Best Wifi enabled thermostat

[shady lee]

paulrockliffe said:

You need to get a bit more creative. In IFTTT you can use conditions to change the heating between manual mode and schedule mode. I use this to set a hidden top-stop on the heating because my wife will also fk about with it. If she's sat at her desk not moving for long enough she'll feel cold and rather than putting the temp up 1 degree it'll be set to 25. If the temperature goes over 21 IFTTT puts it back into manual mode so in reality any temperature over 21 degrees = 21 degrees.

You must be able to come up with something that intervenes, maybe just have it turned off every hour or something.

I've bought tado, so that should track her better lol.

Evohome had hard limits within the controller, so I limited our/her office to 21c.

Does tado not have this option to set zone limits?

[nunpuncher]

I also suffer from wife related heating issues. She's an absolute ludite when it comes to anything other than using her phone for posting crap on social media and talking to her mum/friends. Her idea of a smart heating controller is texting me when I'm at work to ask me to put the heating on/off/turn it up/turn it down.

[wombleh]

I found the geolocation works with Tado in terms of disabling heating when my phone was out of the house.

However doesn't seem to work for multiple devices, so if I go away then the wife has no heating despite her phone being linked to it! Had to turn it off. She's given the app location permissions, seems a constraint of the system itself, e.g. https://community.tado.com/en-gb/discussion/11750/...

[paulrockliffe]

wombleh said:

I found the geolocation works with Tado in terms of disabling heating when my phone was out of the house.

However doesn't seem to work for multiple devices, so if I go away then the wife has no heating despite her phone being linked to it! Had to turn it off. She's given the app location permissions, seems a constraint of the system itself, e.g. https://community.tado.com/en-gb/discussion/11750/...

Mine works perfectly with multiple users, has done since I got it 9 years ago. You're not using a single login on two devices are you? Though even that works as I once had the heating stay on because I'd left my old phone turned on and in the house.

I can't understand the question that's been asked on that forum!

[nebpor]

nunpuncher said:

I also suffer from wife related heating issues. She's an absolute ludite when it comes to anything other than using her phone for posting crap on social media and talking to her mum/friends. Her idea of a smart heating controller is texting me when I'm at work to ask me to put the heating on/off/turn it up/turn it down.

Did we marry sisters??

[wombleh]

paulrockliffe said:

wombleh said:

I found the geolocation works with Tado in terms of disabling heating when my phone was out of the house.

However doesn't seem to work for multiple devices, so if I go away then the wife has no heating despite her phone being linked to it! Had to turn it off. She's given the app location permissions, seems a constraint of the system itself, e.g. https://community.tado.com/en-gb/discussion/11750/...

Mine works perfectly with multiple users, has done since I got it 9 years ago. You're not using a single login on two devices are you? Though even that works as I once had the heating stay on because I'd left my old phone turned on and in the house.

I can't understand the question that's been asked on that forum!

Ah I'll borrow the wifes phone and have a play, sounds like it should work. We do have separate logins, in the "home" page it shows my icon at home and hers with "location not used".

[paulrockliffe]

wombleh said:

Ah I'll borrow the wifes phone and have a play, sounds like it should work. We do have separate logins, in the "home" page it shows my icon at home and hers with "location not used".

Sounds like geolocationbis turned off in her app, but could be Permissions.

My complaint with multiple accounts is that they share a schedule on the system, so you can't manage nuanced useage. Eg my wife doesn't work on a Wednesday, so if she's home downstairs should be on, but if she goes out it shouldn't. Upstairs I'm working so that should stay on whether my wife is in or out, but go off if I'm out.

[shady lee]

Refurbished from tado, looks decent to be fair, can't really tell the difference.

[wombleh]

What sort of price are they?

We just had new rads upstairs and was considering the tado trvs, not sure there’s enough instances where we want individual room control to justify the price though.

Edited by wombleh on Friday 20th May 18:58

[shady lee]

wombleh said:

What sort of price are they?

We just had new rads upstairs and was considering the tado trvs, not sure there’s enough instances where we want individual room control to justify the price though.

Edited by wombleh on Friday 20th May 18:58

About £45 for a single, then a little less when bought in packs.


I honestly can't tell anywhere that looks used, 2 year warranty.

All mine are setup now, the whole process of installing tado was flawless, no issues, range seems fine, instructions are mega clear and intuitive.

