What is a heating thermostat and how does it work?

The temperature thermostat is a fundamental tool to gain comfort in your home, while saving energy in the process. Depending on its type, this product can even learn your habits, taking care of regulating the heating automatically.

When it gets cold, having an effective heating source is key to not getting cold. But it is also essential that this source is well regulated, so that its operation does not cause us problems when the electricity bill arrives. Modern heating thermostats can help us in this task.

Although there are many types of existing thermostats, the truth is that these products today have improved so much that they no longer only allow us to choose the temperature by themselves, but also include all kinds of saving functions . Something easy to handle even from your mobile, in those models of a home automation nature. So that you update your knowledge, we discover everything you need to know about these interesting accessories.

what is a thermostat

A thermostat is a device that allows us to establish the exact operating temperature of our heating system. Therefore, if we want our home to be warmer or cooler, we only have to manipulate this thermostat as we are interested.

This definition is somewhat simple and corresponds rather to the traditional analog thermostat, the one that has a simple knob for temperature and little else. Basically because modern digital thermostats are capable of doing much more and can even work autonomously. We will expand on all this throughout the article.

how a thermostat works

The main task of the thermostat is to open and close the electrical circuit of the heating system installed in your home, so this product has to be connected to the boiler . In general, the device has an internal thermometer, with which it measures the temperature of the room where it is placed.

This temperature is set in line with the one we have programmed in the thermostat and, once it has been reached, the heating operation is cut off. This would be the operation of the basic thermostat or room thermostat. However, we increasingly have more advanced and intelligent options, which are in charge of completely managing the heating system of our home and that assess different parameters to decide when to activate the heating system or not.

types of thermostats

We have reached the most extensive part of this article, in which we are going to analyze the different types of thermostats currently in existence. Due to its operation, we have analog and digital models. The analog ones, the cheapest thermostats, have a simple wheel, which is used to choose the desired temperature. They also include a switch to turn the system on and off.

For their part, the digital models have a keypad and a screen, where you can see the different operating parameters of the product. These digital models include new options to control heat in the traditional way, although programmable thermostats are more interesting. These allow you to set specific times to heat and cool your home, so you can have your house warm when you get home from work and let the heating cool down for a while after you go to bed.

Another interesting model is made up of wireless thermostats. These have a similar approach to a digital heating thermostat, but have the advantage that they do not require cables . This is an obvious help when installing the product, making the process easier. It is also very interesting to place it in any part of your home, comfortably.

Derived from the above, we have the smart thermostat. In this case, we are talking about a digital product that generally includes wireless technology and WiFi connectivity. This model is not passive, like the normal digital ones, but includes a series of intelligent functions that are responsible for analyzing your consumption habits, when you are at home and the temperature you like to have in it.

The result is a product that heats only when necessary, offering high energy savings. In addition, being a product with WiFi, this thermostat can be controlled remotely via mobile, so if you have any change in plans you can also let the heating know without being at home.

And if the thermostat does not work, what happens?

One of the most serious problems with thermostats is when they go wrong, since you will most likely be left without using the heat until you fix it. The usual thing is that the failure is due to minor problems such as lack of batteries, in those models that use them, or an inadequate temperature selection, which prevents the thermostat from activating the heating system. 

This last problem is common to all thermostats, so checking the ignition and temperature is key before calling the technician. Do the same with the programming system, in case you have activated any mode that prevents the activation of the system.

It is also convenient, if you have the appropriate knowledge to do so, to verify that the connections between the boiler and the thermostat are correct. Any disconnection or a thermostat located outside the coverage area of ​​the product, if it is wireless, can cause problems.

If all else fails, then it’s time to seek professional help. If you have a digital thermostat, it is possible that you will see an error code on the screen, which will inform you of where the fault is and that can guide the technical service. If this is not the case, all you have to do is wait for the technician to come and repair the problem with your heating system.