Description :      Program schedules allow you to specify which times of the day you want your heating to come on and to what temperature you would like it to maintain your house. The iT500 system comes with some pre-set default program schedules which you can use as is, or easily change to meet your personal requirements.

Types of Schedules :   

The iT500 system has three different methods in which you can program schedules. 

All :                          The first option allows you to define a set of times and temperatures for a program schedule that will run all week. It will perform the same schedule routine every day of the week.

5/2 :                        The second option defines two sets of program schedules. One set of times and temperatures will be used for the week period (Monday to Friday) and another separate set that will be used only at the Weekend, hence 5 / 2. 

Individual :              The last option lets you define a program schedule for each day of the week individually, so you can have your heating come on at different times and at different temperatures every day.

The Schedules :      For the Central Heating, each program schedule contains 6 start times and 6 set points to define your required temperature. 

The start times must be set sequentially, so each must be set at a later time than the one before. ie. program 2 must have a later start time than program 1. Failure to do so causes conflicts and will prevent your thermostat from following the schedule making it appear to not be working correctly.

                                Temperature setpoints can be set for each of the program start times.

                                For the Hot Water, each day or group of days has up to 3 program On and Off times that can be set. These must also be set sequentially, ie. the Off time for Program 1 must be later than the On time for Program 1, and the Off time for Program 2 must be later than the On time for Program 2. Again, failure to set programs sequentially will cause conflicts and make your thermostat appear to be faulty.

Days :                      On the iT500 Thermostat the days of the week appear as numbers where 1 is Monday and 7 is Sunday. Groups for the week, for example are shown as 1-2-3-4-5 and weekends are shown as 6-7.

                                On the iT500 Plus App, the days of the week are shown by their corresponding start letter ie. M for Monday, T for Tuesday etc.

Operation :             Your iT500 thermostat works in a manner where the program schedules maintain a series of temperatures that you set throughout the day, unlike the old central heating programmers that had defined On and Off times.

                                Therefore, when you set a temperature setpoint your heating will turn on to reach the setpoint and then periodically turn on and off to maintain that temperature until the next defined setpoint temperature.

                                For example, if your first setpoint of the day is at 22’C and your second at say 11am is set to 20’C then at 11am your heating will allow your room to cool down from 22’C to 20’C. If your room falls below 20’C then your heating will turn back on to enable the room to be kept at that temperature even if the third setpoint is not until 5pm when you want your heating to come back up to say 22’C. So even though your second setpoint is the lowest, it is not an ‘Off’ time and your heating will keep turning on and off to maintain the minimum temperature of 20’C that you set.

Examples :              Below are some examples of program schedules on the App with an explanation of how they operate.

This example may be used by a household who are out at work during the day.

06:30   The heating comes on and warms the house to 20’C for waking up and getting ready for work.

08:30   Having left for work, the house is now allowed to cool to a temperature of 15’C to save energy.

16:30   The temperature is increased to 20’C so the house is not cold when returning home.

19:00   The temperature outside has dropped and everyone is now home from work, so the house is made more comfortable for a relaxing evening.

22:30   The house is now allowed to cool for a comfortable night’s sleep.

This example may be used by a retired household who are in the house during the day.

08:00    The heating comes on and warms the house to    21’C for waking up.

12:00    The heating is still set to maintain the temperature of 21’C to keep the house comfortable throughout the day.

17:00    The temperature is increased to 23’C so the house is warm as the temperature drops in the evening.

21:00    The temperature is allowed to start to cool to make it comfortable for sleeping.

23:00   Having gone to bed the house is now allowed to cool to a minimum temperature for the night to save energy.

Below is an example of a common mistake made in the program schedules which makes it appear that the thermostat is not working and is randomly turning the heating On and Off.

In this example the common mistake made is that the user is trying to emulate the ON and then OFF times of a programmer but has not set the ‘OFF’ times to a low enough temperature.

They therefore think that the heating will turn On at 06:00 until 09:00 at which point it will switch Off until the next setpoint at 12:00. Then again, they think the heating will be ‘On’ until 13:30 when it is again switched ‘Off’ until 18:00 and so on.

They are then surprised when the heating is turning On and Off randomly all through the day. In actual fact the thermostat will not let the room fall below 20’C and so will keep turning on the heating to maintain that temperature.

If you want the heating to turn off for a period of time you need to set the effective ‘Off’ temperature to be well below the normal room temperature for example 14’C as shown in the last setting for the night.