Switching dial thermostat to flexible digital one??

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

Hi All,

I currently have a potterton boiler (not a combi) that for me has been flawless despite the reputation people tell me they have!

The program unit i have isnt very flexible in that I can only set to turn on and off twice a day or "advance".. only one program can be set. ie cant have different times for the weekend.

No idea if this is a daft idea, but I often leave the heating on via the program unit and control if the heating is on or off using the dial.

Not sure if such a thing exists, but was hoping that it might be possible to buy a wireless device to say live in the lounge to replace the dial thermostat which means I can leave the heating at the program thing switched on permenantly and control the heating using a wireless thing which could be flexible enouh to set different on/off times by day and perhaps even different temperatures etc?

I'm concious that I'm not explaining very well but hopefully you get what i'm thinking! :rotfl:

This was linked to in another thread, but seemed to mention connecting things at the boiler... I'm effectively hoping to replace the dial which a digital means of controlling the temp automatically by time..

http://www.honeywelluk.com/product.aspx?r=pt&p=2480

Apologies - I have never explained anything as rubbish as this in my life!!

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

Would the below achieve what i'm babbling about?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190384299288

Im thinking maybe the unit on the right connects in the place of the existing dial and I effectively program the display to mimic me walking up to the dial and turning to desired temp and the appropriate time on the appropriate day?

I'd then just set the current crappy inflexible unit to just stay on permenantly and let this do the work?

macman

Assuming the current dial room 'stat is in the same place you want the digital programmer to go, then you don't have to go wireless. Honeywell make a wired version of the CM927 which is otherwise identical, it's the CM907. About £59 as opposed to nearly £100.

gavinp

We do exactly the same thing as you are describing using one of these:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/17585/Plumbing/Central-Heating-Controls/Horstmann-DRT2-Room-Thermostat

This has a relay within it so if the temperature is above the target then the heating is off completely so we leave our heating on permanently all year around.

As we both work full-time, we set the target temperature to 17 degrees during the weekdays which means that apart from when it is snowing outside, the heating remains off until the program kicks in at early evening.

We have had our unit for a couple of years and it works great - just need to replace the two AAA batteries once a year.

Thanks

Gavin

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

Cheers for the rapid replies guys.... Seems like its way forward. I'm fed up of not being able have it warmer in the mornings than in the evenings unless I remember to do it on my way out the door so this defo seems the way forward!

Dont suppose anyone "in the know" can confirm why stats always seem to be in the hall? Is there a reason?

The only reason I was thinking wireless is so in theory if I am in the living room and want it at say 21degs, then decide i'm off to the other end of the house for a couple of hours I could take the display with me and the heating would either cut off or switch on to make the temp in whatever room i'm in at that level.

Would that be how it works? tbh, its not a scenario thats going to happen every night, but just like the idea of not having to second guess what the temp in the hall needs to be set at to make in comfortable elsewhere if you see what i mean?

Thanks again for the replies..

gavinp

It is worth bearing in mind that fitting a programmable thermostat is designed to give you finer control of when the heating system as a whole is on and off rather than regulating temperature in individual rooms.

We have also recently fitted thermostatic radiator valves to all of our radiators (apart from the one in the hall with the thermostat) and this allows you to set the temperature of individual rooms to suit. If you go for liquid sensors rather than wax sensors, they react quicker to temperature changes but are more expensive.

We have our thermostat set to 22 degrees C in the hallway and it is well insulated so with some experimentation we have balanced the rooms how we want them, bathroom nice and warm, bedrooms cooler etc.

Thanks

Gavin

jrrowleyws

Do you have an external programmer to have the boiler switching on and off? I used to have an archaic manual timer attached (not physically attached, was in the airing cupboard) to a potterton but easily had it changed to a proper digital programmer, then the heating and hotwater can be programmed upto 5 times per day or something crazy!

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

Gavin - Yeah good point... I've never really bothered trying to get the TRVs balanced... just open them right up or turn down :-/

jrrowley - yeah have a very basic on/off digital one that lives in the kitchen that i generally leave on then control using the stat dial... The reason i'm leaning towards changing that to a digital rather than the On/Off is because i'd like to have different temps depending on time of day and weekday / wkend..