Revisiting home heat control theories through a UK care home field trial
Revisiting home heat control theories through a UK care home field trial
Smart heating controls are being introduced in the domestic sector with the aim of reducing heating demand in buildings. However, the impact of controls on heat demand is not fully understood. This study set out to add empirical evidence to Kempton’s theory on mental models of home heat controls. With this purpose, radiator setpoint records from smart thermostatic valves in 47 flats from a care home in the South of England were evaluated over a 12-month period. Three types of households were identified: (i) low interactors who do not have interaction, or have minimal interaction, with the controls (24.5%); (ii) medium interactors who adjust their setpoint when the outdoor temperature changes and whose behavior is comparable to households that have a “feedback” mental model
(49%); and (iii) high interactors who adjust the setpoint based on their own
strategy, which does not necessarily follow outdoor temperature changes and reflects a lack of understanding of how the controls work (26.5%). These results highlight the contrast between expected and actual usage of home heat controls, as only half of the residents showed a behavior that is consistent with the principles of operation of the STVs.
TRV, care home, heating, mental models, occupant behavior, smart controls
Aragon, Victoria
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James, Patrick
da0be14a-aa63-46a7-8646-a37f9a02a71b
Gauthier, Stephanie
4e7702f7-e1a9-4732-8430-fabbed0f56ed
7 July 2022
Aragon, Victoria
0ad4418b-1512-4163-9e2c-cfd7dc5b8c84
James, Patrick
da0be14a-aa63-46a7-8646-a37f9a02a71b
Gauthier, Stephanie
4e7702f7-e1a9-4732-8430-fabbed0f56ed
Aragon, Victoria, James, Patrick and Gauthier, Stephanie
(2022)
Revisiting home heat control theories through a UK care home field trial.
Energies, 15 (14), [4990].
(doi:10.3390/en15144990).
Abstract
Smart heating controls are being introduced in the domestic sector with the aim of reducing heating demand in buildings. However, the impact of controls on heat demand is not fully understood. This study set out to add empirical evidence to Kempton’s theory on mental models of home heat controls. With this purpose, radiator setpoint records from smart thermostatic valves in 47 flats from a care home in the South of England were evaluated over a 12-month period. Three types of households were identified: (i) low interactors who do not have interaction, or have minimal interaction, with the controls (24.5%); (ii) medium interactors who adjust their setpoint when the outdoor temperature changes and whose behavior is comparable to households that have a “feedback” mental model
(49%); and (iii) high interactors who adjust the setpoint based on their own
strategy, which does not necessarily follow outdoor temperature changes and reflects a lack of understanding of how the controls work (26.5%). These results highlight the contrast between expected and actual usage of home heat controls, as only half of the residents showed a behavior that is consistent with the principles of operation of the STVs.
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energies-15-04990-v2
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Accepted/In Press date: 4 July 2022
Published date: 7 July 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported by the H2020‐EEB‐2016 European project [grant number 723562 (THERMOSS)]. Additionally, this work was done in partnership with Portsmouth City Council.
Keywords:
TRV, care home, heating, mental models, occupant behavior, smart controls
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 473940
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/473940
ISSN: 1996-1073
PURE UUID: 179d7472-c463-4c25-8bfa-82eb35eb60be
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Date deposited: 06 Feb 2023 17:34
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:38
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Author:
Victoria Aragon
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