Home heating automation

JimFin

I'm trying to simplify the install as much as possible. What I currently have is 4 zones (3 heat and hot water) controlled through a Horstmann H47XL timer. Each zone has one Robus room stat.

What I'd like to do is simply replace the H47XL with a WIFI unit that I can access via smart phone app. I would leave the room stats as they are, I simply just want to be able to turn on any zone at any time from any where! Not interested in subscription charges if can be avoided.

Of all the options on the thread here which is the best fit to do this?

deezell

JimFin wrote: »

I'm trying to simplify the install as much as possible. What I currently have is 4 zones (3 heat and hot water) controlled through a Horstmann H47XL timer. Each zone has one Robus room stat.

What I'd like to do is simply replace the H47XL with a WIFI unit that I can access via smart phone app. I would leave the room stats as they are, I simply just want to be able to turn on any zone at any time from any where! Not interested in subscription charges if can be avoided.

Of all the options on the thread here which is the best fit to do this?

None that will just replace your 4 zone timer. All the smart stats operate as thermostats/ timer units. You will have to replace the 3 heating stats with smart stats and use these to turn on/off zones by remotely turning the temperature up and down. Three NetaTmo would do the job. Three tado stats plus one tado extension kit would cover 3 heating and the HW.
You could partially achieve what you're after with 2 nest. Each nest has one thermostat relay and one HW relay in it's supplied heatlink box. This would give you smart temperature control of 2 heating zones, control of HW timing from one heatlink box, and the spare HW relay from the second nest box could be used for on/off timer control of the third heating zone, leaving it's own stat in place.
As you would really just like to bang the zones on and off remotely, what you're after is a remote 4 zone timer/switch. While EPH do an app connected version of your type of controller, it does require it's own wireless stats as part of the package, again because remote heating apps assume you want to control the temperature as well as on/off.

My best suggestion is to buy inexpensive internet connected on off relays, such as Sonoff. Have these wired across the zone outputs of your current controller. You will be able to manually override the zone time settings away from home. When you turn off the relays the timer function of the zone will resume. While I'm not familiar with the apps that control these devices, you can set them for fixed periods, even schedules, using the right one, perhaps IFTTT or the likes. Others have posted here about doing this, and it's cheap as chips, Each relay costs about €5, 4 for €20. They just need to be wired from Live to zone SL on the existing controller (you could scrap it but it's handy as a wiring centre and you have it for backup timing). You then control the relays by an app like in this link below which do timing as well as on off and schedules. https://goo.gl/RGW1Hu

irelandrover

Has anyone here experience with the TADO smart TRV's? I have a few and yesterday one just stopped working. It reads a constant temperature all the time. That means it is constantly calling for the boiler to be on. Even when i set the valve to frost control only it still calls for teh boiler to be on.

deezell

irelandrover wrote: »

Has anyone here experience with the TADO smart TRV's? I have a few and yesterday one just stopped working. It reads a constant temperature all the time. That means it is constantly calling for the boiler to be on. Even when i set the valve to frost control only it still calls for teh boiler to be on.

It is communicating with the app so. Try a reset, to reset the TRV remove for 10 seconds and reinsert batteries and pair it again to the bridge.

Kintarō Hattori

Folks,

If I want to turn the heating on with Nest I can ask Google to do that but I don't seem to be able to turn the water on by voice command- is that something that can't be done at the moment?

Doniekp

Hi All

We are restoring an old listed house with single glaze sash windows and plan on using rads off back boiler stove and oil condenser oil boiler to heat it.

Some of the rooms downstairs are fairly big and we were thinking of using UFH too.
What is the best way of setting this up?

Three rooms downstairs with rads and UFH,
just rads in the bedrooms,
domestic Hotwater.

Zone 1 Unstairs rads
Zone 2 Downstairs rads in all rooms
Zone 3 Hot Water

Zone 4 UFH kitchen/dining/living room 10m*7m
Zone 5 UFH Hallway 8.5m*5.7m double height
Zone 6 UFH Study 7m*7m

I was thinking could we run the UFH off a buffer tank from the stove??
Let it heat the UFH at night so the house has some heat in the morning and during the day?
Then remotely turn the oil on to the rads on way home from work to get house warm. Light the stove in the evening heating the living area and buffer tank water for UFH later in the night?

