Control heating over internet for community hall

abssorb

Can anyone recommend a setup for our Village hall such that we can switch the heating on and off remotely?

• It needs to not rely on a mobile phone.
• A simple heating on/off would suffice. We don't need a day timer function at all, although "put heating on for 4 hours" would be a perfect function.
• Thermostat control would be a bonus but only as long as the physical device can be made tamper-proof (we don't want hirers adjusting the temp themselves).
• The device needs to confirm that settings have taken effect

Nest and Hive might seem the obvious choices, but they are not good solutions for commercial use as there's too much dependence on family use / the presence of mobile phones etc.

JJ_Egan

<It needs to not rely on a mobile phone.>
Question then is how would you expect to control the heating remotely .

Le_Kirk

You could use Hive/Nest and do the control remotely via Internet. My neighbour has Hive and he can control the heating/water via phone, thermostat in hall or via his PC/Tablet using the Hive web site. You would need to have a router (permanently on) in the village hall though. Regarding tamper proofing, you would need a physical cover over the thermostat that didn't prevent the thermostat reading the temperature in the hall.

18cc

I suspect before deciding what equipment to buy you need to decide how you are going to communicate with the village hall

you can either get do this by mobile phone in which case to equipment in the hall would have to have a SIM card

you can do it via the internet in which case the equipment in the hallwould either have to be linked to somebodys WI-Fi or you would have to have a dedicated internet connection on all the time which was will likrly involve a monthly cost etc eg take out a talk talk contract

the third way is a dedicated cable from the hall to the premises controlling the heating

I suppose another way would be via radio signals a bit like where you control a model aeroplane

Or you can have a dedicated Line of Sight of VHF link between the hall and the controlling premises

in any case you need to decide on a method

you then need to find the equipment to match

Robin9

abssorb wrote: »

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Nest and Hive might seem the obvious choices, but they are not good solutions for commercial use as there's too much dependence on family use / the presence of mobile phones etc.

What makes you think this?

I assume you have got a telephone line and broadband at your hall ???????

Robin9

abssorb - have you made any progress.?

I would be interested in which way you choose to go - I have a Church Hall with gas boiler, hardwired stat and with broadband on site.

abssorb

OK, I'll cover some basics.

A smartphone is not necessary to control a smart device. The word similarity can confuse things, but in general you can control any internet device from any web browser.

By the way the hall has 24/7 broadband and WiFi via a 4G router.

Not relying on a phone - I guess this caused confusion. Any technology that relies on supplying your mobile phone identity, such that it becomes part of the overall system, is a phone-dependent technology. This is what I mean. Or in simpler terms, if it needs a "App" then you are sharing your phone's identity to make it work.

So internet is fine, but relying on a phone app/account is not.

Nest and Hive are out. I don't really want this thread to derail into why not
Suffice to say I have a nest at home. The nest is heavily dependent on phones and assumes a phone = a person. Their software is very person-centric and that's why it won't be suitable for commercial premises. The committee is not a family and doesn't behave like a family, but the nest software is designed for families. I.e. if all the registered users leave the house, the heating will switch off. This is the opposite of what we want to happen.
The nest can be configured to try and work (I've done this) but it becomes painful to use, turns it into an expensive on/off box and it will constantly plague you with notifications that you're doing it wrong. Also if I put a nest in the hall as well as my own nest, my app becomes more complicated.

I wonder if any of the elec trades have any views?

This caught my interest: https://mihome4u.co.uk/