"The" Intelligent Heating Company

Introduction

The Intelligent Heating Company (IHC°) was started in October 2008 when we researched a controllable heating system to add to the portfolio of our existing Home Automation business. We wanted to find a product that addressed the shortcomings of the current heating systems on offer. The brief was simple; the product needed to be affordable, easy to use, easy to install and cost effective to run.

What we found was Farho radiators.

Guaranteed for 10 years and with over 30 years experience Farho have sold millions of their product in Europe.

Affordable

The cost of purchasing & installing a traditional “wet” (gas or oil) central heating in a 3 bedroom semi detached family home is typically between €10K and €12K. The cost of purchasing and installing our system is typically €5K- €6K. Add to this the cost of servicing a boiler and it could take up to ten years to recoup the cost of a “wet system”, if gas or oil prices remain the same.
The nature of our product offers you flexible purchasing power, giving you control and peace of mind because the radiators can be added to at any time with the minimum amount of fuss, so whether you need to boost your existing central heating and buy the units individually or install a complete solution, the control over what you spend is yours.

Easy to use

The radiators are made from lightweight and maintenance free aluminium. The main difference between the ranges is that it can be controlled centrally by a wall mounted pilot wire programmer, or using the XP range and the" LIFE CONTROL” system, you can control each individual radiator/room/zone in a very easy way without wires. You can even control the system from your mobile phone. You can also limit the amount of power used in the heating system and you can program the system on a weekly basis to suit the different parts of the house. The Farho unit’s regulate the temperature themselves so you don’t have to constantly be aware of the weather or other variables. You can set it and forget it.

Cost effective to run

FARHO gives more heat than any other product on the market. Each fin has an electrical consumption of 110 w per hour and at the same time the heat output is of 175 w per hour. The secret lies in the patented way the radiators are manufactured. This process allows for the rads to make a thermal jump of 60 ºC thus giving a heat output of 175 w per hour per fin. (Technical Data Sheet, available on request) The unit has a number of key features that make it so efficient. The unit is filled with a heat retaining fluid that heats fast and cools very slowly, therefore the system does not need to be on all the time to give heat. Also the unit monitors itself and the surroundings and controls the temperature and electricity it requires. This means that it does not waste energy by overheating a room, or allow the room to get so cold as to have to run for long periods to reheat the area. The Farho unit makes small inputs to keep the temperature constant.

In the following example, the desired temperature is 12 hours at 21ºC and 12 hours at 17ºC. Given that some days are colder than others we can average out the running times. On very cold days the system will work for 10 hours per day, and some other warmer days it will work just 2 hours per day. During a winter, the consumption would be approx. 5/6 hours per day on average. However, in this case, as the room requires only 1775W and the Farho unit is capable of providing 150 watts surplus heating capacity, it will probably work for only 5 hours on average throughout the winter.

Easy to install (Low Disruption)

The units are quick and easy to install as they require only a fused spur. The element on the bottom of the radiator is double insulated, allowing the unit to be installed on a ring without earth. This means that a qualified electrician can install the unit in typically under 30 mins (depending on existing infrastructure) With no pipes and no boiler comes low disruption, no floors needing to be taken up or major redecorating to be carried out after the install, all of which saves you money. If in the unlikely event a unit fails the disruption is minimised by the fact the remaining units will continue to function and the faulty unit can be replaced in the time it takes to remove the old unit and rewire the new one. If a fault occurs with a traditional “wet system” the whole system is typically affected and a costly and disruptive investigation may be required to remedy the problem. One last point to consider is that the units can be taken off the wall to allow access to redecorate or can be placed in another location easily if necessary. This would impossible or cost prohibitive with other systems.

Environment & New Building Regulations

The reality is that fossil fuel reserves are finite and are being consumed at an ever increasing rate and as they become scarcer, prices will continue to rise, a fact that we have been witness to this year. In our modern world everything in our homes and businesses uses electricity. It is hard to imagine electricity becoming obsolete in our generation. How it is produced may change but the supply will continue. Farho radiators run on any supply of electricity however it is produced. According to Building Regulations Part L, it is no longer acceptable to control the whole house from a single temperature controller, (single zone) or to heat the whole house all day while many rooms are not in use. It is a waste of energy and money while contributing to the “greenhouse” gas effect, which in turn contributes to global warming. It is worth noting that Storage heaters use approx 1/3 more electricity than they put out in heat so in order to heat an area the units that are typically installed are more than double the capacity required. Although the electricity is discounted the impact on the environment is very high due to the inefficiencies.

	Farho radiators combine many of the advantages of other heating systems
	FARHO radiators represent the fruits of several years’ research in the field of heating. They are characterised by combining the majority of the advantages of current systems given that they employ the most reliable features in terms of optimal heat emission (aluminium radiators) and energy source (electricity). As a result of their high level of heat transmission by radiation and convection, they provide excellent heat performance, making the most of the electricity consumed.
The aluminium radiation elements are identical to those that are used for water heating, thus they offer numerous advantages:
	They are static, light, east to fit and do not change with time, thus they are conservation and maintenance free.
	They provide a high level of heat emission, some 150 kcal/h per element.
	Several sizes can be manufactured in order to fit in with room size, which enables the client to have direct and instantaneous heating in all rooms, strictly adjusted to his or her real heating requirements at any given moment in time.