Remote/iphone controlled radiator valves?

Smiley_Dan

oldskoo1 wrote: »

I have 21 radiators to turn off which would be a pain everyday and equally painful to install a load of new trvs.

I guess it's not how many TRVs you have in total, it's how many you use. We have 22, but only plan on getting about ten of these because we don't use a lot of our rooms (currently - growing family).

We can add more later, assuming the company are still in business. At which point it becomes more interesting how "open" the technology is. Unfortunately the open source movement hasn't really developed a competitive offering yet (that I know of - there's OpenTRV but that hasn't really got going).

oldskoo1 wrote: »

Just seems like a waste to heat the entire house. Equally sad that it's the cheapest option. Panel heater probably does pip it even tho electric heating seems a lot more expensive. The room to heat is 22ft by 14ft so I wonder how much electricity it will take compared to firing the boiler.

Do a standard heat loss calculation and that will tell you the kW rating of radiator you need, from there you can estimate cost: http://www.cityplumbing.co.uk/heatLossCalculator

Can you can air source pumps blowing warm air from vents?

You can use an air to air heat pump with multiple outlets.

Scrounger

Cardew wrote: »

... I never feel comfortable with programmed appliances when out of the house.

So you don't you have a timer on your CH & HW and/or a programmable thermostat?

Must be a pain switching it all manually :j

Scrounger

Cardew

Scrounger wrote: »

So you don't you have a timer on your CH & HW and/or a programmable thermostat?

Must be a pain switching it all manually :j

Scrounger

Not really, I get the Butler or head footman to do it!

System

Smiley_Dan wrote: »

I guess it's not how many TRVs you have in total, it's how many you use. We have 22, but only plan on getting about ten of these because we don't use a lot of our rooms (currently - growing family).

.

Quite true. This is the part of the equation that needs a lot of thought. The other factor is the number of zones that may need to be controlled in the future. The Evohome system will control up to 12 zones. This is not the same as 12 TRVs as TRVs can be zoned together. For example, we have two radiators in our living room and two in our hall: 4 TRVs = 2 zones. There appear to be 2 well known manufacturers of controllable TRVs: Drayton and Honeywell. There are, however, a plethora of new manufacturers pushing out controllers etc. I went for Honeywell as the system is used across Europe: that said, Heat Genius is getting a lot of good press.

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/reviews/my-automated-home-heat-genius-smart-home-heating-controls.html

If you are a real tech nerd, then I note that some clever people are using a Raspberry PI to control their heating.

Smiley_Dan

I'm pretty sure the zones are controlled by software, so you can always reconfigure the zones...

I'm about to purchase HG I think.

MillicentBystander

Evohome looks a great concept. I was originally looking at Tado but it doesn't 'do' zoning so looked at systems that do and Evohome looks to be the one I am going with. The Heat Genius seems fine as well but the Evohome is made by Honeywell so there is far more certainty regarding the future with this system IMO.I 'get' the argument regarding 'why not just do this all manually at each rad' but, serioulsy, hand on heart, who would actually do this all the time?? Life's too short etc,,,

System

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Evohome looks a great concept. I was originally looking at Tado but it doesn't 'do' zoning so looked at systems that do and Evohome looks to be the one I am going with. The Heat Genius seems fine as well but the Evohome is made by Honeywell so there is far more certainty regarding the future with this system IMO.I 'get' the argument regarding 'why not just do this all manually at each rad' but, serioulsy, hand on heart, who would actually do this all the time?? Life's too short etc,,,

Evohome was preceded by the Evotouch so there is history here. The Base Kit with remote access costs about £249 inc VAT. The HW kit is about £92 extra. TRVs are about £55 to £60 each (cheaper if you buy 4). I have an unvented HW system with 2 motorised valves. All the wiring is in the airing cupboard. Drilling into unvented cylinders is not sensible so my manufacturer recommended that the temp probe was pushed in under the insulation via the electrical access panel. It works well and controls HW between 50 and 60C. This range is easily changed via the controller. Each zone is individual so temps and times can be set at will, and copied to other zones. Open a window and the valve shuts off. The controller also has 'away' and 'work at home' settings.

Two cons: it is expensive and the controller firmware is not user upgradable. To date, the only problem that we have had was a brief loss of communication between the main controller and the HW controller during a violent thunderstorm. The controller logs all fault conditions. Evohome works on low frequency wifi - separate from your domestic wifi - which gives it significant range. All my TRVs are showing max signal strength.