The thermostat: one per room, and that is all there is to set.

What it does

The thermostat measures the room temperature. Below the set temperature, it powers the film; as soon as that temperature is reached, it switches it off. According to the manufacturer, the gap between the two is half a degree.

There is nothing else to set: no flow temperature, no balancing, no boiler. This room-by-room control is one of the reasons the manufacturer gives for a short running time: 40 to 90 minutes a day on average over the year according to its page on main heating, 1 to 2 hours a day depending on the building according to its technical data.

In France, a programmable thermostat is becoming compulsory in all homes: for new buildings whose permit is applied for from 1 January 2027, and on 1 January 2030 for existing homes. It must offer at least four settings: comfort, setback, frost protection and off. The manufacturer’s is programmed by the week, room by room, with an economy mode and a frost protection mode.

What the manufacturer’s thermostat can do

Where to put it

• On an internal wall, between 1.2 and 1.5 m from the floor.
• Away from windows, doors, air vents and direct sunlight: it would measure something other than the room.
• Outside wet areas. In a bathroom, it goes out of reach of splashes, or in the hallway.

One circuit per room

Each room has at least one heating circuit, on its own electrical line, protected at the consumer unit. A thermostat switches 16 A at most, that is about 3.6 kW: around thirty square metres of film at 115 W/m², around twenty at 180 W/m². Beyond that, we fit several thermostats, or one thermostat and a contactor.

The connection and the circuit protection are an electrician’s job, to the standard of the country.

How to set it to use less

The manufacturer gives a simple rule: heat only when you are there.

• At night, and during a long absence: 17 to 18 °C.
• An absence of more than an hour: 2 to 3 °C less.
• Reheating: programmed 30 to 45 minutes before the time when the room needs to be warm.
• Never below 15 °C, and better, not below 17 °C: a room that is too cool becomes damp, and a damp room needs more energy to warm up again.

Its reasoning: the warmer a room is, the more heat it loses through its walls and windows. Turning it down when it is empty is therefore a saving, provided the heating brings it back up quickly. That is the case here, it says: there is no screed to reheat first. The French regulatory calculation does not take up this argument: on the contrary, it counts electric underfloor heating as benefiting less from temperature setbacks than convectors, without distinguishing a thin film from a cable embedded in a screed.

ADEME, the French agency for ecological transition, gives an order of magnitude: one degree less on the set temperature means on average a 7% saving on the heating bill.

The thermostat displays the consumption of each room. From the first winter, you see what your settings change. The manufacturer’s readings, building by building, are on the measured consumption page.

What it does not take care of

• Hot water. The system heats the rooms; the water has its own water heater.
• A badly sized room. The thermostat switches on and off; the output is decided at the design stage, room by room. The sequence is on the page fitting, step by step.

Updated on 9 October 2026.