Help please Ferg! (Heating room stat question)

[miniman]

I've bought a programmable room thermostat to replace the basic Drayton on/off model in an attempt to have better control over the temperature at various times of the day and night.

The existing one has 3 wires - Live, Neutral and Call for heat. The stat connects the live and call for heat wires.

The new one is battery powered and has only 2 terminals.

I assume these are Live and Call for heat and that the Neutral wire should just be safely terminated?

[Ferg]

That's right, mate. It's just swiching the heating load. Modern stats don't have an aneroid and an 'anticipator' mechanism so the neutral isn't required.

[miniman]

Lovely, thanks Ferg.

[rfisher]

Just bought one of these also.

Not sure about the wiring but I was planning to use pin 2 to switch call to heat to live.

Anyone wired one of these up?

[GreenDog]

My combi system doesn't have a thermostat, just TRVs on all but the bathroom radiator. I've been thinking about having one installed but I'm not sure whether it's worth it. What are the pros and cons and will it be worth the cost etc ?

Thanks in advance.

[.:ian:.]

GreenDog said:

My combi system doesn't have a thermostat, just TRVs on all but the bathroom radiator. I've been thinking about having one installed but I'm not sure whether it's worth it. What are the pros and cons and will it be worth the cost etc ?

Thanks in advance.

The fancy programmable ones can have 6 temperature settings per day (eg 18 degrees all night, then 20 until 9:30, then 18, and so on) Some also offer different settings weekdays and weekends.

Along with cool stuff like optimum start, which adjusts the start time depending on how cold it is, and holiday mode where you tell it what day you`ll be back and it sets a low temperature for the days you are away, then reverts to normal the day you come back so its nice and warm when you arrive.

If you dont have one already wired in, you can get wireless versions, the receiver connects close to the boiler, and the transmitter can go anywhere in the house.

Decent wired ones shouldnt cost more than £50.

[cjs]

I have a Combi and had TRVs fitted, they are all set full on except the spare room which is turned down a tad. TBH I think they are a waste of time in a small Bungalow or flat, maybe over two floors they will work when the upstairs gets warmer, combis tend to be fitted in smaller properties. I fitted a room stat a few years back and it is far better to use for temperature control than the TRVs.

[John MacK]

rfisher said:

Just bought one of these also.

Not sure about the wiring but I was planning to use pin 2 to switch call to heat to live.

Anyone wired one of these up?

What are you controlling with that stat?

Pin 2 could be used to send a live feed to open a zone valve, start a boiler or run a pump etc.

[rfisher]

John MacK said:

rfisher said:

Just bought one of these also.

Not sure about the wiring but I was planning to use pin 2 to switch call to heat to live.

Anyone wired one of these up?

What are you controlling with that stat?

Pin 2 could be used to send a live feed to open a zone valve, start a boiler or run a pump etc.

It's to replace the manual room thermostat for the central heating.


Nice and cheap on F'bay but not actually as good as the Heatmiser I used in a previous house as it won't do different timings for weekday and weekend and doesn't have a frost setting.

But it did come with an IR remote and could switch other circuits if I wanted so I'll probably keep it.

[GreenDog]

.:ian:. said:

GreenDog said:

My combi system doesn't have a thermostat, just TRVs on all but the bathroom radiator. I've been thinking about having one installed but I'm not sure whether it's worth it. What are the pros and cons and will it be worth the cost etc ?

Thanks in advance.

The fancy programmable ones can have 6 temperature settings per day (eg 18 degrees all night, then 20 until 9:30, then 18, and so on) Some also offer different settings weekdays and weekends.

Along with cool stuff like optimum start, which adjusts the start time depending on how cold it is, and holiday mode where you tell it what day you`ll be back and it sets a low temperature for the days you are away, then reverts to normal the day you come back so its nice and warm when you arrive.

If you dont have one already wired in, you can get wireless versions, the receiver connects close to the boiler, and the transmitter can go anywhere in the house.

Decent wired ones shouldnt cost more than £50.

Cheers for that. How would it work alongside the existing timer/controller ?

[Dr_Rick]

.:ian:. said:

GreenDog said:

My combi system doesn't have a thermostat, just TRVs on all but the bathroom radiator. I've been thinking about having one installed but I'm not sure whether it's worth it. What are the pros and cons and will it be worth the cost etc ?

Thanks in advance.

The fancy programmable ones can have 6 temperature settings per day (eg 18 degrees all night, then 20 until 9:30, then 18, and so on) Some also offer different settings weekdays and weekends.

Along with cool stuff like optimum start, which adjusts the start time depending on how cold it is, and holiday mode where you tell it what day you`ll be back and it sets a low temperature for the days you are away, then reverts to normal the day you come back so its nice and warm when you arrive.

If you dont have one already wired in, you can get wireless versions, the receiver connects close to the boiler, and the transmitter can go anywhere in the house.

Decent wired ones shouldnt cost more than £50.

Appologies for the hijack.

We had a Vaillant boiler fitted a couple of years ago and have one of these wireless room-stats out in the hall. Based on these sort of conversations I've just checked thorugh the instructions and seen that it too has the capability of running different temperatures in different time windows. The default settings have this function switched off and we were relying on an 'Eco' setting (basically a minimum environmental temperature that the boiler would maintain) to act as a second temperature. I think I'll have a rejig of the settings now that winter is on the way.

As an aside, is it more efficient (read cheaper) to run the heating in distinct time-bands (i.e. on at 6am, off at 8am, and on at 5pm, off at 10pm) on the basis of house occupancy. With the effect that because the house has cooled the boiler will have to rage for a bit to bring the temperature back up and then cycle once it's got there.

Or, have it on more often and then just drop the temperature setting overnight but have it cycling more frequently as the temperature never really drops a significant amount.

So, intense for a short period of time, or more gentle for longer? I've never had a clear answer.

Dr Rick

[Dr_Rick]

Anyone got an answer? Genuinely I'd like to know. May be obvious, maybe I'm missing something. Fire away if anyones got any thoughts.

Dr Rick

[Ricky_M]

^Something a lot of people argue about. With a modern combi, it'll be more efficient to run it for short periods as apposed to an old boiler with a cast iron heat exchanger, which runs more efficiently the longer you use it.