BOILERS & HOT WATER
Smart valve could cut heating bills by as much as 30%
B
y replacing traditional home heating systems with a precise, ‘multi-zonal’ setup, the company claims it could save the average UK household £250 or more per year, at a time of ever-increasing
energy costs. Hydrohertz is led by chief executive Paul Arkesden, a former senior automotive engineer, and CTO, expert thermal engineer Martyn Talbot. Its patented Dectravalve is a digitally controlled valve the size of a fizzy drinks can that slots into a domestic heating system near to the boiler. Controlled by a simple to use app, it directs heat precisely where it is needed at a given time, using the minimum amount of energy possible. Mr Arkesden said: “When designing Dectravalve we set out to revolutionise home heating with an elegantly simple, truly agile solution – one that addresses the long-standing issue of home heat loss, dramatically boosting both control and efficiency. We adopted a ‘clean slate’ approach, applying the very latest developments in automotive thermal management to create a truly next-generation solution that will transform how we heat our homes. Along with its improved functionality, this solution has the potential to meaningfully reduce energy consumption, and to ease concerns around the cost of living for households around the UK, especially during a time of ever rising energy costs.” This super-efficient setup is a dramatic
improvement on traditional home heating systems, where long networks of pipes snake through multiple rooms, wasting energy and money. Dectravalve is also strikingly simple, without the complex installation and often troublesome wiring usually associated with existing smart heating systems, while being technology agnostic and can be applied to both gas boiler systems and homes with heat pumps.
British start up Hydrohertz has revealed an innovation called Dectravalve, that has the potential to cut home heating bills, and associated emissions, by as much as 30%, the company says
How it works
This solution is digitally controlled via an app and fed information via sensors around the house. It enables a home to be heated more efficiently and with precise room level control, using only
the minimum of energy needed to get a room up to the desired temperature. Mr Talbot said: “Traditional home heating systems are far from efficient, they are a bit like turning on all the lights in a house, even if you just want to light a single room. And existing smart heating systems are overly complex, with involved installation and endless wiring. We wanted to create something simple, but effective. Our sensor controlled zonal system fed by the Dectravalve, delivers a new-found level of efficiency and flexibility, while also being straightforward to install and use.” While a conventional domestic heating setup typically comprises one or two inefficient long plumbed ‘loops’, Dectravalve splits the home into multiple, continuously monitored zones. As it is scalable, the precise number of zones can be tailored depending on the number of rooms and the layout of the house. So the user has total flexibility and control. Mr Talbot continued: “In a traditional setup, a longer network of connected pipes would run throughout the home, with all the water in the network being heated - even if you only want to heat one or two rooms. In most scenarios, it’s not efficient at all, as you’re heating more water than you need to, using more energy, and increasing bills as a result. The water is also travelling further than it needs to, adding to heat loss, and you’re also taking longer to get rooms up to temperature. “With Dectravalve, each zone is fed by a shorter, dedicated heating loop running directly from the boiler - where Dectravalve is located - with the flow through it constantly adjusted depending on the requirements of the room, which is in turn monitored by a cost-effective, simple sensor the size of a pound coin that you fit to the wall. So, you can just heat the rooms that you want to, saving energy and money.” As each zone’s loop is shorter, a lower volume of water is heated, with this then travelling a shorter distance from the boiler to a given room. If heating a specific room in a conventional home heating system, 100 litres of water might need to be heated to send around a longer loop. With this system, only around 10% of that water needs to be heated, because of the shorter loop.
Savings when heating the entire home
Mr Talbot added: “For example, when heating a two-storey house, the top floor may be at temperature but the rooms on the ground floor are not, so Dectravalve will shut off the flow of heat to the top floor, while continuing to heat the colder ground floor. It means that energy is not wasted keeping the radiators blazing in rooms already at temperature. It can also do this on a room-by-room basis, again, ensuring that you only use the energy you need to.” The system’s digital brain also learns over time, optimising heating patterns and how it apportions energy to take into account room size, the length of time taken to heat a specific room, heat loss rate of rooms and more. Specific target temperatures can also be set for each room; it offers revelatory control and brings energy, and money saving, benefits. What’s more, the solution can also automatically shift heating schedules to work with the cheapest tariffs – especially relevant for heat pump-equipped homes.
8 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER AUGUST 2026
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