Best hard-wired thermostat and zoned heating?

[Yazar]

Have no desire to control the heating from my phone or to trust connections to wireless or any other 'essential features' such as phone apps.

So what is the best setup for a zoned system which is wired throughout? Currently have an ancient Drayton analogue thermostat and a very basic Drayton programmable control. Happy to lift floorboards and chase walls for wires.

All I need is a 7 days timer and individual settings for the rooms without having to mess about with TRVs manually. Would need to control both radiators (current setup) and wet ufh (to be at a later date put later in some areas).

Do I need to put in room thermostats or is there a better way? Took a look at Evohome and like the controller itself but seems all wireless.

[Gingerbread Man]

I don't mind wireless stats or programmable thermostats. But I think a whole house full of wireless TRV's would drive me bonkers come battery replacement time.

Each heating flow, be it for the cylinder, the UFH manifold, zone one rads, zone two rads etc, will require a zone valve.

If you've current got rads throughout, upstairs and down running as one zone, you'll need to isolate the zones and run a new flow for a new zone. So some plumbing will be required.

The zones can be controlled by a wired stat and a programmer, or a programmable thermostat, controlled by a non TRV'ed radiator.

UFH manifolds are typically bundled with their own controls. Personally on the whole I find them fidderly. Swapping out for a nice Honeywell or similar to keep continuity throughout would be my preference if compatible with the UFH.

Then run all the wires back to a wiring centre. Simples.

[worsy]

Compatability is the issue I suspect. I have heatmiser touch screen controls running wet UFH downstairs and rads up. Although you can control by phone you can also install a central touchscreen control. I suspect you'd need a wiring centre as well though to control the zones.

http://www.heatmiser.com/index.php/thermostats/tou...

edited to say, there is a wireless option but mine are all wired using shielded cat5

[robbieduncan]

worsy said:

Compatability is the issue I suspect. I have heatmiser touch screen controls running wet UFH downstairs and rads up. Although you can control by phone you can also install a central touchscreen control. I suspect you'd need a wiring centre as well though to control the zones.

http://www.heatmiser.com/index.php/thermostats/tou...

edited to say, there is a wireless option but mine are all wired using shielded cat5

I have this too. All wired with 12 zones, 2 wiring centres. You don't need the central touch screen controller or the phone access if you don't want it: you can walk to each room and program them using the touch screens. That said I have the phone control and think it's well worth it.

[stuart313]

I have occasionally thought about this. Is it feasible to use an under floor heating manifold to control standard radiators, obviously you wouldn't use the mixing valve or pump, just take the boiler circs to the manifold and pipe off to each rad. Then use a programmable stat in each room wired back to the actuator, would the flow be good enough for a conventional rad.

Alternatively you could put a 2 port zone valve next to each rad and control it that way, however at £50 a pop it would take a long time to get your money back.

[guindilias]

A mate at work built his own huge house about 5 years ago, and has 14 2-port valves on a low-loss header from the boiler. Has switches in each room for the lights, and a switch beside each for the heating. That's about £800 in valves, plus allow for an invertor driven pump at about £150, and the necessary wiring back to the valves and boiler. Brilliant system.
It just runs on a standard boiler time controller, no stats - they are on TRVs. Would be a lot of disruption to wire it back in an already built house, though!

[andy43]

stuart313 said:

I have occasionally thought about this. Is it feasible to use an under floor heating manifold to control standard radiators, obviously you wouldn't use the mixing valve or pump, just take the boiler circs to the manifold and pipe off to each rad. Then use a programmable stat in each room wired back to the actuator, would the flow be good enough for a conventional rad.

Alternatively you could put a 2 port zone valve next to each rad and control it that way, however at £50 a pop it would take a long time to get your money back.

The ufh manifold would work great - one on each floor with a zone per room - the elephant in the boiler room is that most of the heating system flows and returns would need to be replumbed back to where the manifolds will be located. Honeywell CM707 7 day programmable stat in each zone, hooked up to the ufh wiring centre, and off you go. Wiring centre even has a trigger output for the ch pump/boiler to fire.
If the aim is to zone individual rooms without battery change hell every 12 months, use the evohome type rad controls but see if they can be mains-powered via a transformer somehow? Wireless but battery free.



Or maybe fit some sort of handled valve to one end of each rad, to turn the flow on and off with a quick twist of the wrist? Heck, it could even be automated so it opens and closes depending on the room temperature. Just close the valves a bit if a room isn't being used? Then open them up when you need heat. No wires, no replumbing... Bloody hell I'm onto a winner here...
/dragons den

[moles]

That is what the honeywell evohome does except it uses TRV'S instead of zone valves the end result is the same total control over individual rooms, but way less hassle with no wiring to do and less pipework/easier to change when stuff breaks.

guindilias said:

A mate at work built his own huge house about 5 years ago, and has 14 2-port valves on a low-loss header from the boiler. Has switches in each room for the lights, and a switch beside each for the heating. That's about £800 in valves, plus allow for an invertor driven pump at about £150, and the necessary wiring back to the valves and boiler. Brilliant system.
It just runs on a standard boiler time controller, no stats - they are on TRVs. Would be a lot of disruption to wire it back in an already built house, though!

[gazzarose]

I've got individually controlled radiators in each room controlled by individual programmable thermostats. I used electric try heads that replace a standard try head. The ones I used have 4 wires, so you turn them on with the programmers, then the trv turns the boiler on when the valve is open, pretty much the same operation as a 2 or 3 port valve. I'm away from the house today, but I'll check what they were when I get home from work tomorrow. Because all the radiators are off when they're not needed, I've also got a timer that comes on foot a couple of hours in the morning and evening that just seems the towel rail with the benefit that even in the summer the boiler is kept wiring to stop the pump seizing.

[guindilias]

Aye, that and remote motorised TRVs are noisy - I have a couple on jobs and they would wake me up, I'm a very light sleeper when I do sleep!
His way everything noisy is kept in the utility room, so he can swap actuators and valves if they ever go duff. The individual rads are fitted with manual TRVs, it's a very nice system!

moles said:

That is what the honeywell evohome does except it uses TRV'S instead of zone valves the end result is the same total control over individual rooms, but way less hassle with no wiring to do and less pipework/easier to change when stuff breaks.

[stuart313]

I wonder if an actuator from an UFH setup would screw onto a thermostatic valve base of the same make? It uses the same principle to open and shut the valve.