Smart thermostats and similar central heating wizardry

racing_blue

Hi all

Old house, 450 square metres. Leaky single-glazed windows +some secondary glazing. Gas central heating.

Currently heating is ON or OFF. It's a PITA becuase our approach to heating is all or nothing, whether it is 10 degrees outside or minus 10.

What I'd really like is to zone the house, and control the temperature in each zone over the day and week. With the potential to over-ride.

So for example, bedrooms might be set for 21 degrees from 6am to 8am; 15 degrees 8am-4pm; 18 degrees 4pm-8pm; 21 degrees 8pm-10pm; and 15 degrees overnight until 6am. Kitchen, halls, and Living rooms might be set differently.

Is there a system out there which allows this? Who would fit it for me? Which is the best system? I have read about Hive and Nest but am not sure how these would work in practice. Anyone got any experience to share please?

Jonesya

You might want to look at Honeywell evohome - uses intelligent TRVs which makes it possible to control temperatures in individual rooms. Not cheap but looks a nice product.

C_Mababejive

I'd say your primary investment should be in energy efficiency measures i.e insulation and windows..

TheCyclingProgrammer

I'm very happy with my Nest but I'm not sure it will quite match your requirements. I agree with the poster above that evohome is worth looking at as I understand it's one of the best zoned smart heating systems out there, but it's not cheap.

The above poster has a point though. I'd think about whether you truly need a zoned system. I have a 4 bed house that copes just fine with the Nest in a central location and TRVs on all the radiators (except on the towel rails and the rads in the hallway where th Nest is located).

The Nest will give you much more nuanced control over your heating, with better scheduling, away detection etc. and the money saved compared to the evohome could go towards things like replacing old radiators with newer convector rads, installing TRVs if you don't have them or replacing old ones with newer ones, upgrading your glazing etc.

Insulation is also important although insulating older houses isn't always a straightforward job. You should certainly make sure you have sufficient loft insulation though.

racing_blue

Thanks for the replies, I had never heard of Honeywell but that looks promising, I'll read more and post back

macman

Also look at Tado, though the same zoning qualifications as above apply.
If you don't need 'remote' control, then just get a decent digital programmer and TRV's installed.
If you have no room 'stat at all at present then you are just burning money.