Best Wifi enabled thermostat

Best Wifi enabled thermostat

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Discussion

brickmi72

5 posts

86 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
quotequote all
brickmi72 said:
good morning

would like to ask for advice as i bought nest third generation thermostat with hot water.

it supposed to be easy to set it up but i seem have issue with my current wiring as im component person do the electrics but want to make sure if i do it right or i could damage the nest!

i have attached 2 diagrams - one current and one for new nest wiring and real picture to show the wiring i got at the moment.

my issue is the yellow / green wiring - i know it is earth colour and connect to earth port but i suspect it is common live am i right? or it is earth? which i doubt

have a look at the diagrams and can you reply asap what should i do and simple diagram from you will help. i hope to install later today as i had nest not install for over a month! dont want waste it as i have ask the nest installer for info but they will charge me at last £90 for simple wiring NO thanks!

help

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http://thumbsnap.com/sc/hUCNDCMe.jpg[/img]|http://t...

brickmi72

5 posts

86 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
quotequote all
brickmi72 said:
good morning

would like to ask for advice as i bought nest third generation thermostat with hot water.

it supposed to be easy to set it up but i seem have issue with my current wiring as im component person do the electrics but want to make sure if i do it right or i could damage the nest!

i have attached 2 diagrams - one current and one for new nest wiring and real picture to show the wiring i got at the moment.

my issue is the yellow / green wiring - i know it is earth colour and connect to earth port but i suspect it is common live am i right? or it is earth? which i doubt

have a look at the diagrams and can you reply asap what should i do and simple diagram from you will help. i hope to install later today as i had nest not install for over a month! dont want waste it as i have ask the nest installer for info but they will charge me at last £90 for simple wiring NO thanks!

help

http://thumbsnap.com/sc/UGIdpkiY.jpg[/img]|http://t...http://thumbsnap.com/sc/GS7RHoaM.jpg[/img][url]
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/hUCNDCMe.jpg[/img]|http://t...

Jambo85

3,319 posts

88 months

Tuesday 11th April 2017
quotequote all
Heatmiser's Apple Homekit hub now available for pre-order, shipping early May... As an existing customer I can get £10 off and a £35 rebate for returning my old one so just a bit over £100 to upgrade.

Anyone used Apple Homekit? Any good?

Leaning towards not doing it, I love the control from Neo but I use it in a set and forget kind of way, telling Siri to heat the bedroom up a bit doesn't really appeal.

Roundm

161 posts

118 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
Lots of discussion on here, I thought to add my system and experience - I installed a smart system from GeniusHub ( they used to be called Heatgenius) https://www.geniushub.co.uk about 2 years ago. They are a Birmingham based UK business and I think the system matches the best of whats out there.

So - the basic kit does what Nest/Hive do - remote control of the boiler and a single room thermostat. All wireless and the controller replaces the traditional boiler controls making installation a doddle. One difference - it's NOT cloud based meaning if the internet goes down, you still have heating! Also all your data is not automatically acquired by large anonymous data companies that might be hacked.

Upgrades from the basic system include competitively priced zwave trv's (that come configured and labelled by the company if you tell them what you want from them) and motion/temp sensors (which also do luminescence - no use for heating but I've been working on linking this into a home automation system for lighting control). Adding this allows all sorts of cleverness including the system learning (over a rolling 3 week period) the activity patterns for each monitored (monitoring occupancy as well as temperature) zone. These allow each radiator to be controlled independently allowing retrofitting zones to existing homes. The system also learns how fast rooms respond to heating up - meaning that they learn to preheat rooms if they respond slowly so you can for example say - I get home at 6pm, I want the lounge at 20 degrees at 6pm and the system works out how much before 6 to start heating that room)

And the system has controllers for UFH - both wet and electric as well as temperature monitoring for HW (rather than just a timer), as well as wireless trv's, switches and other controllers. It also has apps for apple and android phones as well as websites for CTO roll from windows and other platforms.

Batteries in most devices last about 18months before I chicken out and change them, and whilst the heating has it's own controller I have linked the system to a home automation controller (which uses a mix of zwave and other tech to control lights and other stuff) and I have implemented a battery reporting system for the geniushub system on the HA controller (meaning I know the interaction works smoothly and the monitoring and separate controller improve the WAF (wife acceptance factor) greatly).

