Home / How Multiple Retirement Homes In The UK Improved The Living Conditions Of Their Inhabitants And Reduced Their Heating Bills Using Vicki LoRaWAN®
CASE STUDY:

Revolutionizing Comfort and Savings: How UK Retirement Homes Enhanced Inhabitants' Lives with Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats

🇬🇧 UK

Our client

Building type: Multiple Residential Care Centers

Client Name: Voytech Systems Ltd.

Location: UK

Building parameters: 3 buildings from the early 1900s

Product(s) implemented:
1500+ Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats

“Vicki is the perfect solution for those buildings, some of them more than 100 years old. It allowed us to improve the energy consumption and results are seen after the very first heating season.”

Richard Fargus,
Voytech Systems Ltd.

Challenges

Voytech Systems is a UK-based company that produces the Sitelink BMS control system, a low-cost Building Management system with native on-site LoRaWAN® integration and device drivers for a variety of LoRaWAN® devices including the MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats. The customers were looking for a solution to reduce heating energy consumption in a number of residential care homes across the UK. The buildings are equipped with radiators in every residential room, as well as in all of the shared spaces – corridors, kitchens, living rooms, TV rooms etc. The existing system used a conventional BMS to control the boilers and primary heating circuit, and allowed all radiators to be only manually operated with no option to reduce energy consumption leading to considerable energy waste and therefore higher bills.

Solution

The solution was to install multiple (50 to 300 depending on the site) MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats integrating them with the Voytech Sitelink Building Management System (BMS) which supports native LoRaWAN® devices. The BMS control logic manages each group of one or more Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats, using the their 'Child-lock' functionality to operate shared spaces with setpoints set by the BMS and not allowing to be adjusted by the occupants. Additionally different compatible LoRaWAN® room Temperature/Motion sensors along with wireless LoRaWAN® window switches are used to control intermittently occupied spaces so that the MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats switch lower temperatures when the rooms are not occupied or switch them off if the windows are open. All zones are managed from the BMS using time schedules to control the MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats. All MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats collected data together with the outside air temperature information was used from the BMS with the end goal of minimizing gas usage.

Results

As an example we present two of the multiple buildings where the Voytech BMS and MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats were installed. Energy usage was analyzed using Degree Day data from the local area to compare energy usage before and after installation of the Voytech BMS and MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats. Monthly energy usage data was analyzed for the periods 2019/2020 and 2021/2022 using monthly Degree Day data to adjust differences between the two periods.

BUILDING A

3400 m²

3 Floors, 49 flats, corridors & communal areas

217

MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats installed

365 mWh

Average annual energy use

Energy use for heating
80% of total energy

2019/2020

292.5 mWh

2020/2021

203.4 mWh

2019/2020

292.5 mWh

2020/2021

203.4 mWh

2019/2020

292.5 mWh

2020/2021

203.4 mWh

Energy savings

Daily temperatures

30.5 %

unadjusted

Monthly temperatures

22.8 %

degree day-adjusted

£13,700.00

Estimated savings post installation
(£0.2/kWh)

BUILDING B

3400 m²

3 Floors, 40 flats, corridors & communal areas

290

MClimate Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats installed

453 mWh

Average annual energy use

Energy use for heating
80% of total energy

2019/2020

377.3 mWh

2020/2021

231.1 mWh

2019/2020

377.3 mWh

2020/2021

231.1 mWh

2019/2020

377.3 mWh

2020/2021

231.1 mWh

Energy savings

38.7 %

Daily temperatures unadjusted

33.6 %

Monthly temperatures degree day-adjusted

£25,900.00

Estimated savings post installation
(£0.2/kWh)

The results demonstrate that savings of 20% to 30% or more are easily achievable using the Voytech BMS in conjunction with the Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats. Control of residential care homes requires high energy use and almost continuous heating due to the vulnerable nature of the occupants. In commercial office applications there is even more scope for energy reduction by the use of more occupant driven control operation using motion sensors and window interlocks.

20 to 30%

reduction of the heating costs

Up to 10 years

of battery life

99%

compatibility with old radiator valves

20 to 30%

reduction of the heating costs

Up to 10 years

of battery life

99%

compatibility with old radiator valves

Products in this case study

Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostat

Vicki LoRaWAN is a radiator thermostatic valve fully compliant with the LoRaWAN standard. It is the perfect choice for large-scale projects as it offers amazing battery life, RF performance and no maintenance for years as well functionalities such as Child Lock, Detection of opened windows and much more.

Recommended products

MClimate Wireless Thermostat LoRaWAN®

MClimate Wireless Thermostat is a stand-alone thermostat powered entirely by solar energy using an organic solar panel. The device features a 2.9" e-ink screen, sensor for movement (PIR), temperature and humidity sensor, LUX sensor and 3 buttons. The user can change the target temperature and see current indoor conditions. The device sends an uplink after any event as well as periodically.

MClimate Open/Close Sensor LoRaWAN®

MClimate Open/Close Sensor LoRaWAN® is a device detecting the event of opening or closing windows, doors, cabinets and more. It features long battery life, LED, temperature sensor and a button that triggers an uplink. The device sends an uplink for every event of opening/closing and keeps an internal counter of the total number of events.

MClimate CO2 Display LoRaWAN®

MClimate CO2 Display LoRaWAN® is a stand-alone CO2 sensor powered entirely by solar energy using an organic solar panel. The device features a 2.9" e-ink screen, sensor for movement (PIR), temperature and humidity sensor, LUX sensor and NDIR CO2 sensor. The user can see the current levels of CO2 as well as historical trend.

MClimate Wireless Thermostat LoRaWAN®

MClimate Wireless Thermostat is a stand-alone thermostat powered entirely by solar energy using an organic solar panel. The device features a 2.9" e-ink screen, sensor for movement (PIR), temperature and humidity sensor, LUX sensor and 3 buttons. The user can change the target temperature and see current indoor conditions. The device sends an uplink after any event as well as periodically.

MClimate Open/Close Sensor LoRaWAN®

MClimate Open/Close Sensor LoRaWAN® is a device detecting the event of opening or closing windows, doors, cabinets and more. It features long battery life, LED, temperature sensor and a button that triggers an uplink. The device sends an uplink for every event of opening/closing and keeps an internal counter of the total number of events.

MClimate HT Sensor LoRaWAN®

MClimate HT sensor is a fully LoRaWAN®-compliant device with surprising battery life time - up to 10 years! If you need to track temperature and humidity in your building, then HT will not miss a reading and will make sure you have enough data to analyse and improve upon.

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