Home heating automation

deezell

According to tado you can have multiple zones. An extra stat can be added to the starter kit and as this has it's own relay I don't see how it can't control the switching of one zone, while a second main stat and extension kit covers the other zone plus HW. Another poster enquired about TRVs within a zoned system. His query related to the fact that TRVs can call the boiler via the stat, but with two stats he needed the TRVs in each zone to call the appropriate stat. Tado were able to push this setting to his stats, so zones are not a problem, afaik. This was a few posts back. With nest you need two stats, each comes with a relay box, on one of these the HW relay will be used, the other just the heating relay. Netamo functionality is similar to tado.

Just checked back there, yours is the system with the three mechanical timers and the pumped manifold to blend two boilers. Do you have wall stats associated with each heating zone and a cylinder stat for the HW or is it all done by timer?. No reason this can't be automated. The three smart stat contacts/relay outputs for the 3 zones simply replace the outputs of the timers. The wiring centre shows these connections going into it to each one's switch relay which calls the pump for the appropriate zone and fires the boiler.
I'll read back when I've a chance 're the app, I think it was just the IFTTT app, but used in conjunction with Google home. Apple home kit also can address both Nest and any IFTTT TRVs. There are some readers here who are in to this, perhaps they might respond

john_doe.

deezell wrote: »

According to tado you can have multiple zones. An extra stat can be added to the starter kit and as this has it's own relay I don't see how it can't control the switching of one zone, while a second main stat and extension kit covers the other zone plus HW. Another poster enquired about TRVs within a zoned system. His query related to the fact that TRVs can call the boiler via the stat, but with two stats he needed the TRVs in each zone to call the appropriate stat. Tado were able to push this setting to his stats, so zones are not a problem, afaik. This was a few posts back. With nest you need two stats, each comes with a relay box, on one of these the HW relay will be used, the other just the heating relay. Netamo functionality is similar to tado.

Just checked back there, yours is the system with the three mechanical timers and the pumped manifold to blend two boilers. Do you have wall stats associated with each heating zone and a cylinder stat for the HW or is it all done by timer?. No reason this can't be automated. The three smart stat contacts/relay outputs for the 3 zones simply replace the outputs of the timers. The wiring centre shows these connections going into it to each one's switch relay which calls the pump for the appropriate zone and fires the boiler.
I'll read back when I've a chance 're the app, I think it was just the IFTTT app, but used in conjunction with Google home. Apple home kit also can address both Nest and any IFTTT TRVs. There are some readers here who are in to this, perhaps they might respond

I have two thermostats one in downstairs (first floor as there is a basement) living room and one in the upstairs bedroom.

Thermostat https://imgur.com/a/TaGmI


To be honest I'm trying to figure out how the whole thing works as the thermostats don't be doing what I think.
I've sent you a PM with the full pictures which might explain it better as I don't understand it myself.

CantGetNoSleep

I'm getting a new combo condensation boiler over the nexf few months so I'd like to install a smart thermostat while I'm doing that. At the moment I only have one zone, and with a combo boiler you don't need hot water automation.

I'm thinking Nest as I already have Google Home in every room and Chromecast / Chromecast Audio. Is Nest the best option for this or should I look at something else?

Also, is there any difference in models of each device in different European countries?

deezell

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

I'm getting a new combo condensation boiler over the nexf few months so I'd like to install a smart thermostat while I'm doing that. At the moment I only have one zone, and with a combo boiler you don't need hot water automation.

I'm thinking Nest as I already have Google Home in every room and Chromecast / Chromecast Audio. Is Nest the best option for this or should I look at something else?

Also, is there any difference in models of each device in different European countries?

Nest in Europe comes complete with a relay box to switch mains voltage ( or volt free) boiler call for heat. US nest is designed to directly connect to low current boiler call.

Any single smart stat will replace your current stat. Nest requires a little more installation than just a straight swap of your current two wire stat ( if thats what you have). The relay box does allow wireless location of the stat. As you have only a single zone you may wish to zone in the future using smart TRVs on the rads.
Although NEST doesn't connect to smart TRVs they can be installed in a general NEST single zone and controlled by their own app, by Google home if the TRVs support this, and can be made to act as an integrated system using IFTTT control apps, which would, for example, take an instruction to heat a particular room as an instruction to turn up the Nest to call the boiler and a seperate instruction to open the TRV of the required room.
Systems like Netamo, Tado and Evohome can address their own TRVs directly. Tado TRVs can be installed with a different thermostat, such as Nest, and will operate the TRVs on the assumption that the general call for heat is being supplied by the Nest, i.e, the Tado TRVs in this situation can't call the boiler, and the Tado app just opens and closes them. Again using IFTTT apps you can combine both.

