RA PLUS-w Radiator Thermostat from Danfoss Communicates via Z-Wave

Controlling heating intelligently and saving energy costs

12. February 2008 - Danfoss, a vendor of thermal and refrigeration engineering, has with RA PLUS-w introduced a Z-Wave based radiator thermostat into the market providing for location and time independent heating control for the entire house. Using this innovative device home and apartment owners can also „remotely“ control the temperature in their rooms and by doing so save on energy costs. The thermostat can be linked into a whole home control network by means of Z-Wave enabling it to be controlled, via PCs, PDAs, remote controls, mobile phones, or over the Internet. The RA-Plus-w is sold as part of home automation solutions from manufacturers such as Merten, Innovus, Electronic Housekeeper and others.

Heating is one of the biggest energy consumers while also an essential part of living comfort. However, the rapidly increasing energy prices are compelling house and flat owners to carry out saving measures particularly in older buildings. According to the heating index in Germany the cost of fuel oil has, increased by 44.3 per cent and the cost of gas by 57.8 per cent since the year 2000. Energy conservation has become a financial imperative for most homeowners.

Same comfort at reduced heat output
Even reducing the room temperature by 1 degree saves as much as 6 per cent of the energy costs. The radiator heating thermostat developed by Danfoss provides for reducing the room temperature by 3 degrees at fixed intervals during the day. The Z-Wave chip integrated into the thermostats additionally provides for linking the device into the home control network. Using Z-Wave RF, technology the RA PLUS-w can communicate with other Z-Wave devices enabling remote management of heating control, via a centralized web interface. Since this can be applied via the Internet users can take control from outside the home and manage their home energy usage based on their changing schedules or remotely adjust the thermostat to ensure that their vacation home is comfortable when they arrive. A living room can, for instance, remain warm over the day while the bedroom is heated to a pleasant temperature just before going to bed and again at the time to get up. The RA PLUS-w can be mounted with old as well as with new radiator heating valves. The device features a mechanical freeze-protection mechanism preventing the „freezing“ of a room, even if the battery ever ran down. Given that there are more than one billion radiator heater thermostats currently installed, upgrading to the RA PLUS-w would provide energy-saving on a significant scale.

Graphical material is available for download under the following link: http://raplusw.com

Information on Danfoss:
Eva Kühne
Danfoss Comfort Controls
Phone: +45 7488 8033
E-mail: eva.kuhne@danfoss.com

PR-Agency:
Sprengel & Partner GmbH
Nisterstraße 3
D-56472 Nisterau

Fabian Sprengel
Tel.: +49 (26 61) 912 600
Fax: +49 (26 61) 912 6013
f.sprengel@sup-pr.de

About Danfoss
Danfoss Heating Division offers components and solutions for generation, distribution, and use of heat for comfort and energy savings in residential buildings. Our six business units are market leading within heat pumps, floor heating, district heating, comfort controls, water controls and burner components. With a strong internal focus on market oriented innovation, we believe that Danfoss Heating is well positioned to continue its fast growth. Our divisional headquarters is situated in Nordborg, Denmark, with manufacturing facilities and sales organisations located all around the world. Altogether, we are approx. 5,200 people worldwide and with revenues of more than DKK 5.5 billion.

About Z-Wave
Z-Wave® is the first technology to bring affordable, reliable and easy-to-use wireless control to every aspect of daily life – the home, consumer electronics, healthcare, and energy use, to name a few. Z-Wave is an award-winning, proven and interoperable wireless mesh networking technology that allows a wide array of devices in and around the home to communicate including lighting, appliances, HVAC, entertainment centers, and security systems. Z-Wave brings many benefits to everyday life including remote home monitoring, home healthcare, safety and security, and energy conservation. Z-Wave certified products are currently available from leading consumer brands in more than 225 products. Z-Wave is the recipient of the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award in the wireless category, and the CNET “Best of CES Award” in the enabling technologies category. For more information about Z-Wave please visit
www.z-wave.com

Z-Wave® is a registered trade mark of Zensys, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

This release was published on openPR.