Does this sound like it could work?
What type of smart system would you use to run it.

Thanks In Advance.
Donie

Aph2016

Anyone wired up a nest to an eph controls thermostat? I've basically got 2x brown wires, first goes to number 1 which is 'Lin' and number 2 which is 'call for heat'.

deezell

Doniekp wrote: »

Hi All

We are restoring an old listed house with single glaze sash windows and plan on using rads off back boiler stove and oil condenser oil boiler to heat it.....
I was thinking could we run the UFH off a buffer tank from the stove??...
Thanks In Advance.
Donie

In practice a buffer tank is only required when you have an off demand heat source, solar, heat pump or thermal. Your stove will be fully occupied aiding the heating of a 3 story house with probably a poor heat rating without having any capacity left to fill a buffer tank. Rather than spend so much money and space on such a tank, it would be more advisable to install a neutraliser or mixer manifold, a small rectangular tank which combines all heat sources, stove and boiler, and makes it available to the radiators, HW cylinder ( if installed) and UFH system. Each independent heating zone will be pumped from this central manifold. Zones with combinations of rads and UFH can be controlled by a single stat for that zone. UFH zoned have their own mixers pumps and manifolds, and any room within this zone can be controlled by it's own stat. If this is a room with radiators also, these could be fitted with smart TRVS slaved to the UFH smart stat so both room heating sources would be controlled by the same stat.
This is a significant project. The combination of stove and boiler has to designed for. Rooms with two heating sources also require careful design. There is no point in having two completely separate heating systems in a room, (buffered stove to UFH and boiler to rads) unless there is a justification for buffering as I described, and only if you prefer the heating experience of UFH to the different feel of convection radiators. If you have both, their control systems must be reasonably in tune else you will have radiators pumping out heat to a room already heated by the UFH, and indeed the radiance of the stove itself.
In the scheme of things, buffering will not save you energy, as any heat obtained from the stove will reduce heat required from the oil boiler.
Heat from a solid fuel stove burning smokeless fuels is as costly overall as oil, unless you have access to large amounts of free seasoned timber, so don't overestimate it's contribution to your overall heat consumption.
Study some of the diagrams in the link below. There are examples of plumbing systems for combined sources. Consider using a combi boiler to eliminate the need for HW cylinders, attic tanks and the like. You won't be able to stick solar panels on a listed building, so there's no incentive for a heat losing cylinder when a combi will heat on demand, the most efficient way.
Once you have decided on the numbers of zones/ rooms with individual control, you will know how many thermostats to install, and how many smart TRVS to give individual room control if required.

https://www.nrgawareness.com/nrg_zone-domestic-system-examples/

irelandrover

deezell wrote: »

It is communicating with the app so. Try a reset, to reset the TRV remove for 10 seconds and reinsert batteries and pair it again to the bridge.

This worked. Thanks.

deezell

Aph2016 wrote: »

Anyone wired up a nest to an eph controls thermostat? I've basically got 2x brown wires, first goes to number 1 which is 'Lin' and number 2 which is 'call for heat'.

You're replacing the eph thermostat with a nest. The two wires going into the stat are the 220v live "L in" from presumably the EPH timer controller, the other is the switched live from the stat back to the boiler to fire it, "call for heat". These wires are not connected to the nest stat, but to its heatlink control box, to terminals 2 and 3. The Nest connects to the heatlink wirelessly. The heatlink can be located next to the boiler or zone valve If it's a zoned system. The wires that went to the stat can be cut and connected to the heatlink, and if you wish, the redundant pair of wires to the old stat can be reused to connect low voltage power from the heatlink terminals 11 and 12 to the Nest stat mounted at the old stat location. If the Nest is connected wirelessly it requires power from a small phone type power unit. This is not required if the heatlink provides power, and the signalling from the Nest is also carried back up the wires to the heatlink.