Hoping theres no issues but so far I'm impressed, look great too.

[shady lee]

so far so good, i must say tado is very very good. its the details with the system that impress. little things like being able to turn geofencing off for certian time blocks within a room, thats very clever. for example our towel radiator goes on twice a day to dry towels in summer to 25c for a hour. the ability to turn geofencing off for these two times in the day but not affect the rest of the schedule is well thought out.

no range issues so far or wobbles, the boiler and trv"s react within seconds to changes, the graphs and logging is brilliant with detailed room by room humidity and heat graphs, The trvs are quieter by some margin than evohome, geofencing options (how much it preheats by location) can be set by a room by room basis. I also like the way that you can set a timer for any manual changes to a zone tempreture, for example when my wife sets the trv to 25c it i can set the timer for this overide to 1hour only and shes none the wiser when it tails off.

Google smart commands intergration is very good and fast, commands are simple and take effect within seconds, Also tado works well with google home native routines really well.

So far the only downsides i can see is the window detection, it seems rather sensitive. This can be turned off, but theres no option for sensitivity.

Overall im really happy, I'm a massive evohome fan, and from a core system and hardware side of things evohome really is a well put togeather reliable kit, I do find myself glancing where the evohome controller used to be to look at temps still.

But i really do think this tado kit is a modern step forward, like i said before, a step i thought that honeywell would have made by now with a new system.

so yeah, so far so good, really happy.

annual subscription is £25 i think for tado, its done through google play for me.

[dickymint]

shady lee said:

so far so good, i must say tado is very very good. its the details with the system that impress. little things like being able to turn geofencing off for certian time blocks within a room, thats very clever. for example our towel radiator goes on twice a day to dry towels in summer to 25c for a hour. the ability to turn geofencing off for these two times in the day but not affect the rest of the schedule is well thought out.

no range issues so far or wobbles, the boiler and trv"s react within seconds to changes, the graphs and logging is brilliant with detailed room by room humidity and heat graphs, The trvs are quieter by some margin than evohome, geofencing options (how much it preheats by location) can be set by a room by room basis. I also like the way that you can set a timer for any manual changes to a zone tempreture, for example when my wife sets the trv to 25c it i can set the timer for this overide to 1hour only and shes none the wiser when it tails off.

Google smart commands intergration is very good and fast, commands are simple and take effect within seconds, Also tado works well with google home native routines really well.

So far the only downsides i can see is the window detection, it seems rather sensitive. This can be turned off, but theres no option for sensitivity.

Overall im really happy, I'm a massive evohome fan, and from a core system and hardware side of things evohome really is a well put togeather reliable kit, I do find myself glancing where the evohome controller used to be to look at temps still.

But i really do think this tado kit is a modern step forward, like i said before, a step i thought that honeywell would have made by now with a new system.

so yeah, so far so good, really happy.

annual subscription is 25 i think for tado, its done through google play for me.

A very good review especially coming from somebody that has plenty of knowledge and experience on the topic

My only gripe with Tado is they still haven't made the graphs and data available on their web site!
As an early adopter we have no annual charges which is nice. Also my rough calculations say Tado paid for itself easily within ten months.

[Sheepshanks]

shady lee said:

…..look great too.

Wish Tado did the heads in anthracite, or even black - I’m going to say they’re a ‘feature’ on our new rads.

[RizzoTheRat]

shady lee said:

no range issues so far

How far is your furthest one from the hub? I'm tempted but not convinced if it will manage through 2 reinforced concrete floors.

[paulrockliffe]

dickymint said:

My only gripe with Tado is they still haven't made the graphs and data available on their web site!
As an early adopter we have no annual charges which is nice. Also my rough calculations say Tado paid for itself easily within ten months.

Why do you want it on Web? There's a Windows Store App that does have the graphs if that helps?

I suspect that part of the reason there isn't web access is your second line - it's an ongoing cost against an account that paid upfront years ago.

There is an undocumented API though that I keep meaning to see if I can get some data out of:

https://www.openhab.org/addons/bindings/tado/

[shady lee]

RizzoTheRat said:

How far is your furthest one from the hub? I'm tempted but not convinced if it will manage through 2 reinforced concrete floors.

My furthest trv is 2 1930"s single skinned ref brick walls away, solid bricks too.