CantGetNoSleep

deezell wrote: »

Nest in Europe comes complete with a relay box to switch mains voltage ( or volt free) boiler call for heat. US nest is designed to directly connect to low current boiler call.

Any single smart stat will replace your current stat. Nest requires a little more installation than just a straight swap of your current two wire stat ( if thats what you have). The relay box does allow wireless location of the stat. As you have only a single zone you may wish to zone in the future using smart TRVs on the rads.
Although NEST doesn't connect to smart TRVs they can be installed in a general NEST single zone and controlled by their own app, by Google home if the TRVs support this, and can be made to act as an integrated system using IFTTT control apps, which would, for example, take an instruction to heat a particular room as an instruction to turn up the Nest to call the boiler and a seperate instruction to open the TRV of the required room.
Systems like Netamo, Tado and Evohome can address their own TRVs directly. Tado TRVs can be installed with a different thermostat, such as Nest, and will operate the TRVs on the assumption that the general call for heat is being supplied by the Nest, i.e, the Tado TRVs in this situation can't call the boiler, and the Tado app just opens and closes them. Again using IFTTT apps you can combine both.

Thank you for your reply - so you think Nest is best option or would you go for one of the other systems you mention?

Are there any TRV's that you suggest?

deezell

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Thank you for your reply - so you think Nest is best option or would you go for one of the other systems you mention?

Are there any TRV's that you suggest?

For simplest self install, Tado or Netamo, Honeywell lyric, assuming you already have a pre wired thermostat. Nest requires a little more knowledge to self install. If you're happy with a single zone, any of the above, with a slight preference for Nest. If you want to add smart TRVS later under a single app interface, Tado or Netamo are good options, also Evohome. Search this thread, or just read it all!

Ush1

Just a more general question on heating costs than specific to home automation. I got my boiler upgraded in my house recently to a ideal logic combi, house is a 3 bed semi with an attic conversion.

Got the first bill after getting the new boiler and it's 270 euro. Much higher than any bill I've had before.

Now I will say we never had heating controls before(using the eph ember with this new boiler) and we just constantly boost the heating. Would that be what would cause such a big bill?

budhabob

Ush1 wrote: »

Just a more general question on heating costs than specific to home automation. I got my boiler upgraded in my house recently to a ideal logic combi, house is a 3 bed semi with an attic conversion.

Got the first bill after getting the new boiler and it's 270 euro. Much higher than any bill I've had before.

Now I will say we never had heating controls before(using the eph ember with this new boiler) and we just constantly boost the heating. Would that be what would cause such a big bill?

What was your average previously, and what kind of usage did you have?

Ush1

budhabob wrote: »

What was your average previously, and what kind of usage did you have?

I don't have the usage for this time last year as I was with a different energy provider but the bill I got in October for just gas was 714 units for previous 2 months. Bill I just got is 4674 units. I don't even have a gas cooker.

CantGetNoSleep

deezell wrote: »

For simplest self install, Tado or Netamo, Honeywell lyric, assuming you already have a pre wired thermostat. Nest requires a little more knowledge to self install. If you're happy with a single zone, any of the above, with a slight preference for Nest. If you want to add smart TRVS later under a single app interface, Tado or Netamo are good options, also Evohome. Search this thread, or just read it all!

Thank you - I'll have a read through

Irish Gunner

Has anyone with Netatmo used the bot yet?

https://www.netatmo.com/blog/en/

I just control my valves and Thermo via the app not sure about this?

deezell

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Has anyone with Netatmo used the bot yet?

https://www.netatmo.com/blog/en/

I just control my valves and Thermo via the app not sure about this?

I don't have NetaTmo, but the article reads well, to the point where I clicked "Try it", and was immediately presented with an instruction to join FakeBook. Bye bye.

skerry

@Deezell - I'm back to pick your brains again...apologies in advance

I posted a few pages back about honeywell zone valve for HW circuit being in Manual Open position and therefore constantly firing the boiler and giving me no control over how much hot water is being produced.

I had presumed this was because the valve was knackered so I ordered a new valve head. I was doing a bit of research into installing the valve and had a peek into the junction box for the current valve and the grey and orange wires are not connected.
My understanding is that, without these wires connected, the valve isn't able to call for heat unless its in manual open position.

