What are smart boiler controls?

When most people think of fixing the climate crisis, they think of electric cars. And yet buildings emit almost twice the carbon output of cars. Worse, almost every building in the US completely wastes 25% of its energy and carbon output.

How is this possible? The answer is that 99% of buildings in the US are running on control technology (the technology that determines how and how much the energy systems of the building should run), which hasn't changed since the 1970s. 

Smart controls are the first modern and affordable replacements for this antiquated control infrastructure and eliminate the energy waste in buildings by using sensors and predictive algorithms to run the heating, cooling, water, and electric systems in a safer, more reliable, more comfortable, and energy-efficient way. 

Because Smart Controls are completely wireless, they are also ten times faster and cheaper to install, which, combined with energy savings, typically pay for themselves in under a year.  

The History and Basics of Standard Boiler Controls

Have you ever experienced an apartment in the heart of winter that's so hot you need to open the window? This isn’t a mistake; most buildings were designed to make you do that.

Why? Well, during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, much like during COVID, people figured out that fresh air reduces the transmission of diseases. For more than fifty years, building designers encouraged open windows by designing buildings to be overheated by running their heat nonstop.

The 1970s oil crisis made oil very expensive, causing heating costs to skyrocket. As a result,  the mechanical outdoor reset control was born. It revolutionized energy use in buildings by adjusting the heat based on outdoor temperatures—less on warmer days, more when colder, reducing energy consumption by over 50%. 

However, it was an imperfect solution.

Outdoor reset boiler controls, which are still in use in 95% of centrally heated buildings, have no idea what the temperature is inside of buildings. They also only know the weather in the present moment. Because no one ever wants people to be cold, the result is buildings always way overshoot and end up still being way too hot, and often have significant undiagnosed issues that waste additional energy. 

In every area of life today, from smart recommendations on Netflix to smartphones, we use software, sensors, and data to provide better, more efficient experiences. Yet, our twelve million buildings still use a physical thermometer and timer to control the largest source of energy and carbon output in the country. 

Why? Because historically upgrading or replacing physical control systems in buildings was incredibly expensive, so building owners and managers wouldn’t do it. 

Enter the Era of Smart Boiler Controls 

In the last couple of years, three factors have fundamentally changed the calculus around building control technology: energy has become much more expensive, laws have changed to put carbon caps on buildings, and smart controls that reduce the cost of being installed ten-fold using wireless technology have gone mainstream. 

Smart boiler controls use temperature sensors inside, a weather forecast outside, and intelligent algorithms to much more precisely heat buildings. This typically cuts fossil fuel and energy costs by 20-25% while making tenants more comfortable. 

With smart sensors tracking indoor temperatures and syncing with live weather data, these systems anticipate shifts in climate. On a day when temperatures can swing from the chilly 40s to mild 60s, a smart boiler control system ensures that your building's indoor temperature remains comfortable without the risk of overheating, which is crucial for energy savings.

These controls also monitor every aspect of the building heating system, identifying critical issues such as a return line leak, which is hard to catch due to lines being buried underground. Early detection of problems not only prevents energy and water waste but also mitigates the risk of harm to tenants and damage to the building's infrastructure, saving on lawsuits and major repair costs.

These controls provide unprecedented control over building heating and water systems, playing a crucial role in energy-efficient building management. 

How Smart Boiler Controls Work 

Smart boiler controls equip you with a dashboard that grants you total control over your building's heating system. You’re provided a timeline that visually tracks your boiler's activity, showing you at a glance how it's responding to the outdoor temperature and the warmth inside your building.

Rather than guessing at manual adjustments with a single button press, you can tell the building people are too cold or too hot, and the system will immediately react and learn for the future. 

Within your smart boiler control dashboard, you'll find that everything you need to know about your building's heating patterns and efficiency is neatly displayed. From indoor temperatures to water usage, the system makes predictions based on various sensors, ensuring you're not only avoiding waste but also catching any issues early.