Just to clarify, mesh WiFi wouldn't make a difference as it's the tado dongle at the hub that all the devices talk to.

But the tado dongle is only a tiny memory stick size thing that has a ethernet and micro usb, so in effect of your mesh had ethernet jack's, or power lines, you may be able to plug it in elsewhere in the house more central.

"May". I can't actually confirm this, but if you need me to try with mine let me know, I'll go it a go.

[RanchoGrande]

Any thoughts on what connected system will play nicely with radiators and 2 separate UFH zones?

I'm leaning towards Hive as they have the connected TRVs but I'm unsure what bits you need to buy to add extra zones. For example, is it possible to add Hive mini thermostats to the classic system and use these as the extra zones?

[markiii]

Heat Genius or Genius Hub as its now known will do that

I prefer over Hive as it supports more zones and still can bet setup and programmed if the internet is down

[LocoBlade]

RanchoGrande said:

Any thoughts on what connected system will play nicely with radiators and 2 separate UFH zones?

I'm leaning towards Hive as they have the connected TRVs but I'm unsure what bits you need to buy to add extra zones. For example, is it possible to add Hive mini thermostats to the classic system and use these as the extra zones?

What boiler do you have? If you can, get controls that give you weather or load compensation which means they can intelligently talk to the boiler and reduce its water flow temperature to suit the demand. Hive can't do that and neither can most third party controls including GeniusHub (despite misleading use of the words "weather compensation" in their sales blurb), they just tell the boiler to turn on and off with the boiler at a fixed high flow temperature (usually around 70c) which is less efficient and causes higher wear on the boiler internals having to constantly fire on and off.

I had Hive at our old house and have GeniusHub at the current house with a mix of UFH and rads, I wish I knew when I made that GeniusHub purchase 18 months ago what I do now but basically I'm now planning to replace the Genius kit with Vaillant weather compensation controls and also add a mixing group so the UFH can have is own electronically controlled water temperature curve that eliminates the need for a mechanical mixing valve on the manifold and a load of other complexity in the system and should give far more consistent house temperatures.

Hive is even worse with UFH in that the room stats don't learn to predict the room heating/cooling characteristics so if you set it to 20c it will keep calling for heat until the room hits 20c before switching off the boiler. With UFH you have a massive store of heat in the slab so the room temperature overshoots massively to about 22-23c before it actually starts cooling down, and then does the opposite on the way back down, the room stat will only call for heat when the room drops below 20c by which time is going to take several hours to get any meaningful heat from the floor so the room temp will drop to maybe 17-18c before it starts warming up again

[RanchoGrande]

LocoBlade said:

What boiler do you have? If you can, get controls that give you weather or load compensation which means they can intelligently talk to the boiler and reduce its water flow temperature to suit the demand. Hive can't do that and neither can most third party controls including GeniusHub (despite misleading use of the words "weather compensation" in their sales blurb), they just tell the boiler to turn on and off with the boiler at a fixed high flow temperature (usually around 70c) which is less efficient and causes higher wear on the boiler internals having to constantly fire on and off.

I had Hive at our old house and have GeniusHub at the current house with a mix of UFH and rads, I wish I knew when I made that GeniusHub purchase 18 months ago what I do now but basically I'm now planning to replace the Genius kit with Vaillant weather compensation controls and also add a mixing group so the UFH can have is own electronically controlled water temperature curve that eliminates the need for a mechanical mixing valve on the manifold and a load of other complexity in the system and should give far more consistent house temperatures.

Hive is even worse with UFH in that the room stats don't learn to predict the room heating/cooling characteristics so if you set it to 20c it will keep calling for heat until the room hits 20c before switching off the boiler. With UFH you have a massive store of heat in the slab so the room temperature overshoots massively to about 22-23c before it actually starts cooling down, and then does the opposite on the way back down, the room stat will only call for heat when the room drops below 20c by which time is going to take several hours to get any meaningful heat from the floor so the room temp will drop to maybe 17-18c before it starts warming up again

I have a combi boiler. I've not had ufh before so setting this up is all new to me as are the characteristics of how it works. Sounds like hive may not be the solution I need...perhaps I could just have dumb wall stats for the ufh zones and run a hive system for the rads? To add an extra layer of confusion for the system, half the living area will have ufh and the other half will have rads!