Aph2016

deezell wrote: »

You're replacing the eph thermostat with a nest. The two wires going into the stat are the 220v live "L in" from presumably the EPH timer controller, the other is the switched live from the stat back to the boiler to fire it, "call for heat". These wires are not connected to the nest stat, but to its heatlink control box, to terminals 2 and 3. The Nest connects to the heatlink wirelessly. The heatlink can be located next to the boiler or zone valve If it's a zoned system. The wires that went to the stat can be cut and connected to the heatlink, and if you wish, the redundant pair of wires to the old stat can be reused to connect low voltage power from the heatlink terminals 11 and 12 to the Nest stat mounted at the old stat location. If the Nest is connected wirelessly it requires power from a small phone type power unit. This is not required if the heatlink provides power, and the signalling from the Nest is also carried back up the wires to the heatlink.

Thank you, that all makes sense.

embraer170

Has anyone ever seen found bargains on TADO smart TRVs? I have been watching for a few months but the price doesn't move much.

I have three (+ one that has stopped working and trying to get Tado to fix) and would need about 3 or 4 more to finish my setup. Given the house is doesn't cost a whole lot to hear, €75 for a TRV seems like a lot.

deezell

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Folks,

If I want to turn the heating on with Nest I can ask Google to do that but I don't seem to be able to turn the water on by voice command- is that something that can't be done at the moment?

I'm not seeing it in any if the Nest control skills on Google Home, Alexa or IFTTT. However, for Tado/ Extension Kit owners, there are some interesting applets on IFTTT for the Tado, including turn on the HW (you can do by app anyway), set HW temperature ( that would be OpenTherm connected boilers only), and a nice one to notify if Tado has gone into Away mode, or back into At Home mode as you approach the house. Very cool (or warm as the case may be).
No purchase required to tinker with the IFTTT app, if you have other smart stuff like Hue lights or Chromcast, have the lights come on and your favourite music play when Tado knows you're home. The cat will soon pick up on this and meet you at the door.

Doniekp

deezell wrote: »

In practice a buffer tank is only required when you have an off demand heat source, solar, heat pump or thermal. Your stove will be fully occupied aiding the heating of a 3 story house with probably a poor heat rating without having any capacity left to fill a buffer tank. Rather than spend so much money and space on such a tank, it would be more advisable to install a neutraliser or mixer manifold, a small rectangular tank which combines all heat sources, stove and boiler, and makes it available to the radiators, HW cylinder ( if installed) and UFH system. Each independent heating zone will be pumped from this central manifold. Zones with combinations of rads and UFH can be controlled by a single stat for that zone. UFH zoned have their own mixers pumps and manifolds, and any room within this zone can be controlled by it's own stat. If this is a room with radiators also, these could be fitted with smart TRVS slaved to the UFH smart stat so both room heating sources would be controlled by the same stat.
This is a significant project. The combination of stove and boiler has to designed for. Rooms with two heating sources also require careful design. There is no point in having two completely separate heating systems in a room, (buffered stove to UFH and boiler to rads) unless there is a justification for buffering as I described, and only if you prefer the heating experience of UFH to the different feel of convection radiators. If you have both, their control systems must be reasonably in tune else you will have radiators pumping out heat to a room already heated by the UFH, and indeed the radiance of the stove itself.
In the scheme of things, buffering will not save you energy, as any heat obtained from the stove will reduce heat required from the oil boiler.
Heat from a solid fuel stove burning smokeless fuels is as costly overall as oil, unless you have access to large amounts of free seasoned timber, so don't overestimate it's contribution to your overall heat consumption.
Study some of the diagrams in the link below. There are examples of plumbing systems for combined sources. Consider using a combi boiler to eliminate the need for HW cylinders, attic tanks and the like. You won't be able to stick solar panels on a listed building, so there's no incentive for a heat losing cylinder when a combi will heat on demand, the most efficient way.
Once you have decided on the numbers of zones/ rooms with individual control, you will know how many thermostats to install, and how many smart TRVS to give individual room control if required.

https://www.nrgawareness.com/nrg_zone-domestic-system-examples/

Thank you for you reply, House is 1.5 storey, Studding inside house with 100m rigid insulation cut and fitted between studs with joints foil taped and a 50m insulated slab board room side. we said we only got one chance with the insulation so, do it right. We will upgrade the windows single glaze glass to slim line double glaze (heritage approved) over the next 5-6 years all going well.
Yes this is a significant project. We had planned to go with just boiler stove, oil boiler with Rads until a builder not associated with the build mentioned the UFH with the rads because of the rooms sizes. Having all the systems linked as you mentioned is more efficient. There will be tiles in most of downstairs but one room will have solid timber floor 8" wide . is there anything to watch floor with UFH and timber flooring?

