Thermium Frequently Asked Questions


Q - What is Ecovena Thermium?
A - Ecovena Thermium is a building control system that saves energy in Multi Unit Residential Buildings. (MURBS)

Q - What does Ecovena Thermium Do?
A - Ecovena Thermium manages and controls heat energy usage in buildings to ensure comfortable tenants and to reduce energy waste. Thermium transparently limits excessive usage, ensures tenant comfort, and provides a complete dashboard and reporting interface to manage energy spend.

Ecovena Thermium installs typically save 20-35% on energy bills, and often pay back in less than two years.

Q - How is Ecovena Thermium Installed?
A - Most Ecovena Thermium installations involve putting a small control box in each building unit (apartment), and a single control unit in a building mechanical room. Installation in each unit is low impact, and takes approximately one hour.

Q - What does an Ecovena Thermium install look like?
A - In many cases, the in-unit control box is installed out of sight in a closet or storage area. The control box communicates wirelessly and requires no drilling or fishing of wires. When installed in a visible area, the Ecovena Thermium control box can be flush mounted into drywall and resembles a small speaker grill.

Thermium also incorporates a building control unit that can be installed in any location, usually a building mechanical room. It is approximately the size of a paperback book and requires no maintenance.

Q - What heating systems can Ecovena Thermium work with?
A - Ecovena Thermium can work with most heating systems, using either Electricity or fossil fuels, and using in-unit electric heating or hydronic radiator systems. Thermium is compatible with high voltage controls, low voltage controls, and pneumatic systems.

Thermium can control electric baseboard heaters, hydronic radiators, fan coils, in-ceiling or in-floor heating, pneumatic systems, as well as many proprietary heaters such as ConvectAir wall mount units.

Thermium can also be installed in buildings without previous local control, updating units where tenants previously did not have suite-level temperature control.

Q - Is Ecovena Thermium Compatible with Submetering?
A - Yes! Ecovena Thermium makes an excellent complement to Tenant Submetering. In most jurisdictions, heat must be provided by the landlord. For this reason, only the "plugs and lights" usage can be metered to allow costs to be passed on to the tenant. This somewhat encourages tenants to save energy, but is only a partial solution.

By encouraging energy savings through tenant submetering, and reducing heat energy usage through Ecovena Thermium, the lowest possible operating and energy costs can be obtained.

Q - Can my existing building control system be upgraded to Ecovena Thermium?
A - Ecovena Thermium can interface with existing Building Automation Systems (BAS). Thermium can communicate with existing Modbus, BACnet, and LonWorks systems. Ecovena Thermium can also be retrofitted to upgrade Demtroys or K3D Heat Management systems.

Q - Is Ecovena Thermium eligible for Energy Rebates?
A - Ecovena Thermium installs are fully eligible for rebates programs from most Energy Providers. Ecovena will cheerfully assist in the measurement and application processes. Ecovena customers have received large rebates from the Ontario SaveOnEnergy program, Quebec Hydro, Enbridge Gas, and many others.

Q - What does the Ecovena Thermium cloud interface provide?
A - The Ecovena Thermium cloud interface provides suite-level monitoring and management of all parameters, such as current temperature, energy usage, and system status. Individual tenants needs can be accommodated, and changes made through the interface become effective immediately.

The Ecovena cloud interface is available anywhere form any internet connected device, and can be configured to provide multiple levels of access for different staff requirements. (Example: Read only access, report-only access, or full control)

Q - What does the Ecovena Thermium alerting interface provide?
A - The Ecovena Thermium alerting interface can be configured to alert building staff of potentially expensive or dangerous situations. Human safety issues such as excessively high or low unit temperatures can alert building staff. As well, low temperatures that might cause freeze-up conditions can be triggered and acted upon before expensive damage occurs.