Remote control of heating

jennifernil

Looking for some advice on the above subject, but everything is not straightforward!

Let me set the scene.....

There are 2 of us who look after setting the heating at our local guide halls.

We have 3 separate boilers, one for each of the 2 halls and a combi that heats toilets, kitchen, corridor etc, and gives hot water.

Each boiler has its own 7 day timer.

All temperature control is by TRVs

The building is in use mainly at regular times each week, one hall may be in use when the other is not. There are occasional extra meetings which heating has to be set up for on an individual basis. Sometimes meetings are cancelled.

When it comes to school holidays that is when our biggest problem starts as some users are off in the holidays and some are not. This means someone has to be available on a weekly basis to set or cancel heating times.

Usually one of us is here, but this Easter we are both away at the same time, so nobody to tend the heating clocks. I envisage this becoming a regular happening.

We have 2 choices at present.....let heating run when nobody is there, which we cannot really afford.......or ask our users to cancel their classes/meetings, which does not go down very well with them.

We have no phone line to the building, again far too expensive, so no internet.

Ideally what we need are either 28 day timers, or a system we can set up and control by mobile phone. With 3 boilers to control, the cost of any such system has to be considered.

Would be gratefull for any pointers to a viable solution that would be within our budget.

Max budget would ideally be around £500 for a solution that gave us separate remote control over all 3 boilers, preferably for setting up/altering times as well as simple remote on/off switching.

pramsay13

I'm not sure about a long term solution, but in the short term can you not leave instructions for hall users to turn heating up / down as appropriate?

Pdbaggett

With no internet connection anything remotely controlled is out of the question I would have thought.

Robin9

pramsay13 wrote: »

I'm not sure about a long term solution, but in the short term can you not leave instructions for hall users to turn heating up / down as appropriate?

Easier said than done.

While turning off by the user might work - how do switch the heating on when the hall needs several hours to heat up.

tonyh66

3 Hive thermostat systems would have worked, but with no internet its a none starter. You need internet as all the remote controls systems work on wifi.

tacpot12

This device on eBay should do what you need:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F183134463107

(It is a two relays controlled independently by GSM text messages)

A competent heating engineer should be able to wire it up so that you can switch Hall 1 or Hall 2 off by text message and have the combo boiler come on if either of the Hall boilers is switched on. The cost of other materials will be minimal; just some short bits of wiring and trunking to create a neat installation. The main cost will be labour.

jennifernil

pramsay13 wrote: »

I'm not sure about a long term solution, but in the short term can you not leave instructions for hall users to turn heating up / down as appropriate?

Heating is on timers, so needs usually a one hour warm up time, nobody wants to be there that early.

Plus, even with precise instructions, people in the past have managed to mess up the programming by touching the wrong button, so much better that only someone who knows what they are doing is allowed to touch the timers!

jennifernil

tonyh66 wrote: »

3 Hive thermostat systems would have worked, but with no internet its a none starter. You need internet as all the remote controls systems work on wifi.

Correct, we have had to discount that on the grounds of cost as all the phone companies insist we cannot have a domestic line installed, and we cannot justify the cost of a business set up.

jennifernil

tacpot12 wrote: »

This device on eBay should do what you need:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F183134463107

(It is a two relays controlled independently by GSM text messages)

A competent heating engineer should be able to wire it up so that you can switch Hall 1 or Hall 2 off by text message and have the combo boiler come on if either of the Hall boilers is switched on. The cost of other materials will be minimal; just some short bits of wiring and trunking to create a neat installation. The main cost will be labour.

Thanks, will get my husband to take a look, he is interested in this sort of thing, then we will speak with our heating man.

Ruski

Also research "Mobile Broadband" or "3G broadband" - this may have added benefits for the Hall, i.e. WiFi connected

Russ

jennifernil

Yes, we use that sort of thing ourselves when away in our caravan.

However I am pretty sure the kids can manage without the internet for an hour or two each week! They need a change from what they do at home.

Any unit or class that does want internet can provide their own mobile set up of course, which I think would be a better idea.

I could envisage finding the GBs had all been used up when we needed to use it for the heating if it was available to everyone.

The systems like Hive also seem quite expensive to purchase and run, which for occasional use (at present) is difficult to justify.

That may of course change in the future.

Plenty to think about.