As to cost - the base kit is competitive with entry level systems, and I've then added other monitors and valves over time as I understood how our usage worked. I have some really odd rooms - my house is wide and shallow and faces SW. So even in winter if the sun comes out the house heats up at the front really quickly, on dull days we are really exposed and can be bitterly cold (we face the sea). I have one spare room that is poorly insulated and lve set that a back to front heating pattern for when it's in use (i.e 18 degrees at night and 14 during the day, with unoccupied at 7 degrees to prevent damp). We now have 7 zones plus HW and the system has not only paid for itself over the last 2 winters, but has made the house way more comfortable to live in as well.

I'm nothing to do with the company - other than a happy customer, I've had a few foibles on and off and the support (via email or phone) has been good. I was very happy to be able to support a UK, non-cloud based system when I got it and they've not let me down yet smile

a13wes

2 posts

92 months

Tuesday 12th September 2017
quotequote all
Hi people,

It seems like this is the place to be for people in the know with these smart thermostats.

I moved into a new house in Jan, it has a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30i installed 2 years ago, it also has a log burner.

In the winter we'd put the fire on after putting the little one to bed, but then still heat the whole house because his room needs to be a good temperature which seems a waste.

I can get Nest for a good price off N Power but don't think it's going to solve any problems as such.

I looked at Tado as we could then switch all thermostats off or down apart from the nursery, but it's almost £900 with 10 rads!

I imagine 2 zones would work, just stop heating downstairs after a certain time, but think this boiler is single zone.

Any recommendations? Buy the little one some blankets?!!




Edited by a13wes on Tuesday 12th September 15:07

AW10

4,433 posts

249 months

Wednesday 13th September 2017
quotequote all
Not sure what temp you run the house at versus the little one's room but might be worth considering an electrically heated oil filled radiator if it's just one room you want to keep warmer through the night.

Roundm

161 posts

118 months

Wednesday 13th September 2017
quotequote all
A13wes - give Heatgenius a call - as per my last post. I suspect they can configure something cheaper than a tado install, that will do what you need (rather than want!) for a sensible price. Installation was a doddle (or they can do it for you)

a13wes

2 posts

92 months

Wednesday 13th September 2017
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies guys, will look into both options.

Not sure how comfortable I'd feel leaving an oil radiators in the nursery all night though! Not that I know anything about them, I just assume they're a fire hazard! :c)

six wheels

347 posts

135 months

Wednesday 13th September 2017
quotequote all
a13wes said:
Hi people,

his room needs to be a good temperature

Edited by a13wes on Tuesday 12th September 15:07
Hi OP,

Not sure what you mean by a "good" temperature but we were advised to keep the temperature in the baby's room to about 18 degrees and dress them in one more layer than whatever we were wearing in order to be comfortable.

I mention that not to tell you how to parent - I've no idea - but only because if your house doesn't drop below 18 once you turn the heating off then perhaps there's no need to do anything different?

Anyway, ignoring all that: we went ahead with Evohome with one of their smart TRVs on each radiator. In return we have fully zoned heating so I was able to obsess over ensuring the baby room was 18 when we had the lounge at 21.

Evohome was about £200-250 ish for the controller, £50 for each TRV and about £15 for each Honeywell valve - the valves are important as the TRVs were designed to work with specific Honeywell valves. The valves were supplied with manual TRVs for about £1 extra so when we move we can take the Smart stuff with us.

Oh and it works with Amazon Echo for heating-related arguments...


Cheers, Steve.


ADogg

1,349 posts

214 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
It's taken some time but I've managed to convince my wife that we need a smart heating system.

I was all set on the EvoHome but noticed the Drayton Wiser... Does anyone have any thoughts on it?

shady lee

962 posts

182 months

Friday 20th October 2017
quotequote all
ADogg said:
It's taken some time but I've managed to convince my wife that we need a smart heating system.

I was all set on the EvoHome but noticed the Drayton Wiser... Does anyone have any thoughts on it?
Really interested in this setup too, looks like half the cost of a comparative evohome setup.

Has weather compensation and learns heat up times blah blah, Its let down by 1 major flaw for me, geofencing/location. It doesn't have it, so won't turn off or on when nobody is home etc. Big letdown as far as home automation and smart goes!

and after ringing Drayton to confirm this now points me back to evohome.

mjb1

2,556 posts

159 months

Friday 20th October 2017
quotequote all
a13wes said:
Hi people,

It seems like this is the place to be for people in the know with these smart thermostats.