thanks

deezell

Doniekp wrote: »

Thank you for you reply, House is 1.5 storey, Studding inside house with 100m rigid insulation cut and fitted between studs with joints foil taped and a 50m insulated slab board room side. we said we only got one chance with the insulation so, do it right. We will upgrade the windows single glaze glass to slim line double glaze (heritage approved) over the next 5-6 years all going well.
Yes this is a significant project. We had planned to go with just boiler stove, oil boiler with Rads until a builder not associated with the build mentioned the UFH with the rads because of the rooms sizes. Having all the systems linked as you mentioned is more efficient. There will be tiles in most of downstairs but one room will have solid timber floor 8" wide . is there anything to watch floor with UFH and timber flooring?

thanks

Take all the expert advice you can get for free! Here's a good article on UFH and wooden floors.

http://www.warmup.ie/blog/can-i-use-floor-heating-under-wooden-floor
Lower water temperatures of only 27° plus high insulation u value of wood means slower room heat up time, requiring denser tubing. A rad in the room not a bad idea.
Whatever you decide, rads, UFH or rooms with both, make sure to zone wisely. This determines your quantity of stats. Too many worse than too few. UFH and rads in the same room or zone can be controlled by the same stat either by motorised zone valve for an entire zone, or room stat with a linked TRV for room control. You can get a price for manual stats and then tack on smart where it would be most useful. When installing rads make sure one valve on each is a TRV valve body, they cost cents more than a screw type, but mean you can go smart on a room basis later for the cost of the smart TRV heads, no plumbing required.

sdevine89

Firstly this seems to be one of the most helpful threads on boards so I'm going to jump in with a question.

Looking at the Tado system, for many reasons including the TRV's and Homekit.

Current system is 2 heating zones and HW. Controlled through a timer panel, which does all 3 zones independently and is wired to our boiler its a CTC Eziprog-3-24/7 (picture).

So as I understand it I should buy a starter kit from tado and then two separate smart thermostats for the other heating zone and HW? I can then add TRV's down the line if I want individual room control.

I will get a professional to do the install although I think I could follow the instructions but is it a case that given I currently only have one unit wired I will now need to wire three or is one wired and the other operate wirelessly (seems unlikely)

Thanks so much for your help, just want to be certain I have everything straight before I buy.

deezell

Starter kit (comes with stat) and one extra stat for heating, extension kit for HW timing. Tado doesn't read HW temperature, so existing manual cylinder stat ( if fitted) will be retained.
Tado can adjust HW temperature from combi boilers which have OpenTherm digital connection from stat to boiler.

sdevine89

deezell wrote: »

Starter kit (comes with stat) and one extra stat for heating, extension kit for HW timing. Tado doesn't read HW temperature, so existing manual cylinder stat ( if fitted) will be retained.
Tado can adjust HW temperature from combi boilers which have OpenTherm digital connection from stat to boiler.

Thanks for the reply, that's got me a lot further down the road of figuring out what I need.

So the boiler is a Vokera Mynute HE (Manual) someone a lot more experienced than me may be able to tell me what limitations/opportunities this presents. Clearly I'm not going to change the boiler for Tado so I'll just work with what it lets me do. At present we can control upstairs, downstairs and water independently.

deezell

sdevine89 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, that's got me a lot further down the road of figuring out what I need.

So the boiler is a Vokera Mynute HE (Manual) someone a lot more experienced than me may be able to tell me what limitations/opportunities this presents. Clearly I'm not going to change the boiler for Tado so I'll just work with what it lets me do. At present we can control upstairs, downstairs and water independently.

You mentioned that you have only one "unit" wired, by this do you mean the zone/HW stats? The controller is a wired unit, I presume there are 2 wall thermostats wired back to it, though they could be wireless, in which case their receivers are wired to the controller. The Tado extension kit will give a wireless connection from one stat, and can be located next to the zone valves it controls. The second stat will be wired back to its zone valve, and the cylinder stat if already present will be wired in series with the extension kit HW relay to its valve. The boiler is a straightforward flow return type, no direct HW heating. Boiler is called for heat by the the zone valves' orange/grey wire contacts.
There is mention of OpenTherm control of the boiler but you will not be using this as your stats/HW timer contacts are being used to switch zone valves, which then cumulatively fire the boiler.

