Other Smart devices or receivers other than Hive

workingboy

Seen so many Smart receivers and thermostats or more so on Amazon.
Anyone recommend a budget smart receiver, hub and thermostat for a Worcester non-combi gas boiler.

Rodders53

Define your Budget.

Do you want smart control of both stored HW and the CH or just CH?

Is there more than one CH zone (Upstairs/Downstairs) that need control?

Do you want smart TRVs so that each room can be smart controlled / their own zone(s)?

The cheap Smart / programmable room thermostats often need Live, Neutral and a Switched Live (call for heat) conductor in the back box of the wall.  Does yours have that currently (or is it a wireless job)?

WB do their own controls and depending on the exact model of boiler may allow their proprietary weather-compensated control of the CH water to improve efficiency.

Robin9

Salus iT500

Bark01

Have a look a t Tado, they have just introduced tado X and all the tado V3 stock was being massively discounted before Christmas. It still looks to be roughly half price at screwfix.

Also v3 users were given discounted rates to buy tado X so there are loads of second hand v3 units and add ons on ebay.

I'm probably about £350 in but have smart TRVs in every room and separate temperature sensors in every room, so i as full in as you can be...

workingboy

Would need dual channel for HW & CH also 2 zones.
I have a large open plan Kitchen & Dinning area, all 1st floor rooms have TRVs and ground floor non fitted.
TRVs are set low so heating on cold starts in mornings to take the chill away.
Not really sure if internet smart would of benefit so just having smart battery thermostats. Watched conflicting videos regarding smart TRV heads. Where batteries could be changed 2 or 3 times a year, losing internet connections when needed if I had them on 10 radiators.
Think I might start with smart battery thermostats to find their best positioning to heat our home with a dual channel receiver for HW & CH on a non-combi boiler and leave the TRVs as they are set for now.
As for Budget, Amazon offer thermostats, receivers, hubs and trv heads, which some are lower than the likes of Hive etc.
If I had everything as smart devices then that having a long term payoff before benefit to be reaped.

QrizB

workingboy said:

Watched conflicting videos regarding smart TRV heads. Where batteries could be changed 2 or 3 times a year ...

That's my reservation about smart TRVs.

Ten rads x 2 AAs x two sets a year makes 40 AAs. That's a lot of cash and carbon footprint for a marginal saving on gas consumption.

I wonder if you could run them from a Peltier cell?

Martin_the_Unjust

We also have a Worcester boiler and I fitted one of these in place of a ‘normal’ wall mounted thermostat.

https://www.plumbworld.co.uk/netatmo-smart-central-heating-thermostat-101615-1271423?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%20%7C%20Generic%20%7C%20Heating%20%7C%20Central%20Heating,%20Fires%20%26%20Rads%20BR&utm_term=4575617660675090&utm_content=Central%20Heating

We are very happy with it, both my wife and I can control it from our phones or by voice with ‘Alexa’

I’m not recommending buying from the above link I’m sure it can be found cheaper elsewhere.

FreeBear

The Netatmo thermostat linked to above doesn't do modulating control, just on/off. Don't think it will cope with DHW either..

With a system boiler, having Priority Domestic Hot Water is essential if you are to have an efficient system - PDHW instructs the boiler to run at a higher temperature just for the time it takes to heat a tank. Without it, you pretty much have to run the system at the same temperature and miss out on the opportunity to push the boiler well in to condensing mode.

@workingboy Model and age of your boiler, and does it support EMS (you'd need to read the installation manual to find out) ?

workingboy

FreeBear said:

@workingboy Model and age of your boiler, and does it support EMS (you'd need to read the installation manual to find out) ?

Without digging for the installation manual. 

Its a Worcester Greenstar Ri of 2012

FreeBear

workingboy said:

FreeBear said:

@workingboy Model and age of your boiler, and does it support EMS (you'd need to read the installation manual to find out) ?

Without digging for the installation manual. 

Its a Worcester Greenstar Ri of 2012

Doesn't look like any of the Greenstar Ri boilers support EMS, not even the latest version. So basic control only, and no PDHW.

workingboy

Ok what does it mean not having a EMS or PDHW boiler using a smart receiver/thermostat devices