Understanding Property Issues with Smart Thermostats
Smart thermostats, or controllers, do more than just allow you to set customised heating and cooling schedules - they also collect data that can provide useful insights into how your property manages humidity levels and where it might benefit from additional support from mechanical ventilation. Smart thermostats are becoming popular for their ability to monitor temperature, humidity, occupancy patterns relative to peak humidity levels and more. This data can provide useful insights into property conditions - including identifying potential mould and dampness problem causation.
Smart thermostats can be WiFi-enabled or self-sufficient with sim cards for remote data collection, and can optimise heating and cooling usage based on occupancy patterns and humidity levels. This can lead to potential energy cost savings and also prevent problematic humid conditions, and the ability to control settings remotely via a smartphone provides convenience and flexibility.
Correct installation is key to success to ensure poor connectivity leading to frustration does not occur, and also placement captures the data required to be used to assist with eradicating problems, and lastly to ensure security of data collected to address any privacy concerns.
Excessive humidity and dampness inside a building can lead to mould growth, and fluctuations in temperature can create condensation. The data collected by smart thermostats can provide helpful insights into overall property conditions and issues.
● Humidity sensors track indoor moisture levels in various rooms. Unusually high humidity may indicate ventilation problems or water intrusion issues leading to excessive dampness.
● Occupancy sensing reveals if residents require adjustment to or additional measures being put in place to reflect their lifestyle.
● Temperature data can identify cold spots and rooms that don't hold heat properly. This may point to deficient insulation or gaps that allow outdoor air and moisture to penetrate.
● Geofencing and activity tracking can confirm if high humidity only occurs while residents are home. This suggests tenant behaviours like poor ventilation are the root cause.
Once problem areas are identified, the specific source of excessive humidity can be further investigated. Is it structural defects like leaky roofs, plumbing issues, or lack of insulation? Or is it due to occupant activities and insufficient ventilation?
Smart thermostats provide the rich, location-specific data needed to make this determination. Humidity and temperature patterns in unoccupied times can be especially telling. They pinpoint areas where dampness issues are inherent to the building itself. If the temperature and humidity levels are consistently within normal ranges and there are no significant fluctuations, it suggests that the issue may be more likely due to structural problems.
Smart controllers in action
Smart controllers have provided data that assisted a social housing provider to implement effective ventilation for their tenants’ properties. A device specifically designed for social housing served as a replacement for traditional room thermostats and programmers, incorporating advanced "smart" features. They intelligently detected occupancy and adjusted the heating accordingly when the home was unoccupied. By learning occupancy patterns, they anticipated the demand for heat and effectively regulated the internal temperature to the desired level. This is a benefit to occupants in that energy bills can be reduced with this assistance.
However, the most significant aspect was their capability to monitor homes and provide data to landlords. Equipped with various sensors, the smart controllers constantly monitored occupancy (via movement detection), temperature, relative humidity (RH), heating system usage (on or off), and the desired temperature setting. They also identified homes experiencing underheating, overheating, or high RH levels (which may indicate condensation and mould risks), and also allowed continuous monitoring of homes even after improvements have been made, to confirm effectiveness.
Efficient ventilation plays a crucial role in minimising condensation and mould issues. By effectively removing damp and stale air from kitchens and bathrooms while simultaneously introducing fresh external air into living areas and bedrooms, it significantly reduces relative humidity throughout the entire home. However, many residents tended to disable ventilation due to concerns about noise, drafts, and high operating costs. Surveys conducted on the ventilation systems revealed that a significant number of properties already had extract fans installed in kitchens and bathrooms, but most of them were either turned off due to a malfunction, or generating excessive noise. In some cases, these fans had never been utilised due to the anxiety of the running cost of such a fan.
The ventilation solution that was adopted after the trial ensured minimum whole-house ventilation rates; also, demand-controlled ventilation was implemented - this regulated ventilation based on RH sensors. In homes where ventilation systems were installed, internal doors were undercut, allowing for a flow of air from living spaces and bedrooms towards kitchens and bathrooms, where it was extracted.
The smart controller’s autonomous operation was especially beneficial in households where residents were unwilling or unable to actively address the issue. Moreover, they offered a monitoring feature that provides valuable insights to landlords, enabling the identification and targeting of homes at risk of condensation and dampness.
They also allowed for customised energy advice based on individual household circumstances and behaviour, and facilitated the monitoring of intervention effectiveness; including measures such as boiler replacement, improved heating controls to enhance heating efficiency, reduced fuel costs for residents, and prevention of under-heating.