Smart Thermostats

[mik]

Ah OK - didn't realise they did that.

I am not arguing against smart setups, I was just a bit confused by Mike's problem :

> If Mike currently has no "normal" TRV's today : ignore everything below - problem understood
> If Mike has "normal" TRV's today : it should be perfectly possible to get all rooms to the same temp (unless the main stat is in an inappropriate location - ie it cuts the whole system out when some individual rooms are still below desired temp

[jamcg]

Evo home will do everything you've said there. You’ll need a valve head for every zone and the underfloor heating kit- I’ve not used this before so can’t advise on that aspect. If you’ve got a hot water cylinder you’d need the hot water kit aswell.


The way evo home works is by doing away with the traditional central thermostat and using the individual sensors on the radiator valves. You can connect a single zone wall mounted thermostat to it so that may be another option for the underfloor stuff. It does get expensive though

[jamcg]

https://heatingcontrols.honeywellhome.c ... 0Guide.pdf


That’s the installation instructions, if you want to control your underfloor as a whole you can use the evo home base unit as the temperature sensor, otherwise you’ll need an additional sensor for each zone


Also if you don’t fit anything to your bathroom radiators they will come on with any working zone.

I think aswell if your home is zoned existing, with upstairs and downstairs separate you’ll either need 2 base units or you’ll need to replumb the flows to remove the existing zone valves, but not 100% on that

[Swervin_Mervin]

Ah OK - didn't realise they did that.

I am not arguing against smart setups, I was just a bit confused by Mike's problem :

> If Mike currently has no "normal" TRV's today : ignore everything below - problem understood
> If Mike has "normal" TRV's today : it should be perfectly possible to get all rooms to the same temp (unless the main stat is in an inappropriate location - ie it cuts the whole system out when some individual rooms are still below desired temp

Mik - All existing rads are on TRVs. However, they're fairly fooked tbh (our bedroom one no longer works at all for example, but until recently only worked at all if teh TRV was set to fully open). So some of the issues are probably crappy old TRV related.

e.g. earlier this week we were sat in the south-facing lounge with the windows flat out as not only was the sun keeping it warm, but the rad was also heating as well. The thermostat is in the hall as it's generally somewhere between front and rear for temps - it's essentially the best proxy for the whole house, but at the same time still a bloody awful proxy

It's also just occurred to me that I can't zone all of upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms as there's only one circuit at present - doh . As there's no way I'm having it all re-plumbed to be separately zoned, I'd either have to get TRVs for all the rads or I guess the other option would be to have upstairs just running off a single wireless thermostat on the landing. That way I'd only have to get 2 smart TRVs for the lounge and hall.

[DeskJockey]

I've got eight evohome thermostats (plus the controller) throughout the house. Didn't bother with the bathrooms or utility room. It works well, but as Jobbo says took some time to learn the characteristics of each room.

[Jobbo]

Ah OK - didn't realise they did that.

I am not arguing against smart setups, I was just a bit confused by Mike's problem :

> If Mike currently has no "normal" TRV's today : ignore everything below - problem understood
> If Mike has "normal" TRV's today : it should be perfectly possible to get all rooms to the same temp (unless the main stat is in an inappropriate location - ie it cuts the whole system out when some individual rooms are still below desired temp

Mik - All existing rads are on TRVs. However, they're fairly fooked tbh (our bedroom one no longer works at all for example, but until recently only worked at all if teh TRV was set to fully open). So some of the issues are probably crappy old TRV related.

e.g. earlier this week we were sat in the south-facing lounge with the windows flat out as not only was the sun keeping it warm, but the rad was also heating as well. The thermostat is in the hall as it's generally somewhere between front and rear for temps - it's essentially the best proxy for the whole house, but at the same time still a bloody awful proxy

It's also just occurred to me that I can't zone all of upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms as there's only one circuit at present - doh . As there's no way I'm having it all re-plumbed to be separately zoned, I'd either have to get TRVs for all the rads or I guess the other option would be to have upstairs just running off a single wireless thermostat on the landing. That way I'd only have to get 2 smart TRVs for the lounge and hall.

You really want smart TRVs on all rads - or all but the one where the controller is, at least. If you went Evohome but only had the HR92 TRVs on half the rads in the house, it wouldn't really do what you'd paid all that money for which is whole home control. It would be easy to zone them in the controller though; you don't need separate circuits, just to set rads up together as zones.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Yeah I'm just trying to keep costs down a little at the outset tbh. If I have the wireless stat upstairs, HR92 TRVs on the 2 downstairs rads and the UFH on its controller that should enable me to at least start oit with the zoned UFH room(s), zoned hall, zoned lounge and upstairs rooms all as one "pseudo" zone.

