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Day by day, it seems that more and more things you can buy have built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, and heating is no exception. Smart heating is here to stay and is more than just a gimmick.

If you’re new to the world of ‘always connected’ heaters, then fear not, as we’re about to cover the basics of what smart heaters are, what they do, and why you need them.

What Are Smart Infrared Heaters?

In essence, Smart Heaters are normal infrared heaters that can connect to your Wi-Fi network at home or in your place of work.

On a basic level, this lets you control your heating directly from your smartphone or tablet, even if you’re not at home.

What Can I Do With Smart Infrared Heaters?

Distance Control

The most basic benefit that smart IR heaters gives you is something called distance control. This is where you’re able to control your heating from anywhere in the world, as long as you have a data connection.

This is handy if you’re out, and you want to put your heating on before you get home, so that your home is nice and toasty by the time you step through the door.

Virtual Assistants

Being able to control your heating from your smartphone does also mean that you can use Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant too, letting you simply speak out what you want your heating to do!

For example…

“Hey Google, switch my IR Panel on.”

Or…

“Alexa, set my IR bar heater to 22 degrees.”

And that’s it! While this might look like a bit of a novelty or gimmick, it’s actually a very frictionless way of controlling your heating, and means you don’t need to physically go to wherever your thermostat is, or physically get your phone or remote out to change temperatures.

Home Automation

Where the value of Smart IR Heaters really shines through is being able to go completely hands off with your heating through something called Home Automation.

This is where your heating changes throughout the day depending on a set of rules and conditions that you set once.

For example, you could set your heating to come on when the temperature outside drops below 10^oC, or any other temperature you decide.

Or you can get your heating to automatically switch off when you leave home, and switch back on when you get home, though this does require your phone to have its location GPS switched on.

If you want to get really technical, and have other smart appliances in your home, like smart bulbs for example, you can also set them to work with each other.

So let’s say that you have smart bulbs in your garage, and you have a smart IR Bar Heater. You can set them up so that when you switch your lights on, your Bar Heater will also switch on with it, and switch off when you flick your lights off too.

Needless to say, the possibilities here are endless!

Why Do I Need Smart Infrared Heating?

There are a few reasons why smart infrared heating is the way to go for a lot of people.

Saving Money

The number one reason why smart heaters make so much sense is that they save money on your heating bills.

This is because they’re already heating (or not heating) before you even thought of switching the heating on (or off). This minimises heat loss from your home, reducing the amount of wasted heat that you’re paying for.

So picture this scenario: an unexpected cold snap has hit your area and the outside temperature has tanked. Normally, you’d wait to start feeling cold before thinking “Oh, better switch the heating on!”

As a result, because of the larger difference between the temperature of your home, and the temperature you’d like it to be, the heating has to stay on that little bit longer to get warm.

However, if you have a smart heater that is set to automatically come on when the temperature outside drops below whatever you’ve got it set to, chances are the heater has already switched on, reducing the amount of time it needs to be on, because it kicked in that little bit earlier.

Smart Learning

Many smart heating systems include the ability to learn what your general heating habits are.

So if it notices that you like the heating on in the morning between 7am and 9am, and then again from 5pm through to 10pm, it will learn that behaviour, and optimise your heating for those times.

The end result is that the thermostat will find the best way to keep your home as warm as possible during ‘your’ times, using as little energy as possible.

Zoning

Perhaps one of the main drawbacks of central heating is that it heats everything up, whether you’re using those rooms or not.

Granted, it’s better for the health of your home if the rooms are kept warm from time to time anyway, in order to prevent damp and mould growing. But this doesn’t need to be on a daily basis.

Zoning, which is done easily through smart heating, and is even easier through electric systems like Infrared, allows you to split your home up into…well…zones!

Only want downstairs heated up for now? Easy.

Planning on staying upstairs for a day of movies and bed? Done.

Even if you split your home up into two zones: upstairs and downstairs, that’s still a potential saving of up to 50%!

Smart Infrared Heating From Surya

When you consider that the main benefit of smart heating is to save money…

And that one of the main benefits of infrared heating is to save money…

Opting to use smart infrared heating in your home is a very safe way to…you guessed it…save money!

Fortunately, we’ve got plenty of IR Panels and Bar Heaters that are smart out of the box!

• Our Nexus IR Panels come with built-in Wi-Fi and can be used in pretty much any room in your home.
• There’s also our Ionis Wi-Fi IR Bar Heaters too, that are brilliant for larger or colder areas like conservatories for example.
• You’ve also got the option of our Athena Wi-Fi IR Bar Heaters, and our Theia Wi-Fi IR Bar Heaters, both of which are great for outdoor use, as they use a slightly shorter IR wavelength that penetrates cold air effortlessly.

You can also create a centralised Smart IR Heating system in your home too, using a combination of Classic IR Panels and our MS2000 Smart Thermostat, though this is a more complex option.

Our team can help you decide which option is best for your home. All you need to do is to give them a call on 0116 321 4124, or send them an email to sales@suryaheating.co.uk.

You can also reach out to us on our Facebook or Instagram pages too.