So it seems I can't control my hot water properly without these wires connected, not sure how much of a job this is but its beyond my skill level. And if I replace zone valve and don't get these wires sorted I think the valve should be able to respond to the stat but is dependant on the upstairs heating zone valve to call for heat to let it heat water (hopefully thats all correct).

Anyway, my question is, if I'm looking at getting a Tado Extension kit and have this wired up, does this then take over the job of firing the boiler for hot water demand and would that negate the need to have the grey and orange wire in the zone valve wired up? I'm guessing the valve with still have to open and close as the stats tells it to but if the Tado takes over firing the boiler then I'd rather just order an extension kit and have that wired up instead.

There's also a chance I'm misunderstanding the purpose of the Extension Kit here but just don't want to spend more money on the zone valve wiring unless it needs to be sorted in order for the extension kit to function properly

deezell

skerry wrote: »

@Deezell - I'm back to pick your brains again...apologies in advance

I posted a few pages back about honeywell zone valve for HW circuit being in Manual Open position and therefore constantly firing the boiler and giving me no control over how much hot water is being produced.

I had presumed this was because the valve was knackered so I ordered a new valve head. I was doing a bit of research into installing the valve and had a peek into the junction box for the current valve and the grey and orange wires are not connected.
My understanding is that, without these wires connected, the valve isn't able to call for heat unless its in manual open position.

So it seems I can't control my hot water properly without these wires connected, not sure how much of a job this is but its beyond my skill level. And if I replace zone valve and don't get these wires sorted I think the valve should be able to respond to the stat but is dependant on the upstairs heating zone valve to call for heat to let it heat water (hopefully thats all correct).

Anyway, my question is, if I'm looking at getting a Tado Extension kit and have this wired up, does this then take over the job of firing the boiler for hot water demand and would that negate the need to have the grey and orange wire in the zone valve wired up? I'm guessing the valve with still have to open and close as the stats tells it to but if the Tado takes over firing the boiler then I'd rather just order an extension kit and have that wired up instead.

There's also a chance I'm misunderstanding the purpose of the Extension Kit here but just don't want to spend more money on the zone valve wiring unless it needs to be sorted in order for the extension kit to function properly

You're pretty much spot on in your assessment I'd say. The live from the HW timer, if one is installed, goes via the HW cylinder stat, then to the valve to open it. If the grey / orange microswitch wires do not connect a live back to the boiler SL input, " call for heat", then something else has to , and you're surmising, probably correctly, that's it one of the heating zone calls. This call may be from the grey/ orange of that heating zone valve, but it's possible these are not wired either, which would be incorrect.
Check if the two heating zone valves have their microswitch relay wires wired. Once a system uses zone valves, the lives from the various timer/ stat pairs no longer directly connect to the boiler SL to turn it on, they just connect to the zone valves and the zone valves in turn call the boiler via their microswitches. This allows multiple zones to call the boiler without opening each other's zone valves, which is what would happen if you connected all the timer/ stat outputs to each other to call the boiler.
If your heating zones are correctly wired, you just need to connect the grey/orange from one of them to the HW valve grey/ orange. Also test to see that the live that opens the HW valve, brown wire, is not going maybe to another valve to turn it on to call the boiler indirectly. Zone valve wiring can confuse sparks, so no surprise plumbers are often lost. The fact that your HW valve is different brand to the heating zone valves looks like it was fitted later maybe as part of a solar install, so some wiring errors may have occurred. Its also possible that it's connected via the solar wiring to cut flow from the boiler when the solar heating pump kicks in. There are many interpretations of how this is done.
Finally, the extension kit will give two SL outputs if configured for heating/ HW. The kit is a direct plug on replacement for British standard 2 zone backplates, so the two outputs will go to their respective valves if you had a basic 2 zone timer such as an EPH. The heating SL will not call the boiler for the HW, if it did then both would be on together anyway, as this SL opens one of your zone heating valves. The HW contacts are used to open the HW valve, in series with the cylinder stat.
Get the HW grey/ orange pair wired across to the same pairs on the heating valves first, and confirm if you now can heat the water via the cylinder stat. Once this is right, you can interject the extension kit HW contacts into the valve control live, so the tado can control the timing of HW, the cylinder stat cobtrolling the temperature.
Here's a link to a 2 zone valve wiring diagram with 2 zone timer and stats. In your system your timer is part of the tp5 zone stat, but the wiring of the zone valves to call the boiler should be the same as this.

skerry

deezell wrote: »