I moved into a new house in Jan, it has a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30i installed 2 years ago, it also has a log burner.

In the winter we'd put the fire on after putting the little one to bed, but then still heat the whole house because his room needs to be a good temperature which seems a waste.

I can get Nest for a good price off N Power but don't think it's going to solve any problems as such.

I looked at Tado as we could then switch all thermostats off or down apart from the nursery, but it's almost £900 with 10 rads!

I imagine 2 zones would work, just stop heating downstairs after a certain time, but think this boiler is single zone.

Any recommendations? Buy the little one some blankets?!!




Edited by a13wes on Tuesday 12th September 15:07
You might not need Tado TRVs on every radiator - it may be possible to do what you want with traditional, manual TRVs on some/all of the other rads?

I'm in almost the exact same scenario as you, and that's what I'm doing (when I get around to installing the TRVs...). I've only got 3 Tado TRVs to start with. Going to put them on the coldest 3 rooms and see how that goes first.

essayer

9,064 posts

194 months

Friday 20th October 2017
quotequote all
shady lee said:
Really interested in this setup too, looks like half the cost of a comparative evohome setup.

Has weather compensation and learns heat up times blah blah, Its let down by 1 major flaw for me, geofencing/location. It doesn't have it, so won't turn off or on when nobody is home etc. Big letdown as far as home automation and smart goes!

and after ringing Drayton to confirm this now points me back to evohome.
..which doesn't do it either!

shady lee

962 posts

182 months

Friday 20th October 2017
quotequote all
essayer said:
..which doesn't do it either!
Evo home? I thought it had location? Maybe through iftt like hive does?



Edited by shady lee on Friday 20th October 21:09

mondeoman

11,430 posts

266 months

Saturday 21st October 2017
quotequote all
shady lee said:
ADogg said:
It's taken some time but I've managed to convince my wife that we need a smart heating system.

I was all set on the EvoHome but noticed the Drayton Wiser... Does anyone have any thoughts on it?
Really interested in this setup too, looks like half the cost of a comparative evohome setup.

Has weather compensation and learns heat up times blah blah, Its let down by 1 major flaw for me, geofencing/location. It doesn't have it, so won't turn off or on when nobody is home etc. Big letdown as far as home automation and smart goes!

and after ringing Drayton to confirm this now points me back to evohome.
Does evohome do geofencing? Don’t think so.....


Edit:

Ooh through ifttttttt, interesting!

shady lee

962 posts

182 months

Saturday 21st October 2017
quotequote all
Taken the plunge, Drayton wiser +8 trvs ordered.turns out Drayton will be developing iftt location support.

£320 for full zoned house ,rather than 600 from evohome.

We shall see, but seeing as the parent company is Schneider I'm reasonably confident it will expand and grow as a system

langtounlad

781 posts

171 months

Saturday 21st October 2017
quotequote all
Another thumbs-up from me for the Genius system. Also been using it with multiple zones and it's paid for itself in reduced energy consumption and increased control and comfort in occupied areas.

essayer

9,064 posts

194 months

Saturday 21st October 2017
quotequote all
You can automate Evohome pretty easily, there’s Python modules for the web API, and I’ve never used ifttt but I’m sure you could do same; it doesn’t do presence detection natively though.

I have it linked to the alarm via Domoticz, so that when we set the alarm heating goes into away mode, and when certain rooms aren’t in use the radiators are turned off.

xyz123

997 posts

129 months

Saturday 21st October 2017
quotequote all
shady lee said:
Taken the plunge, Drayton wiser +8 trvs ordered.turns out Drayton will be developing iftt location support.

£320 for full zoned house ,rather than 600 from evohome.

We shall see, but seeing as the parent company is Schneider I'm reasonably confident it will expand and grow as a system
Is it just the radiator valves you got or full wiser system?

shady lee

962 posts

182 months

Saturday 21st October 2017
quotequote all
xyz123 said:
Is it just the radiator valves you got or full wiser system?
Wiser kit 1 plus extra trvs for the whole house,

Wonder what happens with having the wiser thermostat and trv in the same zone?

Both call for heat so hope they know each are in the same zone or else the system will be fighting itself, or thermostat doesn't read if trv is present like the evohome maybe.