Honeywell Evohome

yaz2010

Hi members,
I have been reading about thermostats for 2 months and not able to decide.
This is the set-up I have.
1 Radiator in Hallway
1 Radiator in Downstairs Bathroom
1 Radiator in Downstairs Bedroom
1 Radiator in Downstairs Reception Room
2 Radiators in Downstairs Living Room
1 Radiator in Kitchen
1 Radiator each in 3 Bedrooms Upstairs
1 Heated Towel Rail in Upstairs Bathroom.

At present I have a standard wired thermostat.
I have got a Worcester 30 CDI Greenstar Boiler and Heatrae Sadia Megaflo.

2 people , detached house.

Based on what I have read, single zone thermostats like Nest and Hive do not make much savings, hence Evohome seems to be a better option.

or people who have got honeywell evohome, have you noticed a difference in the bills?

Please can the experts advice.

Thank you.

System

That's a difficult one as it hasn't really been that cold over the last month or so.

Not surprisingly, heating zone installers will offer up 40% savings when: (according to academic research):


1. No Heating controls - 0% savings.

2. Control by room thermostat only - 12%

3. Control by room thermostat and TRVs - 40.7%

Clearly, much of the 40.7% can be achieved by manually operating TRVs as and when required. The truth is that most people do not bother. I like my Evohome installation and it is saving me money but I doubt that I will get a quick ROI.

This is worth a read if you want to know more about an alternative zoning system:

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

Nada666

If you want to install a fancy system then I would suggest installing the fancier system (that is, a zoned such as Honeywell or Tado.)

If you use enough heating to justify installing the cheaper single control system then you will justify installing the programmable room thermostats.

But before choosing you have to check you use enough in the first place. And make sure your system is balanced. If you have a trim boiler and closed doors and great insulation then manual thermostats may be enough - you may discover you need so little heating it does not help.

But as you are asking the question in the first place this suggests you like being cosy. As such even the couple-to-few hundred extra for zonable programmable thermostats will pay back.

(Also, afaik, you can take the system with you if you move.)

Nada666

(And don't forget the cheapest solution of all - don't stick your heating on to twice a day and leave it like that for months on end. Only switch it on as needed. (Although that is more for flats and terraces.))

matelodave

Interesting link here - its a report done by the University of Salford on the savings different controls have on central heating systems.
It suggests that even a basic set up with thermostat & TRVs will save quite a bit over a system without any controls at all.

Installing a system like Evohome will save you lots if you've no controls at all but the savings will be considerably less if you've already got some as there is less scope for improvement.

That's not to say that you wont get any improvement in energy consumption or comfort but the cost/benefit is less. So you'll probably end up paying a lot more than you'll save. I'd try out a programmable thermostat for £50 or less to see if I could improve my heating first.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&sqi=2&ved=0CFgQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.beama.org.uk%2Fdownload.cfm%2Fdocid%2F8B86E539-9C5C-4EE8-9A205FD2CBECBEB2&ei=v_tyVK6II4OYgwTV7oPQDA&usg=AFQjCNH4aUwicq1MdOzwMmVQZpIsOdQoiQ&sig2=gzWq-kmQ47vX9A76VDiD8A&bvm=bv.80185997,d.eXY

Smiley_Dan

A shout out for the British company Heat Genius who have a similar solution at lower cost than the Evohome.

MillicentBystander

Had Evohome fitted last week (finally!) so very early days and the fact we have recently moved in here sort of stops any definitive results regarding 'savings'. However, being the obsessive I am I have been taking daily meter reads for the last month leading up to the evohome being installed and so far, we are using approx 15-20%% less gas than before (this is also not accounting for the large temp drop in the last few days). Like I say, very early days and as Hengus says take the 40% savings with a pinch of salt, especially if you already have TVRs etc. Have to say I do LOVE the convenience of the system though. Example: we visited our son yesterday so set the evohome to shut the heating off in all rooms except the kitchen where the dogs stay whilst we are out and have them at the desired temp on our (expected) return time. Long story short we ended up staying quite a bit longer than expected so simply re-progrmmed the evohome via smartphone. Very very clever.

System

We are a retired couple at home most days. Currently, we are sitting in a small family room with one radiator on at 18C. The other 19 radiators in our home are off ( but would come on automatically if the room temp fell below 10C). Previously, I would have to scramble around turning down manual TRVs to get something close to this level of comfort/control. This is what zoning is all about and what Evohome does in style.

Biggles

matelodave wrote: »

Interesting link here - its a report done by the University of Salford on the savings different controls have on central heating systems.
It suggests that even a basic set up with thermostat & TRVs will save quite a bit over a system without any controls at all.

An interesting document; most of it was very well explained, except they lost me with "External temperature (chamber) set to average temperature of 5°C".

What is the 'chamber' and how do they set the external temperature?

Biggles

Smiley_Dan wrote: »

A shout out for the British company Heat Genius who have a similar solution at lower cost than the Evohome.

I'd be interested in a review comparing these two systems side-by-side but haven't seen any. Maybe it's early days yet.

System

A factor in my decision to go for Evohome was the fact that Honeywell has produced similar systems for a number of years - marketed mostly in mainland Europe. There is a lot of good information on the Automated Home forum.