Smart heating guide

At St Antony’s College, we are committed to improving our sustainability and reducing our environmental impact. Most of our heating comes from burning natural gas, so we are trying to use heating more efficiently. Some of the main ways heat is wasted is by setting room temperatures too high and heating empty rooms. We need help from our students, staff, and Fellows to use energy efficiently.  

Ecosync (Roommate) smart heating has been installed in these buildings: 

Accommodation 

Office spaces 

In these rooms you will have a smart valve on your radiator. The smart valve measures the temperature in your room and controls the hot water in the radiator, keeping your room at your set temperature. This saves energy compared to traditional radiators. 

Ecosync smart heating valve attached to a radiator, a white cube with a metal strip around the outside. Test reads: wireless, retrofitted, intelligent, no battery, no maintenance.

You can control your heating through a unique QR code, which you can find on the white Roommate sticker usually above your light switch. If you are missing a sticker please fill out a maintenance request form.

This is what the sticker (usually above your light switch) looks like.

White rectangular sticker with blue polar bear logo and a QR code to control heating.

How does my smart heating work?

Smart heating saves energy by controlling the temperature of the room and scheduling when heating turns on and off. Your smart heating measures the temperature of your room and will adjust the heating to keep the temperature stable. 

When is the heating scheduled to come on? 

Student accommodation 

In student accommodation heating is scheduled Monday to Sunday. 

The heating will be on:  

You can only change the temperature setting in your room during these ‘on’ hours. If your room is colder than your set temperature, your heating will come on. 

The heating will be off: 

During these ‘off’ hours the temperature is set automatically to 17˚C. If you want to increase the temperature in your room, you can scan your QR code and tap ‘Boost for one hour’. Boosting will switch the heating back to the temperature you last set in your room. 

Office and College spaces 

The heating schedule in the Old Main Building is Monday to Friday from 6.00am to 6.00pm. Outside these hours the temperature is set automatically to 15˚C.  

If the room has user control you can override the schedule by scanning the QR code and clicking ‘Boost for one hour’. Boosting will switch the heating back to the temperature last set in the room. 

These schedules do not apply to our 24-hour study spaces. The heating is on 24/7 in the main College library, RESC reading room, breakout space, and bookable study rooms. 

How can I help the College save energy and reduce its carbon footprint? 

Natural gas burned for heating and hot water makes up around 25% of the College’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Between May 2023 and May 2024 our buildings with smart heating used 20% less heating on average compared to the previous year. 

You can help reduce energy usage by: 

Scroll down when you scan your QR code to see the leaderboard for your building. It calculates the carbon you save by reducing the temperature of your room and using the “In/Out” function. 

Smart heating FAQs

If you have an issue with your heating, please check these FAQs before reporting to maintenance.  

  • You should have a QR code sticker above your light switch if you are in one of the buildings listed above. If this is missing please fill out a maintenance request form.  
  • Do not use the small QR code on the white smart valve itself. Only the QR code on the sticker above your light switch will work. 

You should have a manual valve instead, please use this to control the heating.  

  • This is because of the heating schedule. You can change the temperature between 06.00am-11.30am and between 3.00pm-10.00pm. 
  • Use the boost function to override the heating schedule and change the temperature to your last set temperature.  

You can only control heating during the College heating season. During warmer weather (approximately June – October) the heating is turned off across the whole College.  

  • The smart heating works like a thermostat. The radiator will only come on when the temperature in the room drops below your set temperature (or 17˚C in the ‘out of hours’ times). Your room is probably warmer than the set temperature. 
  • If your room is much colder than the set temperature or below 17˚C consistently there could be an issue with the boiler or heating system. Please fill out a maintenance request. 
  • This is because the heating is scheduled to turn off when heating is least commonly used to help the College save energy. Check the smart heating guide for the schedule. 
  • Use the 1-hour boost function to override the schedule. Scan the QR code and click ‘Boost for one hour’. Your radiator will come on if the room is colder than the temperature you last set in the app.  

This could be a mechanical issue with the valve, please report the issue to maintenance. 

  • The boost function raises the set temperature from 17˚C to your last set temperature. If your room is warmer than your last set temperature your radiator won’t heat up. 
  • It can take a while for the hot water to move from the boiler to your radiator in big buildings. Try boosting again after 30 minutes if your room still feels cold. 
  • Some of our older buildings will struggle to reach the temperature you set during cold snaps due to insulation, radiator size, and boiler capacity. 
  • You might have to take steps to increase temperature such as closing curtains at sunset and opening at sunrise to maximise heat from the sun.  

This could be an issue with the boiler. Please report this with the maintenance request form.  

  • Your set temperature may be too high. Try reducing the temperature by 1-2 degrees.  
  • Opening windows while the heating is on wastes energy and increases carbon emissions. If you reduce the set temperature the system should update and turn the radiators off or down. 

As these are shared spaces they have a set temperature and are not controlled by individual users.