can you swap to easier to use thermostat

jvjack

Have new gas combi boiler. Has moveable Honeywell thermostat T3 range. I find it very complicated to programme.
Im following some youtube vids and nearly getting there to understand but not quite.
Anyone know if you can get simpler one to use , or does it take boiler engineer to link it up to boiler.

stewie_griffin

Following this as I have the same thermostat and don’t use the programming function. I turn it off in the summer months and then change the temperature over winter. Thankfully I do hybrid working so I’m at home a lot of the time during the week. Would love to fit a Smart thermostat but no idea how complicated it would be.

[Deleted User]

Pretty much depends on how confident you are at following a wiring diagram.

I switched from a timer by the boiler and thermostat in the hall, to a heatlink in the airing cupboard and smart thermostat - just following the schematics - it looks like a mess in the cupboard now, but it's only about 8 wires.

For a combi, it would likely be even simpler - probably only four or five connections - all of which will be "take out of old box and put in the right slot of the new box".

macman

You only have to programme it once, or maybe twice a year as the seasons change, so why not persevere with the existing one.
Most programmer installs are done by a sparky, not an RGI, unless it's something very simple.

jvjack

ah thanks. Ill persevere. Nearly there. The manual has little detail , but a guy on youtube i'm watching is making it a bit easier.

NannaH

Hives and hive minis are dead easy to fit.  You already have a modern receiver so the wires from the boiler are already there for the hive receiver.
 You need a hub that plugs into your router for the mini as it’s all app based but you can use the normal Hive without a hub and control the settings from the thermostat,  you can put it on a wall or have it free standing.  My Daughter has the normal hive but the previous owners took the hub so I’ve bought her one for Xmas.   The thermostat seems to eat through batteries though,  much faster than in my salus it500.  

jvjack

ah thanks. i'll look into that hive.  

Apodemus

NannaH said:

Hives and hive minis are dead easy to fit.  You already have a modern receiver so the wires from the boiler are already there for the hive receiver.
 You need a hub that plugs into your router for the mini as it’s all app based but you can use the normal Hive without a hub and control the settings from the thermostat,  you can put it on a wall or have it free standing.  My Daughter has the normal hive but the previous owners took the hub so I’ve bought her one for Xmas.   The thermostat seems to eat through batteries though,  much faster than in my salus it500.  

Are you sure that is correct for the OP's situation?  If the Honeywell T3 is a wireless room thermostat/programmer, then the receiver may well be inside the boiler.  My understanding is that for a gas boiler, that means that you need to be Gas Safe registered to access the receiver, so wiring in the Hive might not be a DIY job.

[Deleted User]

Apodemus said:

NannaH said:

Hives and hive minis are dead easy to fit.  You already have a modern receiver so the wires from the boiler are already there for the hive receiver.
 You need a hub that plugs into your router for the mini as it’s all app based but you can use the normal Hive without a hub and control the settings from the thermostat,  you can put it on a wall or have it free standing.  My Daughter has the normal hive but the previous owners took the hub so I’ve bought her one for Xmas.   The thermostat seems to eat through batteries though,  much faster than in my salus it500.  

Are you sure that is correct for the OP's situation?  If the Honeywell T3 is a wireless room thermostat/programmer, then the receiver may well be inside the boiler.  My understanding is that for a gas boiler, that means that you need to be Gas Safe registered to access the receiver, so wiring in the Hive might not be a DIY job.

Sensible advice. My understanding is that the T3R comes with a BDR91 ( which Honeywell now calls a receiver box) . The BDR91 contains a power relay and a communications hub. The BDR91 normally connects to the wiring box/standard wall plate not directly to the boiler. 

It is worth bearing in mind that not all wireless thermostats offer boiler modulation control as, unlike mainland Europe, we haven’t made it mandatory. For example, Tado wired thermostats offer modulation whereas their wireless thermostat does not.

Before coming to any decision, I would check to see if your boiler is Opentherm capable. Opentherm  control negates the need for high voltage connections. The Opentherm receiver box connects to the boiler via a 24 volt wired connection. It is a two wire connection and the boiler is agnostic when it comes to which of the 2 wires goes where.

Opentherm is the best way to modulate your boiler. A simple analogy is that it controls the boiler gas flow to meet demand such that it would be similar to driving across London with all the traffic lights on green. This reduces boiler cycling and boiler wear.

In sum, there is more to choosing a thermostat than ease of programming.

Apodemus

Dolor,  yes it looks like the Honeywell T3 may be using a similar Thermostat + Wall mounted receiver arrangement as the Hive (indeed the backplates might be a straight swap). 

The reason I was doubtful was that I was looking to attach a Hive to a fairly new Intergas Xclusive boiler yesterday and it has its RF receiver in the body of the boiler (currently connected to a Center CHE0200154 wireless thermostat).  The Xclusive manual suggests that the built-in receiver will connect to a range of wireless thermostats including some Honeywell models, but as far as I can see I would need to by pass the built-in receiver if I wanted to use a Hive - and lose Opentherm in the process.

[Deleted User]

I believe that the T3R uses the same boiler demand relay as Evohome. Having had the later, the BDRs were hard-wired to the Wallbox.