Smart Heating

martin_cook

Hello to everybody taking the time to read this post.

I will start by introducing myself, I'm Martin from Stockport and I'm here today with a question I'd like to get some opinions on if I may…

Given the current climate with smart technology, I feel it time I dive in myself. Currently I have a Vaillant boiler with Vaillant controls and outdoor weather compensator, however the outdoor weather compensator has become faulty. So rather than replacing this at a substantial cost of £220 pounds. I would rather invest the money in new controls.

I am lost in the world of different brands and versions of heating controls. I think I have narrowed it down to Honeywell EvoHome, GeniusHub or Drayton Wiser.

Hopefully, somebody here can give me direction if I share what I have now.

ecoTEC Plus 624
VRC 470F Wireless Stat – Downstairs Zone
VR81 Remote Stat – Upstairs Zone
Albion 210 Hot water store with temperature probe running straight to the boiler, Electric stat is currently not wired up.
3 Honeywell zone valves all hard wired into my VR61, Upstairs Circuit, Downstairs Circuit and Hot Water. (will become 4 when UFH goes in)

I understand that my 470 offers true weather compensation and has better modulation for the most part BUT, the outdoor unit has failed and needs to be replaced.

*Whats the issue*

We live in a fairly large house with a total of 8 rooms and 9 Rads downstairs and 7 Rooms and 8 Rads upstairs. some of our rooms are unoccupied for weeks at a time or used very sporadically and without turning off the TRVs we have no control and feel its just a waste and other rooms heat up much faster than others creating some real hot and cold spots in the house - we did have everything balanced too. We also have no control via phone or any "smart" features.

*What i would like*

in an ideal world i would like a solution that can help save us some money and only heat the rooms we want at the times we want, so i am drawn to the EvoHome straight away, i know i would loose certain "key" things from my 470 but i believe the benefits of modern system will outweigh the loss ?; I would like to control the 3 zone valves as is to avoid any pipework modification and i would like to control thermostatically the hot water tank rather than it be a case of on/off, i dont believe the evo home can do that? we are about to embark on an extension project that will see the installation of a 3 zone single room underfloor heating system so will need to be able to control wet UFH.

Can anyone please help me try and decide on what to do here?

I also know that Vaillant are to bring out their new Senso stats but I suspect they will lack the power of the aftermarket units BUT will be propriety for my boiler which me be advantageous given that the vaillant boiler is not opentherm and only manageable through eBus.

 

Talldave

I wasn't sure what you meant about controlling water thermostatically - there must be some form of temperature control already, otherwise it would be boiling??  However ,a quick Google shows up an Evohome Hot Water Kit, which would sort that problem.

I've always had a liking for Honeywell kit, but only ever used their programmable thermostats - sadly I don't currently own a house to go to town on.  I have done a small modification to our rented house's system to add remote temperature sensors linked to a Heatmiser programmable thermostat. But I dislike the fact that you rely on the Heatmiser hub to link the sensors and the thermostat together which means if you lose broadband or the Heatmiser hub decides to sulk, you have no heating and there's no quick "override" (and the first you know of it is when the house is freezing in the middle of the night, which is not the time to be trying to reboot and re-install heating products!).

So with hindsight, I would avoid using any system that relies on both an internet connection and a third party server to do even the simplest of heating tasks.  I can perhaps accept that when there's no network connection you can't log in via a tablet and control stuff, but it's not acceptable for temperature sensors to have to talk to the thermostat using the internet.

I would also avoid any system that has a "hub" on your home network, but that cannot be bothered to provide a web interface to see what's going on.  When the Heatmiser hub throws a wobbly, you have 3 LEDs to look at - not good enough in my book.

MWT

martin_cook said:

...and i would like to control thermostatically the hot water tank rather than it be a case of on/off, i dont believe the evo home can do that?

The EvoHome is one of the few that actually can do that with the 'Hot Water Kit'.

Avoid things like the Owl Intuition that will tie you to routing everything through their servers. I will never forgive them for selling a system with no subscription fees and then later changing their minds and enforcing a fee thus killing the use of the hardware if you didn't pay...

matelodave

Here's an answer to your weather compensation if you are bit handy - https://www.automatedhome.co.uk/tutorials/building-an-opentherm-weather-compensator-for-honeywell-evohome.html