Smart Thermostats

Traditional boiler controls (even smart ones) use a single electrical relay output to control hot water (as well as heating) - so it is basically "on" or "off" and you cannot set a temperature.

To control temperature of hot water would usually require a specific type of boiler that would allow that. If you are replacing a boiler and want hot water temperature, speak to your heating engineer who may be able to advise on a boiler/control combination that can do this.

You may want to ask for a boiler with "OpenTherm" (search for "OpenTherm" to find links) - an OpenTherm boiler with compatible thermostat control will allow you control the *temperature* of the hot water from the control (rather than having to go to the boiler and turn a knob!)

Hope that helps

I have the Honey Well evohome system in my house. The main reason I bought it was for the ability to zone the heating.
The reasons I want to be able to zone my heating in priority order.....

1. So the kids bedrooms are always at the right temperature for bedtime, through the night and in the morning.
2. So the bathroom is warm just before kids bath time.
3. When the wife has the log burner melting my eyeballs in the lounge, I can still warm the bedroom ready for bed time without heating the lounge any more! (Or other rooms!)
4. I can heat just the room I am using. (e.g. an evening working in the office which is usually not kept up at a working temp)
5. When the mother in law baby sits I can increase the temp of the lounge and kitchen when asked via text while I am sat in a restaurant / pub / etc. to keep her happy.
6. It saves me some money. (2 years in and I have got the cost of buying and installing the system back)
7. I like a gadget.
8. I can program and control it from my phone, not standing at a box on a wall for an hour!

Also have a look at the app IFTTT (if this then that) as it can turn my heating completely on or off automatically depending on the weather report, amongst many other cool tricks, like telling me when baby wipes are the cheapest in Tesco :rotfl:

RocketReeves wrote: »

I have the Honey Well evohome system in my house. The main reason I bought it was for the ability to zone the heating.
The reasons I want to be able to zone my heating in priority order.....

1. So the kids bedrooms are always at the right temperature for bedtime, through the night and in the morning.
2. So the bathroom is warm just before kids bath time.
3. When the wife has the log burner melting my eyeballs in the lounge, I can still warm the bedroom ready for bed time without heating the lounge any more! (Or other rooms!)
4. I can heat just the room I am using. (e.g. an evening working in the office which is usually not kept up at a working temp)
5. When the mother in law baby sits I can increase the temp of the lounge and kitchen when asked via text while I am sat in a restaurant / pub / etc. to keep her happy.
6. It saves me some money. (2 years in and I have got the cost of buying and installing the system back)
7. I like a gadget.
8. I can program and control it from my phone, not standing at a box on a wall for an hour!

Also have a look at the app IFTTT (if this then that) as it can turn my heating completely on or off automatically depending on the weather report, amongst many other cool tricks, like telling me when baby wipes are the cheapest in Tesco :rotfl:

The Government (DECC and now BEIS) and The Buildings Research Establishment are not convinced that heating controls offer much in the way of energy savings. I say this as a long term user of Evohome (4 Years). Despite Evohome with zoning being ErP Class VIII with a 5% ErP energy saving, if you get an EPC done on your property you will find that Evohome has been treated as a single thermostat with a 0.5% energy saving benefit.

Sadly, there would seem to be very little science to underpin the claimed energy savings. This is typical of the latest research:

https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2086/16245/1-s2.0-S1364032118303381-main.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Quote:
Claims about the benefits of heating controls are often biased, unsubstantiated, misleading, or incorrect. This paper presents a systematic and critical international review of the evidence for the energy saving, cost effec- tiveness and usability of heating controls. The focus is domestic, low-pressure hot water heating systems in temperate climates. Eleven different types of standard, advanced and smart controls are assessed plus five components and features that add smart functionality.

The review retrieved over 2400 documents from on-line databases and other sources. Screening criteria and quality assurance scoring identified just 67 items, mainly from the UK and USA, which appeared to contain relevant evidence. This evidence was derived from computer modelling, field trials and full-scale experiments, and for usability, from expert evaluations and controlled assessments. The evidence was synthesised and its quality classified as very low, low, moderate or high using the GRADE system which is more commonly applied in evidence-based medicine.

The energy savings of most heating controls depends strongly on whether the heating system is operated with a continuous or periodic heating pattern, as well as on the energy efficiency of the dwelling and the severity of the climate.

For most control types, the quality of the evidence for energy savings was low, very low or non-existent. However, there was moderate quality evidence that, when appropriately commissioned, zonal controllers, which heat individual spaces to different temperatures at different times, could save energy compared to whole-house controllers, and that low-cost systems of this type could be cost-effective. Unquote

Table 6 is worth a look.