Doniekp

deezell wrote: »

Take all the expert advice you can get for free! Here's a good article on UFH and wooden floors.

http://www.warmup.ie/blog/can-i-use-floor-heating-under-wooden-floor
Lower water temperatures of only 27° plus high insulation u value of wood means slower room heat up time, requiring denser tubing. A rad in the room not a bad idea.
Whatever you decide, rads, UFH or rooms with both, make sure to zone wisely. This determines your quantity of stats. Too many worse than too few. UFH and rads in the same room or zone can be controlled by the same stat either by motorised zone valve for an entire zone, or room stat with a linked TRV for room control. You can get a price for manual stats and then tack on smart where it would be most useful. When installing rads make sure one valve on each is a TRV valve body, they cost cents more than a screw type, but mean you can go smart on a room basis later for the cost of the smart TRV heads, no plumbing required.

Thanks for the tip on TRV value body.
zoning, I was thinking about:

downstairs rads in zone 1
upstairs rads zone 2
the 3 rooms with UFH each on their own zone

Caillte

GUys,

I have Tado TRVs on all my rads and I use nest for the main on/off of the boiler and have the two talking to each other via stringify and ifttt. But my immersion is an old fashion on/off bath/sink double switch with a dial timer that you push out the lugs for duration. IS there anything I can do to this immersion to make it smart for my hot water?

deezell

Caillte wrote: »

GUys,

I have Tado TRVs on all my rads and I use nest for the main on/off of the boiler and have the two talking to each other via stringify and ifttt. But my immersion is an old fashion on/off bath/sink double switch with a dial timer that you push out the lugs for duration. IS there anything I can do to this immersion to make it smart for my hot water?

If you have a generation 2 nest with HW relay on the heatlink box, and if you are not already using this for boiler HW, then you can program this relay to operate a high current relay to supply power to the immersion element. Healink relay is only 1amp rated, so you will use this to drive a 15Amp mains relay. This will control a single element of the immersion.
If thr heatlink is not an option you can install a Sonoff internet relay which can be operated by IFTTT. Again, this will drive a higher current mains relay. You can install two Sonoff and slave relays to switch between Sink/Bath immersion elements.

xl500

Caillte wrote: »

GUys,

I have Tado TRVs on all my rads and I use nest for the main on/off of the boiler and have the two talking to each other via stringify and ifttt. But my immersion is an old fashion on/off bath/sink double switch with a dial timer that you push out the lugs for duration. IS there anything I can do to this immersion to make it smart for my hot water?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Timeguard-Controlled-Timeswitch-Socket-FSTWIFI/dp/B07228W28L/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516866799&sr=8-1&keywords=wifi+spur

skerry

Tado folks - thinking of picking up a second Smart Stat today for upstairs zone to replace the basic dial stat on the wall. Can get the below stat on Amazon for £89 today cos Amazon offering £10 off today only.

Can anyone who's got additional stat recently confirm if the below linked stat is V3 or V2, its not mentioned in description.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/tado%C2%B0-additional-Smart-Thermostat-intelligent/dp/B01BWUH8W4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1516875740&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=tado+smart+thermostat&psc=1

Also, I had a spark out yesterday whose gonna come back in a few weeks to wire up my system better as currently the orange/ grey wires to call boiler from zone valves don't seem to be wired.

My heating it switched on by the usual spur switch near boiler and controlled by upstairs and downstairs stats (downstairs is Tado and upstairs will soon also be Tado).

He maintains I need a 3 zone timer near the boiler also which doesn't make sense to me as I though Tado stats are for this exact function. He's not familiar with Tado. Can anyone confirm if he's right or wrong?

deezell

skerry wrote: »

Tado folks - thinking of picking up a second Smart Stat today for upstairs zone to replace the basic dial stat on the wall. Can get the below stat on Amazon for £89 today cos Amazon offering £10 off today only.

Can anyone who's got additional stat recently confirm if the below linked stat is V3 or V2, its not mentioned in description.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/tado%C2%B0-additional-Smart-Thermostat-intelligent/dp/B01BWUH8W4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1516875740&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=tado+smart+thermostat&psc=1

Also, I had a spark out yesterday whose gonna come back in a few weeks to wire up my system better as currently the orange/ grey wires to call boiler from zone valves don't seem to be wired.

