What heating controls are, and why they save anything at all
Heating controls are the timer, the thermostats and the valves. They decide when the heating runs and which rooms get it, and they save money by not heating an empty house.
What actually gets fitted
A day's work by a plumber and an electrician, and afterwards the heating does what you tell it. The pieces are dull and they matter.
The house gets split into at least two zones that run separately — the radiators and the hot water — and in a bigger house you can split upstairs from downstairs as well. Every radiator gets a valve with a number on it, so a spare bedroom can sit at 15 while the sitting room sits at 20. A timer that holds a full week goes in, so Saturday isn't Tuesday. And the boiler gets wired so it only fires when something is actually calling for heat.
If there is an old copper cylinder in the hot press, it gets a timer, a thermostat and a lagging jacket at the same time.
Compared with a typical old set-up
| What's often there now | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Zones | one — heat the water, heat the house, or both | at least two, run separately |
| Room by room | one thermostat in the hall, or none | a valve with a number on every radiator |
| The timer | on, off, and a boost button | a week's schedule, different every day |
| Hot water in summer | fire the whole boiler for one tank | heat the tank on its own, to a set temperature |
| The boiler | runs whenever the timer says | runs only when something calls for heat |
| Empty rooms | heated with the rest | turned down and left |
SEAI put the gain at up to 20% of the energy the system uses. That is a share of the bill, so the money it's worth depends on how dear your heat is now: a unit of heat costs about 14.4c on gas and 18.0c on oil.
Grant €700 regardless of property type. SEAI median cost €3,500 for a semi-detached and €4,646 for an apartment, so the grant covers a fifth of a typical job. Home must have been built and occupied before 2011. Not available alongside a heat pump system grant. Amounts verified 2026-09-07.
Is it right for a house like yours?
Your cert may say B2 — that's a B on the new scale.
A heat pump runs on electricity. Pick "Heat pump" if you have one.
A 1990s detached house on oil, rated CEnergy rating C
- Grants you’d get
- €12,500
- It costs about
- €16,500
- You pay
- €4,000 – €4,500
- Saves you each year
- about €820
- Pays for itself in
- about 7 years
The commonest home on file — 47,829 like it. Change an answer above for yours.
Modelled, not observed payments. Middle case €4,519; a quarter of these homes are over €8,930. Repaid in 7–13.4 years. Confidence 0.9.
Show what’s included
This is the job list that suits most homes like yours (4 in 10). The money above is the middle of every route we priced, so it will not add up to this list exactly.
Is the house warm enough to hold the heat? — SEAI's test before they'll fund a heat pump. The insulation steps are usually what gets you through.
Heat Loss Indicator ≤ 2.3 W/K·m² after fabric works. 29% of homes like yours already pass. Assessment about €276, grant €350 through a One-Stop-Shop.
Costs about €280 · grant €350 · the grant covers it
Heat pump — replaces the boiler, runs on electricity, pulls heat from the outside air. An outdoor unit the size of a large suitcase, bigger radiators in some rooms, three to five days. Runs cooler for longer — the house feels even, not blasted.
Air-to-water, SPF 3.5 heating / 2.5 hot water. Cost €16,832 · grant €6,500 + €4,000 (replacing oil/gas/coal) + €2,000 pipework + €700 controls = up to €13,200 · you pay from €3,632. 9.8c per kWh of heat vs gas 14.4c / oil 18.0c.
Costs about €16,500 · grant €6,500 · you pay €10,000
The paperwork — assessment first, grant approval, then the work, then a new energy cert, then the grant is paid. A One-Stop-Shop does all of it and takes the grant off the bill.
Order is mandatory — work started before approval is not eligible. Energy cert €276, assessment grant €350 through a One-Stop-Shop. Typically 3–6 months end to end (estimate).
Costs about €280 · grant €350 · the grant covers it
Where the saving comes from
Nothing here makes heat any cheaper. Controls save by making less of it.
Most of the waste in an old system is heat that went somewhere nobody was: a whole house warmed to get one room comfortable, a full tank heated in July for one shower, the heating running for an hour after everyone left. Zones and valves end that. So does the boiler interlock, which stops a boiler cycling on and off to keep itself warm when no radiator is asking for anything.
It is the cheapest thing on this list after the attic, and the only one where what you do afterwards changes the answer. Set every valve to maximum and put the timer on all day and you'll have spent the money for nothing.
No published cell on this site has heating controls in its cheapest grant-eligible route to a B, so no modelled saving or repayment time is shown for it here — the model reaches the target more cheaply by other means, and it does not model how a household uses a timer. SEAI's "up to 20%" is their figure, read on seai.ie 8 September 2026.
Common questions
- How do I know if my controls are poor?
- SEAI have a short test. Can you heat the hot water without turning on the radiators? Can you turn on the heating without heating the water? Can you set different times on different days? Is there a separate thermostat on the cylinder? A no to any of those means there is something to gain here.
- Is this just a smart thermostat?
- No, and this is where people get caught. An app on your phone that turns the same old system on and off is not what the grant is for. The work is zones — space heating and hot water controlled separately, at least two of them — plus thermostatic valves on the radiators and a timer that can hold a week's schedule. The app is optional.
- Can I get this and a heat pump?
- Not on the individual grants. SEAI say the controls grant is not available if you are applying for, or have already claimed, a heat pump system grant — a heat pump comes with its own controls. If you are going the whole-house route through a One Stop Shop, controls are part of that package instead.
Where to next
Where this comes from
Last checked 2026-09-08.