You're pretty much spot on in your assessment I'd say. The live from the HW timer, if one is installed, goes via the HW cylinder stat, then to the valve to open it. If the grey / orange microswitch wires do not connect a live back to the boiler SL input, " call for heat", then something else has to , and you're surmising, probably correctly, that's it one of the heating zone calls. This call may be from the grey/ orange of that heating zone valve, but it's possible these are not wired either, which would be incorrect.
Check if the two heating zone valves have their microswitch relay wires wired. Once a system uses zone valves, the lives from the various timer/ stat pairs no longer directly connect to the boiler SL to turn it on, they just connect to the zone valves and the zone valves in turn call the boiler via their microswitches. This allows multiple zones to call the boiler without opening each other's zone valves, which is what would happen if you connected all the timer/ stat outputs to each other to call the boiler.
If your heating zones are correctly wired, you just need to connect the grey/orange from one of them to the HW valve grey/ orange. Also test to see that the live that opens the HW valve, brown wire, is not going maybe to another valve to turn it on to call the boiler indirectly. Zone valve wiring can confuse sparks, so no surprise plumbers are often lost. The fact that your HW valve is different brand to the heating zone valves looks like it was fitted later maybe as part of a solar install, so some wiring errors may have occurred. Its also possible that it's connected via the solar wiring to cut flow from the boiler when the solar heating pump kicks in. There are many interpretations of how this is done.
Finally, the extension kit will give two SL outputs if configured for heating/ HW. The kit is a direct plug on replacement for British standard 2 zone backplates, so the two outputs will go to their respective valves if you had a basic 2 zone timer such as an EPH. The heating SL will not call the boiler for the HW, if it did then both would be on together anyway, as this SL opens one of your zone heating valves. The HW contacts are used to open the HW valve, in series with the cylinder stat.
Get the HW grey/ orange pair wired across to the same pairs on the heating valves first, and confirm if you now can heat the water via the cylinder stat. Once this is right, you can interject the extension kit HW contacts into the valve control live, so the tado can control the timing of HW, the cylinder stat cobtrolling the temperature.
Here's a link to a 2 zone valve wiring diagram with 2 zone timer and stats. In your system your timer is part of the tp5 zone stat, but the wiring of the zone valves to call the boiler should be the same as this.

Thanks again for the info Deezell.

Haven't come across a HW timer, just a stat on the tank and the wire from this goes into same junction box as the zone valve so presume this is controlling the valve when temp is reached (or at least its supposed to if the valve was functioning correctly). Does leaving the zone valve in manual open also close the microswitch in lieu of having the grey and orange wired up to call for heat when its operating normally, thought I saw YouTube video indicating same?

Upstairs heating zone stat can definitely call for heat so I'm guessing this valve is wired up correctly to allow it to do that, will have a look when I get round to having a look at the wiring. So do you reckon that if the grey/ orange from HW valve are connected to the grey/ orange from the heating zone valve this would solve HW issue and allow HW valve call for heat again?

There is a Sunvic zone valve downstairs also so will check the wiring on this later. I'm pretty sure it was able to fire the boiler for the first few weeks we were here but a pressure valve that was leaking dripped water all over this a few weeks back and I don't think its operating correctly since. Have to turn the downstairs stat way up to get it to kick in and rads downstairs are pretty weak since so I'm guessing its not opening the valve as it should. That will be the third valve I've had to replace in 3 months

There is indeed a solar install so will have to get a spark to have a look and tell me how this is all wired up. Finding it hard to get a spark that is well experienced in zone valve wiring (or any spark at all for that matter).

I have a plumber calling this week to do a job and will get him to look into plumbing side of things to verify that its possible to have HW heat independently just incase there's some reason on that front why previous owner was operating system as it currently is. House was listed a while though so I'm guessing its more of a case of valves going over time and previous owner having no incentive to replace them as he was selling up.

Will get spark then once that's confirmed to finally get all 3 valves wired and sorted correctly and look into getting extension kit installed then.

I presume extension kit can be installed in hotpress and connected up to the wiring on the zone valve?

Thanks again for the help.

deezell

skerry wrote: »

......So do you reckon that if the grey/ orange from HW valve are connected to the grey/ orange from the heating zone valve this would solve HW issue and allow HW valve call for heat again?.....

...I presume extension kit can be installed in hotpress and connected up to the wiring on the zone valve?

Thanks again for the help.