My heating it switched on by the usual spur switch near boiler and controlled by upstairs and downstairs stats (downstairs is Tado and upstairs will soon also be Tado).

He maintains I need a 3 zone timer near the boiler also which doesn't make sense to me as I though Tado stats are for this exact function. He's not familiar with Tado. Can anyone confirm if he's right or wrong?

If your heating is only controlled by ordinary stats it's normal to have a timer. Your sparks probably isn't aware that the timer function is inherent in the smart Tado stat. He specifies 3 zones so I assume your hot water is on the system. Does it have its own zone valve? Is it currently switched by a ordinary stat on the cylinder? I'm guessing you hot water heats only if you turn on the boiler with the spur switch. With the switch on, If you turn down the stats to turn off the heating , does the boiler continue to heat the HW and fire on and off intermittently? It's possible to leave a boiler in this configuration, with the boiler under control of its own internal stat, always filled with hot water, which then just transfers to the cylinder by gravity or by the boiler pump. If you want the boiler to fire for HW as well as for the two zones, you can get the tado extension kit wired into the system. If there is a HW motorised valve, the ext kit HW contacts are wired to this and all three valves then fire the boiler. if the HW is just heated by being plumbed directly to the boiler, gravity or on the pumped circuit, its still possible to wire the extension kit directly to the "call from heat" live from the two heating zone valves. This will give you three timers on your app, one each for the heating and a timer for the HW. You can insert a cylinder stat in series with the HW call for heat to give HW temperature control.
The difference in the system if the HW does not have a valve is that it will heat whenever the boiler is on, any heating zone or its own timer call. This is not a huge issue, though there are some plumbing considerations in this layout. Having it's own zone valve means all three zones are independent of each other.
The only difference between V2 and V3 is the bridge. the stats are identical. V3 bridge is upgraded to allow direct connection to Apple homekit.

deezell

Skerry, I've just realised you posted many times before and you do have a zone valve for HW only, so the Tado extension kit will cover this if you require the HW to be timed, otherwise a simple cylinder stat to the HW zone vale, in turn connected to the boiler, will keep it constantly topped up.

skerry

deezell wrote: »

If your heating is only controlled by ordinary stats it's normal to have a timer. Your sparks probably isn't aware that the timer function is inherent in the smart Tado stat. He specifies 3 zones so I assume your hot water is on the system. Does it have its own zone valve? Is it currently switched by a ordinary stat on the cylinder? I'm guessing you hot water heats only if you turn on the boiler with the spur switch. With the switch on, If you turn down the stats to turn off the heating , does the boiler continue to heat the HW and fire on and off intermittently? It's possible to leave a boiler in this configuration, with the boiler under control of its own internal stat, always filled with hot water, which then just transfers to the cylinder by gravity or by the boiler pump. If you want the boiler to fire for HW as well as for the two zones, you can get the tado extension kit wired into the system. If there is a HW motorised valve, the ext kit HW contacts are wired to this and all three valves then fire the boiler. if the HW is just heated by being plumbed directly to the boiler, gravity or on the pumped circuit, its still possible to wire the extension kit directly to the "call from heat" live from the two heating zone valves. This will give you three timers on your app, one each for the heating and a timer for the HW. You can insert a cylinder stat in series with the HW call for heat to give HW temperature control.
The difference in the system if the HW does not have a valve is that it will heat whenever the boiler is on, any heating zone or its own timer call. This is not a huge issue, though there are some plumbing considerations in this layout. Having it's own zone valve means all three zones are independent of each other.
The only difference between V2 and V3 is the bridge. the stats are identical. V3 bridge is upgraded to allow direct connection to Apple homekit.

Thanks Deezell,
That's as I thought so, if I have the smart stats installed then no need for 3 zone timer. I think he's just not familiar with the smart stat functionality and this is what I was trying to explain to him.

HW zone has its own zone valve and I only got this functioning again yesterday. There is a cylinder stat on the tank which spark explained is basic metal contact type which shuts off the HW once it reaches temp so it doesn't over heat. Is this sufficient to give me heat control once I get around to getting the Extension kit to allow me timer functionality for HW?