There's 6 rads upstairs so that would save me the best part of £400 for the time being. Which I appreciate is pissing in the wind compared to overall costs but it's still not to be sniffed at! Especially as we approach the warmer months when they'll be sat idle anyway - I suspect the upstairs rooms won't even call for heat once we're into April/May

[Swervin_Mervin]

I've got eight evohome thermostats (plus the controller) throughout the house. Didn't bother with the bathrooms or utility room. It works well, but as Jobbo says took some time to learn the characteristics of each room.

Is that TRVs or stats Alex?

[Jobbo]

Keep an eye open for deals on HR92s - I ended up getting a few Euro spec ones for £40 each to complete our rads. The Euro version has an upside down display intended for use on radiators where the TRV is horizontal, but were actually quite useful for a couple of ours even mounted vertically (hidden behind furniture turned sideways, for instance). Otherwise they're identical.

The Evohome Shop is selling 4 HR92s for £209 currently (about £240 when I bought from them): https://theevohomeshop.co.uk/honeywell- ... 82557.html

ETA: Plumb Nation is just under £200 for four: https://www.plumbnation.co.uk/site/hone ... -zone-kit/

Further edit: I've found the confirmation from my original order from The Evohome Shop; they were doing a free pack of 4 HR92s with whatever starter pack I ordered, so it cost £582 for the main base unit, hot water cylinder kit, 8 HR92s and the two wireless receivers. I then added four more HR92s for £160.

[DeskJockey]

I've got eight evohome thermostats (plus the controller) throughout the house. Didn't bother with the bathrooms or utility room. It works well, but as Jobbo says took some time to learn the characteristics of each room.

Is that TRVs or stats Alex?

TRVs sorry. The 92s like Jobbo have.

[Jobbo]

I woke up this morning to no hot water. Assumed it was Evohome; I haven't replaced the batteries in the hot water wireless sensor (CS92) for a couple of years and, ridiculously, there is no warning on the Evohome base unit when the batteries are going.

After replacing them, re-binding etc it still wasn't working. It appears to be the zone valve not opening even when the receiver is manually switched on. When turning the zone valve by hand it still doesn't activate the heating pump; since we have an S-plan heating system I turned on the heating circuit and everything worked.

Irritatingly the zone valve was a new one I replaced myself in December 2017, so not a lot more than 3 years old. I wrote the date on it when I fitted it in Sharpie; glad I did, though it's not under warranty.

Anyway, I always say to check the zone valve first, didn't follow my own advice and wasted 90 minutes trying to find the fault elsewhere. Fucking zone valves. It's always the zone valves. Well, it is if they're Drayton ones, it seems - the pipework fits the Drayton quick replacement valves. When I do any work on the pipes, I'm changing the valves to a different brand in order not to be tied to the Drayton ones.

In fact, fuck Drayton - the Wiser didn't work for me so I returned it and their zone valves don't last!

[Simon]

I fitted two new Honeywell zone valves a couple of years ago. One failed in less than 2 months. Can't trust anyone nowadays.

[Jobbo]

It was the zone valve.

I didn't help myself though; I turned on the immersion heater but for some reason I had removed the fuse from the output so my backup solution didn't do any heating Realised after an hour or so and had a tepid shower before heading to Screwfix. It takes a long time for a 250l water cylinder to heat with a single immersion heater

[McSwede]

My Drayton Wiser works beautifully

Sprayed all my smart TRV's Matt black to match the cast iron rads too. Handy having a rattle can I bought when doing up the mx5. A superb match

[Jobbo]

You’ll curse it when it fucks up

[jamcg]

I fitted two new Honeywell zone valves a couple of years ago. One failed in less than 2 months. Can't trust anyone nowadays.

There’s 2 different Honeywell valves, ones absolute shite and the others a time proven great design. Why they still make both is beyond me.

Unfortunately zone valves are always the weak link in any s/y plan system

[Jobbo]

Do you know if they are happy sitting in stock for a few years? I think I ought to have a spare rather than relying on Screwfix when they fail.

[jamcg]

Do you know if they are happy sitting in stock for a few years? I think I ought to have a spare rather than relying on Screwfix when they fail.

Should be fine as long as you keep it somewhere dry.

[Simon]

I fitted two new Honeywell zone valves a couple of years ago. One failed in less than 2 months. Can't trust anyone nowadays.

There’s 2 different Honeywell valves, ones absolute shite and the others a time proven great design. Why they still make both is beyond me.

Now there's a statement that definitely needs more detail. Any links?

[jamcg]

Where the actuator head fits on- one has a round mount, one has a square mount. The round one is terrible, the square one much better. If you’ve had one of that type fail after only a couple of months you’ve just had a dodgy valve, should be replaced under warranty