Energy Aspects of Default Heating Programmer Settings

It is widely observed that there is a difference between the actual energy consumption of domestic buildings as measured in use compared to that predicted at the design stage. This is generally known as the ‘performance gap’. This discrepancy is a concern for those involved in low energy building design as it means that targets set at the concept stage of a development on aspects such as reduced CO2 emission rates are not realised in practice. A number of factors are involved in creating this difference in performance. Two key areas are variations in build quality compared to design intentions especially in the area of insulation and air tightness and also differences in the way that occupants interact with their buildings on aspects that affect energy performance. It is this latter aspect that is the focus of the research presented here. It involves a survey of the central heating programmers currently available on the market and in particular the default programmes that are factory set in to these devices. Whilst these setting should be reconfigured during installation and commissioning in conjunction with the requirements of the homeowner, it is possible that they will be the basis for operation for many years following installation. The default settings are looked at here and the information given will be of use to those involved in thermal modelling of building energy consumption and issues of human interaction with building services.