I do reckon and you assume correctly. Ext kit will wire to 2 zone valves, heating zone valve and HW valve (via cylinder stat). You have an S plan 3 zone. Heating zone stat ( Tado) connects wirelessly when used with the ext kit, so it wires directly to its zone valve.

skerry

deezell wrote: »

I do reckon and you assume correctly. Ext kit will wire to 2 zone valves, heating zone valve and HW valve ( via cylinder stat. You have an S plan 3 zone. Heating zone stat ( Tado) connects wirelessly when used with the ext kit, so it wires directly to its zone valve.

Legend, thanks a million Deezell. Will see how I fare out once valves all sorted and operating correctly so.

kerry_blue

Hi,

I was looking for some advise to see if Nest would work with our system.

We have a condensing oil boiler, 4 zones (living, bedrooms, upstairs and hot water), each zone has a robus room stat (hot water has a different stat) and it is controlled by a Horstmann channel plus which has a channel for each zone (4 channels).

I was thinking of getting a Nest through the Electric Ireland offer to replace the stat in the living area. We would like to be able to turn on the heating remotely when not at home.

Will Nest work in this setup?
Is there any other similar stat that would work better than Nest?

thanks!

deezell

kerry_blue wrote: »

Hi,

I was looking for some advise to see if Nest would work with our system.

We have a condensing oil boiler, 4 zones (living, bedrooms, upstairs and hot water), each zone has a robus room stat (hot water has a different stat) and it is controlled by a Horstmann channel plus which has a channel for each zone (4 channels).

I was thinking of getting a Nest through the Electric Ireland offer to replace the stat in the living area. We would like to be able to turn on the heating remotely when not at home.

Will Nest work in this setup?
Is there any other similar stat that would work better than Nest?

thanks!

One nest will automate a heating zone and the HW timing. You'll need two additional stats for the remaining heating zones. If you're ok with leaving the HW timing to the horstmann, it would be more cost effective to use 3 Tado or Netatmo stats, self installable as straight replacements for the robuses. You can include HW with their relay boxes.

kerry_blue

Thanks deezell!

We were thinking of just doing the living area for now as that is the zone we would like to control remotely.

Would Nest work if we just used it in this zone? And left the other 3 zones as they are?

Or is Tado/Netatmo a better solution even if we were just doing this 1 zone?

thanks!

deezell

kerry_blue wrote: »

Thanks deezell!

We were thinking of just doing the living area for now as that is the zone we would like to control remotely.

Would Nest work if we just used it in this zone? And left the other 3 zones as they are?

Or is Tado/Netatmo a better solution even if we were just doing this 1 zone?

thanks!

Nest comes with a relay box, known as heatlink, and has relays for 1 heating and HW timing control, so you will get two zones for the electric Ireland offer. It wouk be the best value in this instance.

fletch

Is Nest suitable for me?

I have a gas condenser boiler. I have a programmer in the kitchen that I set to come on and off as per a schedule. A thermometer in the hall regulates the temperature to the radiators. In the Summer, I can turn the thermometer to a low temperature which ensures the radiators don't come on but the boiler fires (according to the timer) to heat the hot water cylinder. I don't have the immersion wired up as I was told it's cheaper to heat the water cylinder using the gas.

If I get nest, will I be able to just heat the hot water and not the radiators?

deezell

fletch wrote: »

Is Nest suitable for me?

I have a gas condenser boiler. I have a programmer in the kitchen that I set to come on and off as per a schedule. A thermometer in the hall regulates the temperature to the radiators. In the Summer, I can turn the thermometer to a low temperature which ensures the radiators don't come on but the boiler fires (according to the timer) to heat the hot water cylinder. I don't have the immersion wired up as I was told it's cheaper to heat the water cylinder using the gas.

If I get nest, will I be able to just heat the hot water and not the radiators?

Yes. Your system sounds like you have a single timer to fire the boiler in general, with the thermostat opening a zone valve to control the heating. Gas boilers are pumped internally afaik, so this the only way to prevent heating while firing is with a zone valve. Is the heating limited to the timer settings also? If so the system will need a change of wiring to properly seperate timed heating from timed HW, which the nest control box (heatlink) can do. Maybe post a pic of the programmer or the model no.

fletch

deezell wrote: »

Yes. Your system sounds like you have a single timer to fire the boiler in general, with the thermostat opening a zone valve to control the heating. Gas boilers are pumped internally afaik, so this the only way to prevent heating while firing is with a zone valve. Is the heating limited to the timer settings also? If so the system will need a change of wiring to properly seperate timed heating from timed HW, which the nest control box (heatlink) can do. Maybe post a pic of the programmer or the model no.

