Heating Advice Required

amaidment

Hi All,

I'm hoping you can give me some advice and help me make up my mind on what to do with our heating controls!

A few years ago we had our boiler replaced with a Vaillant Ecotec 415 for our heating and hot water. The heating was changed to a sealed, pressurised system at the same time. This works well but our gas bills are still higher than we would like. Our current bill for gas only (we have a gas hob/oven as well) is around £550 per year and we live in a 3 bed end of terrace.

We'll likely be switching suppliers soon from Utility Warehouse to Sainsbury's Energy to save us money, but I think one cause is the old controls we have for our heating which are very old. We have a Switchmaster SM600 control unit, which only allows 2 on/off programmes per day, and every day must be the same. We also have an extremely old Satchwell TLX2251 thermostat and I'm not sure it's that accurate.

We have a pretty varied daily routine, which means we need a lot more control over when heating/hot water comes on that we currently have:

- I work in London 3 days/week, meaning I get up and have a shower a little after 6am. I'm then home around half 6. These days are the same each week.
- I work from home 2 days/week, meaning I get up between 7 and 8 depending on my wife schedule. I'm then naturally at home all day.
- My wife works an early shift 3 days/week (days vary), meaning she gets up at 7 and is home around half 4.
- My wife works a late shift 2 days/week (days vary), meaning she gets up at 9 and is home around half 7.
- While weekends are pretty settled, one Saturday/month my wife works so is up at 7.

So given all of that, do you helpful people think I should:

1) Just leaving my controls as-is, assuming they're working, as it's not worth the cost.
2) Replace my controls (and possibly thermostat) with a new version with more on/off settings and day control, paying an electrician to fit (as I can't do like for like from reading online). If anyone has recommendations on control units please let me know.
3) Go for one of the 'smart' control systems like Hive or Nest to give even more control.

The initial cost isn't an issue and I'm leaning towards option 3, just because I'm a bit of a tech geek, and I can see me using something from my phone/tablet more.

Thanks in advance.
Adrian

System

Try posing your question on this forum which is supported by Smart heating system professionals:

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?13-Heating-Control

FWiW, I have Evohome installed and it has replaced a system with a 5/2 day timer, individual TRVs and a a hall thermostat. I was surprised to find that over nearly a year (9 months with Evohome) it has saved me 20% on my gas bill. Hive and Nest are nothing more than a smart thermostat.

teabelly

I'd have said a Tado would be a good bet. You can individual days set and also if no one is in then it turns the heating down automatically.

New version of app will allow multiple temperatures during the day.

The tado seems to lead to less gas being used and the house remaining warm much more than before. The central heating was only on for a few hours a day and with the Tado with the temperature set to a reasonable 20 odd it is warm all the time and using less gas than before.

It definitely helps to make sure you have TRVs on the majority of radiators and any ones installed are working correctly. Ones stuck open just waste gas.

You can also rent a Tado rather than buy one outright so it costs £70 odd plus installation to find out whether it's going to be any good. If not you can send it back.

There's usually someone at home so I find the Tado is ideal as it seems to be a lot smarter than the others as far as heating strategies to make the heating as efficient as possible are concerned.