Smart heating

rrl28

Alnat1 said:

Could save a whole lot more by setting it at 18C and putting a big jumper on 

that doesn't work when you are 76 years old and have thyroid problems

gsmh

I have Tado. Just the smart thermostat. I have had it for nearly 7 years. What I love most is that it works with an app on my phone and knows when I leave or return home and automatically does whatever I've set it do when I'm not at home. In my case it reverts to frost protection. Before Tado I would go away for a weekend and forget to turn my heating off. Now I know that's not possible. I also work irregular hours so a time-based schedule doesn't really work. I also love that Tado is the only third party thermostat that can work with Vaillant boilers in eBUS mode - so my boiler is effectively modulated rather than running in on/off mode like it would with Hive or Nest. Given the modest outlay in 2015 it must have easily paid for itself by now.

I have radiator thermostats, but they are dumb - I didn't want an overly complex setup.

Evan3020

How would it not help?, not prejudging as i know nothing about the condition but putting on warm clothing seems a good idea rather than cranking up the CH.

BUFF

QrizB said:

Petriix said:

Yes. Smart TRVs (used correctly) will optimise your heating usage and minimise the amount of heat lost by unoccupied rooms. The average saving of 3.5% from that study simply demonstrates that people are not particularly good at using their controls effectively.

Or, alternatively, smart controls aren't much better at their job than humans with dumb controls are?

Agreed if dumb controls are used properly, or, as the study mentioned, better controls also allowed people to make different choices about how they heated. I can attest to that from personal experience even without having a "smart" thermostat".

Dolor said:

k_man said:

Dolor said:

If smart heating controls are going to save the World, then one has ask why these new Building Regulations have just come in:

https://www.beama.org.uk/news/beama-heating-controls-group-explains-new-building-reg-changes.html

Isn't that about fitting TRVs and room thermostat, rather than Smart TRVs/heating?

My point is that the Building Regulations were revised in June 2022 and no one is recommending smart controls other than in respect of new builds fitted hwith combi boilers:

https://www.vaillant.co.uk/homeowners/advice-and-knowledge/boiler-plus/what-is-boiler-plus/

Even then there is no mention of eTRVs.

The new regs bring all new houses up to a pretty high starting standard (if people use them properly).
Smart (depending upon which definition you use) heating controls should help optimise systems for those that don't bother/learn how to do things manually but for those who do imo savings by going "smart" over that high starting standard used properly are going to be fairly minimal - probably under 10% & most likely more like 3-5%.

The market is driving down the price of "smart" controls anyway to the point that you are starting to see "smart" programmer/room 'stats for the same or little more than a conventional "dumb" equivalent e.g. a Hive Mini used hublessly is ~£50 & no doubt much less for a large user (like a large housing developer) so imo they will become the norm & "dumb" models will die off.
eTRVs however are still typically ~£40/50 each & you need several for the average house & as the study showed only gain on  average 3.5% saving meaning a very long roi period.

Workerdrone

gsmh said:

I have Tado. Just the smart thermostat. I have had it for nearly 7 years. What I love most is that it works with an app on my phone and knows when I leave or return home and automatically does whatever I've set it do when I'm not at home. In my case it reverts to frost protection. Before Tado I would go away for a weekend and forget to turn my heating off. Now I know that's not possible. I also work irregular hours so a time-based schedule doesn't really work. I also love that Tado is the only third party thermostat that can work with Vaillant boilers in eBUS mode - so my boiler is effectively modulated rather than running in on/off mode like it would with Hive or Nest. Given the modest outlay in 2015 it must have easily paid for itself by now.

I have radiator thermostats, but they are dumb - I didn't want an overly complex setup.

I've had my Honeywell Evohome using the Opentherm bridge to modulate the Ideal combi boiler. Is eBus Valliants proprietary standard or is it just a rebadged opentherm?

Magnitio

I have a Netatmo smart thermostat. One useful function is that, when my wife feels cold and turns the temperature up, the thermostat reverts to its normal setting an hour later.

BUFF

Workerdrone said:

gsmh said:

I have Tado. Just the smart thermostat. I have had it for nearly 7 years. What I love most is that it works with an app on my phone and knows when I leave or return home and automatically does whatever I've set it do when I'm not at home. In my case it reverts to frost protection. Before Tado I would go away for a weekend and forget to turn my heating off. Now I know that's not possible. I also work irregular hours so a time-based schedule doesn't really work. I also love that Tado is the only third party thermostat that can work with Vaillant boilers in eBUS mode - so my boiler is effectively modulated rather than running in on/off mode like it would with Hive or Nest. Given the modest outlay in 2015 it must have easily paid for itself by now.

I have radiator thermostats, but they are dumb - I didn't want an overly complex setup.

 Is eBus Valliants proprietary standard or is it just a rebadged opentherm?

eBus is Vaillant's proprietary equivalent of Opentherm (similar to how Worcester have EMS). I have seen it said that it is functionally superior to OpenTherm but I can't imagine that there is much in it.

Tado actually removed the digital bus feature in later UK wireless receivers (EU models still get it). 

Astria

Evan3020 said:

How would it not help?, not prejudging as i know nothing about the condition but putting on warm clothing seems a good idea rather than cranking up the CH.

I have Reynaud's, the doctor suggested wearing gloves or thicker socks when my hands and/or feet turn into ice blocks. I found that putting on more clothing generally (eg, a jumper) even though the rest of my body doesn't feel cold works much better. Previous to that I was cranking the heating up and sitting on my hands!

Alnat1

Have a look at wrist warmers. I use them as my circulation isn't great and I always have cold hands. They save me from chilblains.

Petriix

The only way to manually replicate the energy savings of smart TRVs is to run around the house turning individual TRVs up and down at various points - including 30 minutes before you get up etc.

The idea is to avoid unnecessarily heating empty rooms. When configured properly, it would be pretty much impossible to be as efficient with dumb TRVs unless you simply leave the radiators off.