Nest / Climote / Netamo / Heatmiser - mystery...

bren2002

All

Bit of a newie to this. I'm interested in a smart thermometer for the house.
I've a standard 3 bed semi, 1,000sq ft. I've got an efficient gas boiler and thermostatic valves on the rads. The gas boiler has a programmable timer and separate zones for heating and water. Typically in winter we have the heating on for an hour in the morning and again for 2 hours in the evening. For autumn and spring the evening tends to be just for an hour. Again water is on for an hour in morning and evening. Typically we have 2 pressure pumped (2 bar) showers in the morning and a bath every 2nd night for the kids. Plus the evening pots and pans. Also have a wood stove (not a boiler)

From looking around I see lots of opinions and options on the technology.
Nest
Climote
Heatmiser
Netamo

I’m not really interested in a bundle deal, just buying outright and switching providers as needed.

I’ve a couple of questions
1) What’s the expert view on the ‘best’ thermometer? I’m leaning towards Nest, but really because of Google backing and I’ll likely get a Nest cam and Google Home device too in the future.

2) How do they actually work? Do I’ve the heating ‘on’ fulltime and let the thermometer control when the heating comes on? Can I override it a trigger a boost, especially to the bedrooms in the winter evenings when kids are asleep but the fire is lit downstairs.

(Couldn't see an recent threads so starting a fresh)

bk

Netatmo is very good (I have it), but it doesn't do hot water control, so out of the running for you.

Climote and Heatmiser are pretty much non runners, as they are poor and involve subscriptions, etc.

That leaves Nest, Hive and Evohome as all good options that would work with your setup.

I'd suggest Nest given your integration with google products.

bren2002 wrote: »

2) How do they actually work? Do I’ve the heating ‘on’ fulltime and let the thermometer control when the heating comes on? Can I override it a trigger a boost, especially to the bedrooms in the winter evenings when kids are asleep but the fire is lit downstairs.

Nest will switch on and off your heating when it needs heat. Basically a smart thermometer, is an all in one switch, timer and thermometer, it replaces all of those with one device.

You can set a schedule with the phone app, but you can override it whenever you want and "boost" the heat either using the app, the physical thermometer or by voice by Google Home (Hey Google, turn on the heat, Hey Google, make it warmer, Hey Google, set the heat to 22, etc.).

Also you can set the phone app to detect when you are home or not and it will turn off the heat (including the schedule) when you aren't home.

Only thing is Nest currently doesn't have individual Smart radiator valves, so you can't turn on the heating just in the kids room, at least not virtually (you can obviously physically turn off the vales at each rad).

If you would like that level of control, then Evohome also has smart valves. So you can control the heat in individual rooms. Only issue is that it would be a lot more expensive.

Ionised

Tado is also an option. Will control heating and can be extended with their own rad valves. Had mine in almost two years with no issue.
Customer service is also excellent. On the two occasions I had to email them with questions they got back to me the same day.

bren2002

Great response, thanks. I'm not sure how I'd get the water integrated.
So I could go Netatmo, looks like either that or Nest.

Can I pair multiple phones? I'm out but my wife is at home? Wouldn't want the thing to alter the house just because one person left.

Ionised

Totally forgot that Tado will also control hot water (I don't use that function)

ted1

TBH I wouldn't bother with the NEST cam it's got an expensive subscription with it, and if you don't use it then there's plenty ofother similar cams with better pricing.

ted1

bren2002 wrote: »

Great response, thanks. I'm not sure how I'd get the water integrated.
So I could go Netatmo, looks like either that or Nest.

Can I pair multiple phones? I'm out but my wife is at home? Wouldn't want the thing to alter the house just because one person left.

With the Nest you use your google account and can add other accounts , so both me and my wife have the app and if we are both away the heating stays off. If one of us comes home then the heating will come on

Stoner

Don't forget lightwaverf.

I like the netamo too.

Lightwaverf can handle most set ups, they have inline switching contactors for use with motorised valves and a standard set up.

I've it for a while now it has great integration with Alexa/ echo , will work on home kit but not ready for Google home yet.

Some good threads on it here

bk

Stoner wrote: »

will work on home kit but not ready for Google home yet.

As LWRF supports IFTTT, you could control it using GHome. While it is an extra step, I've found IFTTT to work very well and consistently with GHome:

https://ifttt.com/lightwaverf_heating

I use GHome/IFTTT to control my Netatmo Thermostat

McG

remember to look into getting a SEAI grant for upgrading heating controls if house was built before 2006.

Stoner

bk wrote:

I use GHome/IFTTT to control my Netatmo Thermostat

Yeah but IFTTT is slow , we still agree on that right?

Ok for heating I guess but nothing fast

bren2002

McG wrote: »

remember to look into getting a SEAI grant for upgrading heating controls if house was built before 2006.

Really? For just the thermostat?
Any links?

bren2002

Also does the nest cam react to loud noise? Ie alarm going off causes alert?

bk

Stoner wrote: »

Yeah but IFTTT is slow , we still agree on that right?

Ok for heating I guess but nothing fast

Seems to be almost instantaneous for me using Google Home.

I use it every day for turning on/off the heating and TV (IFTTT -> Harmony).

No noticeable lag. I wonder if Google have arranged for a higher priority with IFTTT or something like that. But at this stage I'm pretty happy that it works well.

bk

bren2002 wrote: »

Really? For just the thermostat?
Any links?

http://www.seai.ie/Grants/Better_energy_homes/