I'll pounce on that additional Smart stat so as £89 is the cheapest I've seen since you put me onto the used Tado stats on Maplin a while back were I got the starter kit for £79.

I only remembered after I posted that you had mentioned a while back that the homekit integration on the bridge was only difference between V2 and V3.

Hoping its a simple swap out for the basic dial stat that's currently on the landing.

deezell

skerry wrote: »

Thanks Deezell,
That's as I thought so, if I have the smart stats installed then no need for 3 zone timer. I think he's just not familiar with the smart stat functionality and this is what I was trying to explain to him.

HW zone has its own zone valve and I only got this functioning again yesterday. There is a cylinder stat on the tank which spark explained is basic metal contact type which shuts off the HW once it reaches temp so it doesn't over heat. Is this sufficient to give me heat control once I get around to getting the Extension kit to allow me timer functionality for HW?

I'll pounce on that additional Smart stat so as £89 is the cheapest I've seen since you put me onto the used Tado stats on Maplin a while back were I got the starter kit for £79.

I only remembered after I posted that you had mentioned a while back that the homekit integration on the bridge was only difference between V2 and V3.

Hoping its a simple swap out for the basic dial stat that's currently on the landing.

Yes, cylinder stat will close the HW valve when temperature is reached but the boiler must be fired only from it's zone valve so that the boiler turns off. If you have a system where all the zone valves could be closed but the boiler could still fire from some direct switch as it was not fired exclusively from the zone valve contacts, you could have a situation where the boiler had no bypass, no water circuit.
The older plumbing scenario where the cylinder is always open to the boiler is common enough, but gives less control.

if you go for the extension kit (10% off on amazon?), you will have a timer for the HW, plus you can optionally make one of you stats wireless back to its zone valve, using the stat contacts on the extension kit, allowing you to relocate that stat without house wiring.

skerry

deezell wrote: »

Yes, cylinder stat will close the HW valve when temperature is reached but the boiler must be fired only from it's zone valve so that the boiler turns off. If you have a system where all the zone valves could be closed but the boiler could still fire from some direct switch as it was not fired exclusively from the zone valve contacts, you could have a situation where the boiler had no bypass, no water circuit.
The older plumbing scenario where the cylinder is always open to the boiler is common enough, but gives less control.

if you go for the extension kit (10% off on amazon?), you will have a timer for the HW, plus you can optionally make one of you stats wireless back to its zone valve, using the stat contacts on the extension kit, allowing you to relocate that stat without house wiring.

Super, finally have cylinder stat talking to the HW zone valve. Thought it was the Honeywell valve that was knackered but turns out the cylinder stat just needed to be reset.

Spark said he will come back in a few weeks and wire up zone valves so they can call boiler through grey/orange wires as these not currently wired up so will look into the Extension kit option once that's all sorted.

I'll turn down all stats later just to check that there is no direct switch firing the boiler. If it happens to be the case, is it dangerous to have all valves closed and boiler still firing?

Plumber was out last week and sorted my downstairs rads not heating so with additional smart stat upstairs and rads now operating as they should I should be looking good finally and be able to take proper advantage of the Tado stats functionality.

Thanks again for the info

skerry

So, I justified a Smart TRV purchase after all. The little ones room is above the kitchen so is always too hot and rest of upstairs rooms can get quite cold over the night so not ideal. She had a temp last night so, bleary eyed with lack of sleep, I convinced myself that a Smart TRV in babies room will absolutely solve this problem and whipped out the phone and bought one

Have a Smart Stat on the way for upstairs too but in all likelihood might be a couple of weeks before I get this installed so would like to set up Smart TRV to control little ones room in the meantime.

Can this be operated independently of a Smart stat? I'm presuming in my situation it will just give better control by closing her rad down better when temp reached and letting other rads stay on.

I read that the TRV can call for heat from the boiler independently? Just wondering how this is achieved, is it through communicating with a Tado wall Stat? Also I presume in a case where the room with smart TRV is colder and calling for heat, that all other rads in that zone will heat also unless I have Smart TRVs on all the rads I'm using?

Probably some obvious questions above but first experience with smart TRV and after convincing the missus in our sleep deprived state last night that this will solve our woes I need to sound like I know what I'm talking about