Brun

Any good or is similar out there which are better.
Our current heating controls are from the dark ages and these things look ok. Any really world experience?

JGlanzaV

iTrader: (3)

The only benefit is been able to use your phone to turn it on and off. In reality its not worth it. Once you have your controls set up right you have no need for it.

Get a decent rf. Room. Stat and a decent timer etc

Brun

When you put it like that.....

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Well that, and TPi control and switch-on optimisation which old "on/off" and bi-metallic stats and programmers don't have. For example..Yesterday morning I selected "day off" mode for 2 days from the comfort of my bed..basically that means it runs the sunday program.

Others: Nest, Salus IT500, and the Honeywell Evohome (varying versions).

Some boiler manufacturer's also offer their own internet/smartphone enabled boiler control as plug-in modules (Viessmann, Worceste, Vaillant etc).

I have the Evohome 2. Whilst its smart-phone controllable the prime purpose of it is re-zoning the house without having to do major pipework modifications. You can get the internet access point and single zone stat (1 x RFG100 & 1 x Y87RF2024) which offers the same smartphone function but without the need/expense of the evotouch controller.

It does the job; straight forward to use, but its missing a few advanced features and tunability that, for example the Honeywell CM907 has, which would be nice to tweek out any temp overshot/undershoot. Its also missing party mode, which the 907 has, the evohome doesn't...what is that? Just a manual temp override for a selectable amount of hours...handy for keeping the heating on a fixed temp instead of it defaulting to its timed schedule (such as when watching a film that runs on to 2:00am where the heating would normally turn itself off at midnight ).


If you don't want smartphone control the CM907 is a damn good wireless stat/programmer (instructions could be better though)

JGlanzaV

iTrader: (3)

Thats why i said use a decent RF stat, dont waste money on smart phone control, it is absolutely pointless. A decent digital stat, with a decent programmer is all you need. Most decent programmers have optimisation built it.

Once your heating is set properly you dont need to keep dialling in and altering things....

Or I could sell you a Trend BMSi with full opitmisation, compensation, and control. Id do the unit for £1,000, the programme for £1,000 and probably £1,000 for me to fit it

chrispy200+

iTrader: (2)

I've got the evo home connected to a viessmann boiler, just had it fitted along with a open them bridge for the weather compensation

So far very impressed

c_maguire

Are we talking about bee-hives or what?

We have a large colony living under one of our outbuildings that seem to do well.
They swarmed last year and I put the swarm in a hive but the Winter did for them.
They might have benefitted from some heating.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Well, unless you work/life style is not a set routine. Some of the programmers are a bit crap for setting things like days off or vacation modes. So its down to what the OP is after. Flexibity is main one IMHO, and yeah, like anything you do pay a premium for that.

CM907 is fine for this, it probably the best cheap non-smartphone wireless option (provided you don't need hot water control)...However there other models/makes of programmers in the same price brackets that range from not so good to atrocious. Even from known/reportedly "decent" manufacturers;

For example; The Horstman programmer at work office is a load of crap and the Honeywell DT92E wireless 'stat has poor temperature sensing...which is annoying seeing its sole purpose is to sense temperature (they've changed the case/backplate compared with the older DT92 which has affected the thermistor's sensitivity). And as for the Polyplumb programmable 'stat supplied with our underfloor heating....it is IMPOSSIBLE to program without the instructions (printed in a microfiche sized booklet). Seriously, setting up the CCTV system as easier.

Scooby.Newbie

Ok, I am completely naive when it comes to this, so forgive me.

Most houses, including mine, have a single thermostat control, in the hallway in my case. The issue I have I don't seem to be able to get a stable temperature in any room.

I live in a three story house, the living room will be stupid hot on the ground floor but others rooms will be cold, bedrooms on the middle floor seem to be the worst. Have played with the radiator settings but doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.

So, question is, with an intelligent setup does that change, do you have multiple thermostats controlling the radiators, if not am I just getting a smart version of the same problem?

Or should setting up the radiators properly make a bigger difference and I have just not done it properly, tried hard enough?

chrispy200+

iTrader: (2)

You can get zoning kits which go onto the rads, I'm only in a normal upstairs down stairs but having two zones set up, each with there own thermostats, this all links into my evo home setup.
Sounds like you need your system balanced though from my understanding after talking to a heating engineer about a similar problem

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Thats a tricky one to answer. Electronic/intelligent controls could solve the issue, but IMO its a last resort - where the costs involved make it worth while. For example in a situation where you want to have full independent control of a section/zone's temperature at different times of day or week where a single thermostat just wouldn't work and pipework modifications to achieve traditional multi-zoned system would cause too much disruption.

Going to the cost of using that type of setup may or may not work, and maybe solving the symptom as opposed to the cause. It at worst could ended costing more in heating bills; for example running a boiler thats excessively cycling as its trying to heat a room with a blocked or undersized radiator.

So I'd first investigate what is exactly causing the issues.


For rooms that are overheating, a good quality thermostatic radiator valve should stop that. In my own experience, there are only two that I found that work, and stay working..Drayton TRV4 and Honeywell VT200 (latter not as good as they used to be) others stick or degrade over time.

For rooms that are underheating, if the radiator in that room is getting up to temperature its worth checking the radiator is correctly sized.

If radiators aren't getting hot enough, then thats another realm of issues that could be a fault, sticking thermostatic valve, sludge, balance, pump, bypass valve leaking, faulty zone valves etc or a bad system layout.

I have system layout problems and I've already done all I can to address this (new radiators, new pump, flushed, new valves etc), put simply water always takes the path of least resistance. Now, the Evohome has helped; as a room that is too cold can call for heat, but its probably costing me in heating bills as my calculations show that it needs more radiators. My next job in the Spring is to sort out the downstairs pipework as its a bit of a mess.