Intelligent Thermostat

mavisangelica

mandm65 wrote: »

Take a look at https://www.Evohome.info, it might beyond what you are looking for but certainly a step forward towards the home automation.

I like :j

I really like the idea of having different temps in each room. I need to read up on this (and find out how much it costs.)

mandm65

mavisangelica wrote: »

I like :j

I really like the idea of having different temps in each room. I need to read up on this (and find out how much it costs.)

Do come back and let us know if you decided to go ahead.

mavisangelica

mandm65 wrote: »

Do come back and let us know if you decided to go ahead.

Will do - I am really tempted. It will be expensive compared to Hive or Nest but makes sense in terms of having different temps in each room which will hopefully save money in the long term.

I looks like it will cost approx £550 for the hardware - plus the cost of installation. (We live in a bungalow and have 6 rooms/radiators). From the limited reading I have done, I think that it is just a case of replacing the existing TRVs with the digital ones and then wiring a transmitter to the boiler to transmit to the base unit.

We have just moved in and need to get a new thermostat/timer anyway and I had put a bit of money away prior to moving for 'luxuries' in the new house so I think that I can justify it.

Mark_T27

You need to be careful the type of system you go for. If you have a family, switching the heating on and off from your phone might sound like a good idea, but if its activated by your phone, you are out and your children are in, they won't thank you for turning off the heating and leaving them in a cold house.

Some of the systems on the market have geo-fencing which means when you are in proximity of the house, it will switch on the heating (by tracking the GPS signal on your phone) - sounds cool but can also give you the same problem of switching off the heating whilst people are inside if its triggered by your phone. Other systems have profiles so you can programme the timer to come on whilst you are out when you know your schedule. Its time consuming to set-up, but works quite well.

Although we've installed a few of these systems, we can't see any reduction in cost of heating bills yet. Its early days, but we are finding that people's heating usage goes up slightly as they tend to switch the heating on and off more regularly, thereby using more gas, as part of the wow factor of being able to do it.

You might also want to follow @houseofcoates on twitter - this guy in San Francisco has set-up his smart thermostat to Twitter, tweeting when anything changes in the house like temperature etc. Its quite funny and gives you an idea of what is possible.

mavisangelica

Can any reputable heating person install the Evohome or should I be looking for someone from the 'approved' list on their website?

giraffe69

If you want different temps in different rooms then heating zones is one way to do it but if you have a thermostat and the radiators in the rest of the house have thermostatic valves then there is no reason why you shouldn't have rooms cooler. Our bedrooms have the valves turned down so they are always cooler than the living room.

closed

Whole point of trv's is to set max temps in each room, and limit wasteful heating.

Set them properly (not on max), along with the timer, and you probably don't need anything else.

GPS tracked heating is a little ott, does it also monitor when you're in the local pub, big brother must love all this tech

mavisangelica

Well not having much luck getting a quote.

I have contacted two local people from the Evohome website on their 'approved' list. Both took two phone calls to come out to give a quote.

The first, it is now two weeks later and hove not received the quote despite him apologising that he could not send it that night (and him replying to my email after a week saying it would be with us soon.)

The second was making sounds that it might not be compatible with our boiler and tried to persuade us that a programmable thermostat in the hall would be better.

getmore4less

I just updated my thread.


We went for OWL to replace the thermostat in the hall and give us water tank control(£200) programable thermostat for the water.

As you have a combi the cheaper £120 kit should do.
http://www.theowl.com/index.php?cID=257

you can get it bundled with an energy monitor(£25) for £140.

Set up easy and as long as you have compatible wiring to the stat. a simple replacement.

Our house seems to be fine with a single stat and close the doors/rads in the rooms we don't use.

With a bungalow some Zone/timing may be needed but TVR will probably achieve that.


For a good stand alone programable I think the Honewell 907 would do the job


I think the TADO deal was good if you just wanted heating control.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/tado-smart-thermostat-2-82-rental-per-month-tado-1980797

Was £36 to try for a year and see where every thing goes.

most of the savings would probably come from just being in better control of not being at home.

If I were in your shoes I think I would go with just the stat change to programable and see how it goes over the winter.

smifffy1989

Salus have one too, we were looking at getting that.