial to include ventilation in the solution.

Can any other measurements be connected to the solution?

If necessary, other data can also be connected to the solution, such as measurements of indoor air conditions (such as CO2 measurements) or measurements related to technical building services. These can be connected during the installation phase or, if necessary, added at a later date as required.

 

Security of the solution

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Laitteissa ei ole mikrofoneja tai kameroita, joten niitä ei ole mahdollista käyttää asukkaan tai tilan muun käyttäjän seuraamiseen.

Does the system monitor or listen to residents?

The devices do not contain microphones or cameras, so they cannot be used to monitor residents or any other occupants of the premises.

Is the solution cyber-secure?

In terms of information security, the system has two essential parts: the wireless traffic inside the building and the cloud service.

Our wireless communication devices use spread spectrum technology – a method that is, in itself, very difficult to interfere with – as well as strong symmetric key encryption. Our internet services use information security solutions and technologies in line with the best practices in the sector. All data traffic related to measurements and adjustments in buildings is encrypted when it is sent over the internet.

Will the heating go off in the building if the internet connection goes down?

The building regulations require buildings to function independently. Our solution contains several safety mechanisms to ensure that the heating stays on in the event of various faults.

The heating in each room is adjusted using a base station located in the building, so an outage in the internet connection only affects data collection and remote control from outside the building. The heating works exactly as it did before.

If the radio traffic between the base station and an individual thermostat does not work for any reason, the thermostat will continue to work as before. Even then, the temperature of the room will remain under better control than with a conventional thermostat.

Maintenance of the solution

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Laitteet käyttävät erikoisparistoja, joita ei pidä vaihtaa itse. Jos laitteiston toiminnassa on häiriöitä — esimerkiksi termostaatti ei tunnu säätävän tai olosuhdeanturi (seinäyksikkö) ei toimi oikein — ota yhteyttä huoltoon.

How often do the batteries need to be changed?

The smart thermostats have an expected battery life of eight to ten years, depending on usage. The temperature sensors (wall units) have a considerably longer battery life than this. Occupants do not need to and should not change the batteries themselves – this is the building maintenance company’s job.

How are the devices repaired?

The devices are easy to install and very reliable. If any repairs are needed, the system usually notices it first and sends an alert to the building management company. Depending on the nature of the problem, repairs may be carried out by the building maintenance company or by our authorised installation firm. Some problems can also be fixed via a remote connection.

Our technical support team will be happy to help you find the easiest way to resolve problems!

Are spare parts available for the system?

Spare parts are available for the system, and the system can also be expanded after installation.

How do you determine the battery life?

This is an excellent question because different manufacturers determine the battery life of their products in a variety of ways.

Determining the battery life of an IoT device is not a simple task. Most of the time, the devices typically consume very little electricity, and then, in short bursts, they consume quite a lot. For example, a smart thermostat spends most of its time in a sleep state, but sometimes it uses its radio connection or motor, leading to very high electricity consumption lasting a fraction of a second.

A ten-year battery life cannot be determined by using the device for ten years because then it would only be possible to release technology that is already ten years old.

We approach the matter using practical measurements. We carry out long-term laboratory measurements of our devices, and our smart thermostats have built-in electricity consumption meters. As such, we are constantly aware of how much electricity all our installed thermostats have consumed over their service lifetimes. Moreover, the rate of consumption may depend on how much each individual thermostat needs to adjust the radiator valve.

 We use the results of actual consumption measurements and the battery manufacturer’s specifications of the battery life. We are conservative in our calculations, so when we specify the battery life, we adjust the figures downwards after completing the calculations. The quoted battery lives are the outcome of this process.

Use of data

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Järjestelmä kerää lämmityksen toimintaan liittyvää teknistä tietoa. Tällaista ovat huoneiden lämpötilat, kosteudet ja ilmanpaineet, lämpöpatterien venttiilien asennot ja ololsuhteet lämpöpatterien välittömässä läheisyydessä. Lisäksi järjestelmä saattaa asennuksesta riippuen mitata ja kerätä dataa lämmitysjärjestelmästä, esimerkiksi lämmityskierrossa kulkevan veden lämpötiloja.

What data does the system collect?

The system collects technical data related to the functioning of heating. This includes the temperature, humidity and air pressure in each room, the positions of the radiator valves, and the conditions in the immediate vicinity of the radiators. In addition, the system may measure and collect data about the heating system, such as the temperature of the water in the heating circuit, depending on the installation.

Who owns the data? Where is it stored?

The ownership of the data may vary slightly from one case to another, but in principle, the owner of the building also owns the data. The data is stored in a cloud service in the EU. SiMAP Oy reserves the right to use the data for technical diagnostics and service development. SiMAP Oy does not sell the data unless the sale is expressly agreed upon.

What does the data enable?

The solution generates a large amount of data about the building’s conditions and the functioning of the heating system. This data can be refined to provide a lot of useful information for maintaining the building. For example, the data can reveal problems with actuators. Naturally, data is also a valuable tool for the parties responsible for the building on a day-to-day basis. If an occupant complains about the conditions, it is much easier to assess the validity of the complaint if there is good, measured data available. 

Data becomes more and more useful as it accrues. Measurements collected systematically are the ideal material for machine learning and artificial intelligence. These enable data to show the flows of energy in the building, as well as any changes in such flows under different circumstances. The effectiveness of improvement measures can also be evaluated using data.

 

Data becomes increasingly valuable as more data is collected. Similarly, as data is collected from more buildings, its value further rises. In practice, data accrues interest, and building owners can also benefit from old data. On the other hand, last year’s data can no longer be measured this year, so the earlier you can begin collecting data, the more you can benefit from it.

Are spare parts available for the system?

Spare parts are available for the system, and the system can also be expanded after installation.