The information you’ll have at your fingertips includes:

• Average Apartment Temperature: A consolidated metric derived from a network of sensors, it represents the collective indoor temperature, with the system capable of excluding anomalies to preserve data integrity.
• Domestic Hot Water (DHW): This metric monitors the temperature of water supplied for personal use within the building, ensuring it remains within a safe and efficient range.
• Supply and Return Line Temperature: Serving as a diagnostic tool, this measurement helps detect anomalies in the heating cycle, such as 'short-cycling' or unauthorized heating operations, by tracking the temperature of the condensate return lines.
• Coil and Stack Temperatures: These indicators provide insights into the domestic water heating process and the efficiency of the boiler's heat exchange, respectively.
• Makeup Water Usage: This graph tracks water consumption within the heating system, alerting users to potential leaks or inefficiencies.

By adopting smarter heating, you gain the ability to keep your building’s balance right: using just enough energy to maintain comfort without overdoing it, and in turn, raising your energy grade and reducing emission fines. 

Key Advantages of Adopting Smart Boiler Controls

Smart boiler controls significantly reduce energy costs, help buildings become regulatory compliant, make tenants more comfortable, and prevent catastrophic dangers for tenants and the building.

Here’s why every centrally heated building will be using a form of smart boiler control within the decade: 

Energy Efficiency and Cost Savings

Smart boiler controls typically reduce heating energy by 20-25%. With oil, gas, and steam prices increasing every year, it will not be financially tenable for buildings to continue running inefficiently. Over time, these cost savings are significant. And because smart controls are so fast to install, they often pay for themselves within the first year.

Energy Regulation Benefits

Smart boiler controls are also instrumental in navigating the complex landscape of energy regulations. 70% of a centrally heated building’s energy usage and carbon emissions from heating. For NYC's Local Law 97, simply installing a smart control will get market-rate buildings to compliance through 2024 and often through 2030. For rent-stabilized buildings, smart controls with indoor sensors represent three of 13 prescriptive (required) measures. 

The good news is that because smart controls are so energy efficient, many buildings qualify for rebates from energy companies like Con Edison and National Grid to help pay for them.

As environmental regulations tighten, smart boiler controls are becoming a requirement for most buildings. 

Remote Management and Convenience

With just a few taps on your smartphone or clicks on your computer, you can oversee and adjust heating settings from anywhere in the world. This saves you time during a busy day of juggling tenant needs and building maintenance. And the next time there’s a heating hiccup—be it in the middle of a novel or the ninth hole—you can keep doing what you’re doing without needing to rush to the boiler room.

Predictive Maintenance and System Longevity

Get alerted to issues like leaks, heating systems down, or scalding hot water before they turn into tenant complaints, expensive repairs, or worse, injuries to tenants. This proactive approach not only helps keep tenants safer and happier but prolongs the life of your boiler and saves you money.

Enhanced Tenant Comfort

With smart boiler controls, you'll maintain a steady and comfortable indoor temperature, which precisely meets the heating needs of your building. This precise temperature control leads to a reduction in heat complaints from tenants, making tenants happier and leading to less turnover. And because smart controls keep a historical record of every temperature value every 5 minutes, if a tenant does complain to the DOB or if you do get a heat complaint, you have a legal record of providing sufficient heat.

Get Started with Runwise

Runwise is the country’s first and largest smart control provider, with over 6,500 buildings using the platform. 

Most of the top property owners and managers—from the smallest to the largest, like The Related Companies and Lefrak—use Runwise because it's proven to slash fuel bills by 20-25%. The platform not only cuts costs for owners but also boosts tenant comfort and dramatically reduces carbon emissions.

Smart boiler control marks a significant milestone in our journey toward more efficient, responsive, and user-friendly heating systems. They are not just an upgrade; they are a redefinition of what it means to control the climate of our spaces.

Ready to start saving time, energy, and money? Contact Runwise today to embark on your journey toward a future where compliance with climate regulations is stress-free.