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Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 6:16 am
by Jobbo
We have a combi boiler (I know…) but I do plan to add an unvented electric cylinder to serve half the house when we have had solar installed. So again I can add the hot water control at that point.
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 7:55 am
by jamcg
I’d be more tempted to have a standard unvented installed, and if the combi isn’t too old remove the hot water elements and use it as a system boiler, you still get an immersion you can add solar control to, without it costing you in winter when there’s shorter days and days with little to no solar gain
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 8:52 am
by Jobbo
Yes, I'd definitely prefer a normal unvented cylinder which feeds the whole house - but in terms of pipework and the boiler location that's probably not feasible. The boiler is an oil-fired external Worcester Greenstar Heatslave 25-32kW combi which as far as I can ascertain can't be converted to a system boiler (unlike the Grant at our old house) and would cost a fortune to replace so that is staying. The house quite neatly splits into two as well, the old bit having a cupboard ideal for a cylinder feeding the kitchen sink, one bathroom and an en-suite, and the existing combi feeding three en-suites and utility room. That gives us resilience if the combi ever fails on a dark winter morning. I might consider getting a normal unvented cylinder but not connecting the boiler feed, just in case we ever did change the boiler. Having two smaller (say 200l) cylinders at different ends of the house is probably the best way to arrange things; can simply not turn one on when the kids aren't around.
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 10:23 am
by jamcg
No need for a conversion as such, just disconnect the water from it, and take that to the cylinder, then pipe it up as a standard s plan. The boiler will work as is, just with many redundant parts. Bit rough but it works
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 10:39 am
by Jobbo
I think that jeopardises the extended warranty cover but will consider it...
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2024 9:50 am
by Jobbo
Amazon bumped the price of the Evohome controller/BDR91 up by £20 just as I was deciding to go for Evohome. My wife has said that she finally understood the controller when we moved, so she's happy to have it again. So I've been waiting for Amazon's dynamic pricing to bounce back down or for a Black Friday deal. But nothing yet.
So I had a look at other suppliers and remembered that I got a good deal with my original Evohome installation by buying a bundle. And I have found a pack with the controller, BDR91 and 6 of the simpler radiator valves for £438 delivered, so that's now on its way. The cheapest I'd seen the TRVs in multi-packs worked out as £45 each; if I value them at that, the base controller and BDR91 works out at £168 so this is the best deal I've seen. Buying a pack with more TRVs doesn't work out as well, oddly.
The bigger expense will be getting a plumber in to fit TRV bodies to each radiator that doesn't have one... but I'll worry about that when it's installed. I'm definitely sticking to passive TRVs for the bedrooms to avoid the opening and closing noises.
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2024 10:49 am
by jamcg
Jobbo wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 9:50 am
Amazon bumped the price of the Evohome controller/BDR91 up by £20 just as I was deciding to go for Evohome. My wife has said that she finally understood the controller when we moved, so she's happy to have it again. So I've been waiting for Amazon's dynamic pricing to bounce back down or for a Black Friday deal. But nothing yet.
So I had a look at other suppliers and remembered that I got a good deal with my original Evohome installation by buying a bundle. And I have found a pack with the controller, BDR91 and 6 of the simpler radiator valves for £438 delivered, so that's now on its way. The cheapest I'd seen the TRVs in multi-packs worked out as £45 each; if I value them at that, the base controller and BDR91 works out at £168 so this is the best deal I've seen. Buying a pack with more TRVs doesn't work out as well, oddly.
The bigger expense will be getting a plumber in to fit TRV bodies to each radiator that doesn't have one... but I'll worry about that when it's installed. I'm definitely sticking to passive TRVs for the bedrooms to avoid the opening and closing noises.
How old are the trvs in the bedrooms? Worth considering having them changed at the same time as the others, yes it’ll add expense but will be cheaper whilst drained down than changing them at a later date
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2024 11:21 am
by Jobbo
If we're changing them I'll probably change the existing ones too - they are probably all 10+ years old.
Is it the valve bodies or the heads which benefit from being replaced as they age?
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2024 8:50 pm
by jamcg
Jobbo wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 11:21 am
If we're changing them I'll probably change the existing ones too - they are probably all 10+ years old.
Is it the valve bodies or the heads which benefit from being replaced as they age?
Both. Heads fail with hardening or liquifying wax in them, and the bodies start allowing water past when the head closes- they come as a set anyway
I always recommend new bodies with smart trvs for the passing reason and if they go stiff it makes the heads work harder, at best the batteries don’t last 5 mins and at worst it kills the head
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2024 9:52 am
by simon_g
£173.41 in the Amazon Prime deals for the Evohome controller & BDR91.
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2024 11:44 am
by Jobbo
simon_g wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 9:52 am
£173.41 in the Amazon Prime deals for the Evohome controller & BDR91.
Spotted that. In the bundle I got it worked out at £150ish but Amazon have reduced the price of the basic Evohome TRVs without a display to £30. So I’m trying to work out how many I want. All the bedroom radiators I’ll keep as dumb TRVs I think.
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 5:19 pm
by IanF
Google Nest gen 4 controller looks cool…
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 5:25 pm
by jamcg
It’s lovely but there’s no planned uk release as of yet.
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 7:33 pm
by Jobbo
Looking cool is a long, long way behind functionality in my priorities
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2025 8:53 pm
by DeskJockey
Had an interesting fault pop up on the EvoHome app. Suddenly there was an unknown, unnamed zone with the temp permanently set to 62c showing.
It isn't showing on the controller, only on the web/app. A bit of searching online clarifies that it is a server-side error, a ghost zone that just pops up for some reason, and to contact Support to resolve it.
Oddly on the app I cannot change the temperature, but on the web portal I can. So set the phantom thermostate to 5c.
Using the "contact support" link on the portal leads to a page error, but going via the Irish support link sends you to Resideo where a ticket can be logged.
Re: Smart Thermostats
Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 12:56 pm
by DeskJockey
Update: ghost zones are automatically removed at midnight every day by the system. I guess they got tired of people asking them to help
Can confirm it has gone from ours.
