A thermostat isn't climate yet
In a typical "smart" apartment, climate means a thermostat on the wall: too cold — heating on, too hot — heating off. But real comfort is made of more: temperature, humidity, air freshness, floor heating, ventilation — all working in concert, not pulling in different directions.
In our country house project, climate is a single system that simultaneously manages heating, cooling, ventilation and humidification — for every zone independently.
Zones instead of "average temperature across the house"
Every room has its own setpoint and its own mode: cooler in the bedroom, warmer in the study, and the home cinema keeps its own microclimate for long sessions. The system knows the temperature of every zone and manages each one independently.
The home switches between winter and summer modes: heating works in winter, cooling in summer — and they never fight each other (the classic failure of badly tuned systems: the AC cooling what the floor heating is warming). The selected mode even survives a system reboot — state is persisted.
Equipment protection nobody thinks about
A detail you won't find in glossy brochures: an air conditioner's compressor must not be jerked around — frequent on/off cycles kill it within a couple of seasons. Our system enforces a protective interval between switches: even when the temperature dances around the setpoint, the equipment never runs ragged. The same job is done by hysteresis — a "dead zone" around the target temperature where the system ignores minor fluctuations.
Floor heating is controlled asymmetrically: the on-threshold and off-threshold are set separately, because a floor has enormous inertia — it keeps radiating long after shutdown. Plus anti-chatter protection: the floor cannot switch more often than a set interval.
Ventilation that breathes with the home
The air handling unit is a hero of its own. It watches:
- CO₂ — the room gets stuffy, more people inside → ventilation intensity rises
- VOC (volatile organic compounds) — odours, fumes → time to air out
- Temperature and humidity — indoors, outdoors and in the supply duct
- Its own health — filter pressure drop and an hour counter flag the replacement in advance, not when breathing gets hard
The unit is integrated with humidification: the home holds the target humidity automatically — critical in winter, when heating dries the air.
What it changes day to day
- The home is always comfortable — no manual juggling of AC, floor and windows
- Equipment lives longer: the system protects compressors and boilers from ragged cycles
- Bills are lower: ventilation runs hard only when needed, not 24/7 at maximum
- You learn about filter replacement from a notification — not from stale air
The technical side
Zone control runs over the KNX bus; the ventilation unit and sensors speak MQTT; everything converges into one control loop on a local server. No clouds: climate logic works without internet. Every zone's parameters — setpoints, hysteresis, protective intervals — are configuration, not firmware.