Not actual pics of them as I'm not at home at the moment but these looks exactly the same

Thermostat


Timer/Programmer

deezell

fletch wrote: »

Not actual pics of them as I'm not at home at the moment but these looks exactly the same

Thermostat


Timer/Programmer

Ok, it's as I thought. The timer is firing the boiler which only heats HW when the stat is open. The heating is on only when the stat is closed and the timer is on. Replacing the current stat with a nest will make the nest reliant on the mechanical timer being on to function.
Smart stats take a different approach. The timer is effectively always on, but the stat can assign different temperatures to blocks of time. A very low temperature time block is the same as off. If you connect the nest to fire the boiler and open the heating valve you will only have hot water when the heating is on.
If I'm correct and your heating is enabled by a motorised valve opening courtesy of the stat, then a few changes to the wiring will enable the nest achieve independent heating times from the HW times, though HW will heat while the heating is on. To fully seperate heating and HW times requires both circuits to have a motorised valve, or a single 3 port valve. It's possible your system has the latter. Does your cylinder have a thermostat strapped to it, and are there any motorised valves in the vicinity with 2 or 3 plumbing connections.
If your system just has a motorised valve for the heating circuit, then the nest heatlink heating relay can be connected to this to open it for heating. The other Nest heatlink relay for HW can be connected to fire the boiler. To ensure the boiler fires when the heatlink HW timer is off but the heating timer/stat is on is achieved by using the relay that is contained in the motorised valve to also call the boiler. It would help to see what the other elements of your system are, motorised valves, pumps etc.

Aph2016

We have a 2x zone and hot water heating system. Is it necessary to use the heatlink if we don't want to control the hot water?

bk

deezell wrote: »

That's probably it. I do like the look of the Netatmo, plus they do TRVs as well.
How do people here find Hive? (and don't say follow the bees). It's an ugly stat for sure.

Hope you don't mind me quoting you here, rather then the Bargain Alerts thread, probably better here.

I saw a Hive in Maplins and I thought it was quiet nice, but a bit sci-fi I suppose, might not be for everyone. Don't know much about it otherwise.

I like the Netatmo thermostat, but I'd prefer if it had normal up/down buttons like Tado. The physical rocker switch design is prone to breaking IMO. If you mostly use app/voice control then not a big deal. I'd like to see them redesign it to fix this issue and would also be nice if they brought out a controller for hot water zones. Would be a more complete system then.

Having said that it was a wonderful, cheap and easy drop in option for my simple heating setup (combi boiler).

deezell

Aph2016 wrote: »

We have a 2x zone and hot water heating system. Is it necessary to use the heatlink if we don't want to control the hot water?

No, you can ignore it. You will need 2 nest (or other smart) stats to fully automate, but if your current sysyem is using a 2 zone plus HW timer controller you can just use the nest for one heating zone, and leave the second zone and HW on the existing controller.

THE ALM

deezell wrote: »

That's probably it. I do like the look of the Netatmo, plus they do TRVs as well.
How do people here find Hive? (and don't say follow the bees). It's an ugly stat for sure.

Bringing this over from the bargain alerts thread.

Find Hive very good to be honest, stat could be a bit slimmer I suppose, but not what I would call ugly (don't look at it too much to be honest) and is easy and straightforward to use. As the stat is battery powered it could be easily hidden away anyway.

We didn't have much control previously only having a simple immermat timer so it is good now to be able to control the heat and hot water separately and remotely.

App also fairly simple to use, have a number of bulbs, plugs and sensors set up on it without much issue.

Always seems to be regular updates and products being launched and that, being a British Gas company, this would continue to be the case, always a consideration when looking at new tech.

Google Assistant works well with it also and we are just waiting on the Google Home (have to collect it from the sis) which will add a bit of voice control to the whole thing.

Actually looking at adding it to the mothers house and saving the calls about how to change the timer she has!!!

deezell

bk wrote: »

I like the Netatmo thermostat.............would also be nice if they brought out a controller for hot water zones. Would be a more complete system then.....

They've just announced a remote socket/switch product in France, in associaition with LeGrande. Product is called Céliane, very French. Such a device could easily be used to create a remote timed relay for the HW side of things, which is all the other smart stats can do with their extension/relay boxes. (Evohome excepted). I'm assuming Céliane sockets can be operated from within the Netatmo app, so just plug one onto the HW zone valve and away you go.
Netatmo going for £83-89 on amazon this minute.