Where should you put a smart thermostat in a home with TRVs (non motorised)

elsmandino

Evening all.

I am currently looking at upgrading my central heating, for this winter, with a Hive Smart thermostat and also some TRVs.

I would be grateful for your thoughts on where to place the thermostat in my home (which dictates which radiator should have no TRV on it).

I have read some guides that say it should be in the living room (which is the most used and thus warmest room).

My thoughts are, however, that it should be in the coldest room in the house.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Seasalt3

Ours is in the lounge as it's our coldest room.  But they are portable so move it around to find the best place for you.  Its trial and error really

nofoollikeold

1. The logical place to put a room thermostat is the room most used, usually a sitting room or dining room.
2. If you put it in a room with TRVs, turn the TRV to maximum and the room thermostat will turn the heating off before the TRV closes.

daivid

I move mine to the room I care most about the temperature being right in, often as not the living room. Are all your radiators be fitted with TRVs? If not putting 'dumb' TRVs in all rooms would be well worth it IMO. Provided the boiler and insulation are up to it with a bit of trial an error you should then be able to get all rooms to the temperature(s) you want. I've not got round to buying any smart TRVs yet (3 years with a smart thermostat) as I'm not sure the cost is worth it for my possible savings.

ThisIsWeird

Hi els.

It doesn't matter that much, since it'll be set to the temp required by that room, and then every other rad will be individually set according to their needs. So, if in the hallway, you'd likely set it to, say, 18oC. In the sitting room, to 20oC or more.

Then, as you know, the rads in that same room will need to be 'manual' and not TRV. As nflo says, this effectively just means you turn the TRV head up to its max, '5', or unscrew the head altogether.

Thenthen you will likely need to 'balance' things a bit. Say the Hive is in the hallway, and set to 18oC. If the hallway reaches 18oC too quickly, before the sitting room gets to its desired 20+oC, then you'll need to tweak the hallway rad's lockshield valve (on the opposite end to the TRV or 'control' valve) down a wee bit, usually an eighth-turn at a time. This has the effect of making the rad 'smaller' and less powerful. You keep tweaking until you find that the sitting room reaches your desired temp at roughly the same time the hallway does. Make sense?

Personally, I'd always have the Hive in the living area, so the sitting room, because the Hive will maintain a nice constant temp in that room, and not give you uncomfortable fluctuations. If, instead, the Hive is in the hallway, then it'll turn the boiler off and on at possibly longer intervals than you'd like, and you could feel these temp lags - hysteresis - in your living area.

So, assuming you do now fit it in the sitting room, the same situation as before applies; if you find the sitting room is heating up to the required temp (say, 21oC) too quickly, and therefore turning off the boiler, you may find the hallway hasn't had time to reach its desired 18oC, and the bedrooms ditto. In which case, you'll need to manually tweak down the sitting room rad(s) to make them smaller/slower.

It's quite a crude balance, but I'd always have the main sitting area the one under 'stat control, so that you know it'll be at the exact temp you want, and it'll remain there steadily. The other rooms can go whistle, relatively.

There are alternatives to the Hive such as Wiser. Most come with options such as Smart TRVs. I have a Hive, and one Smart TRV on our bedroom rad. That means I don't have to keep running up and down t'stairs to turn it on before bed, and off after getting up. This also means it ain't on during the day and eve when it's just not required. Very worthwhile considering one or more of these.

flo22

I have a Wiser and I fitted 7 smart TRV's and I do have a smart thermostat but I have no use for it, I think they would only be any use if you want to run multiple radiators from it (open plan house)

Albermarle

That means I don't have to keep running up and down t'stairs to turn it on before bed, and off after getting up.

The exercise would do you good !

badger09

We also have a Hive system fitted Sept 21 with new boiler. The moveable thermostat sits in the living room which is also a thoroughfare from one end of sprawling bungalow to the other. It’s taken me a while to balance all the dumb TRVs in the other rooms but trial & error showed living room to be the best place. 

Little used north facing bedrooms can be as low as 14C when living room is at desired 19C, but no point wasting money on heating them.