EPH Ember

chewed

glancing through some of the comments on this thread, it looks like people are having a lot of issues with Ember and the app. Am I best avoiding this system? I have an EPH dual system already installed and was asking my plumber (who originally installed it) about going wireless. He said he would give me a quote to fit and supply the Ember version. Would I better off buying another system and getting it installed?

This is what I currently have...

Tree

Can you run the Ember w/o connecting to EPH services?

Planning to upgrade the heating controls to work with Home Assistant, and considering the ember, but want a solution that doesn't depend on the cloud.

WildCardDoW

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118674577#Comment_118674577

As far as I know all the smart heating systems are closed source with some small stuff exposed to public APIs. You'd need to do a lot of research to estabish which ones are best via HomeAssistant but I'd imagine you will always hit an issue that the commads are sent to their server rather than directly to your device.

Ember EPH has some support for sure but it still requires EPH server to continue to work (i.e. it's just using their APIs).

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/ephember/

You could look into systems with WiFi / Zigbee / Z Wave support with some of the below: (I didn't!)

Control Boiler / Zone Valves:

• Sonoff TH10/16 / other smart relay(s) to turn on / off the boiler or zone valve(s) and hot water

Heat Water (if not Combi):

• Monitor the temperature of hot water cylinder if you have one (i.e. not Combi Boiler) via SONOFF TH10/TH16 with DS18B20 sensor(s)

Heating:

• Option 1: Smart TRV radiator valves that can make a call to activate the relays-zone valve (via Home Assistant possibly)
• Option 2: Monitor the temperature of the room(s) with HomeAssistant Compatbile / smart / Zigbee / Z Wave Thermostat(s) (or add DS18B20 temperature monitors to the TH10/16 relays connected to the zone valves / boiler) that can make a call to activate the relays-zone valve.

Some users have gone down this route but it is very techy.

You can likely use HA to setup schedules for when the relays should turn on or setup the schedules for the TRV valves / thermostats and link the TRV valves to a specific relay-zone valve if you have more than one. Basically loads of ways to work it.

You would just need to make sure that you set it up properly, set the upper limits (i.e. turn off relay when >22deg) and timings correctly. There's a lot more you can break by doing it this way.

The other crowd you can look into are Vesternet, they have relays and thermostats and loads more. If you go with Z Wave / Zigbee you will need some gateway.

Relays:

Z-Wave Plus Secure Boiler Receiver HRT Gen5

ccull123

Hi all,

one of my zones (hot water) has just stopped work. When I look at it in the app the hot water temp just shows “- -“

when I try to boost it nothing happens. Any ideas/suggestions?

Pique

Without trying to sound like an ar$e, maybe flip the trip switch for the house for 5 mins and see if she restarts. Might be the stat on the pipe is kaput and you need another one otherwise.

Is the unit that shows the temp dead? Maybe it just needs new batteries.

Nelbert

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118674577#Comment_118674577

Mother in law has the EPH... Not a fan myself.

I have a Heatmiser system that has built in homekit functionality and an integration for home assistant (although you can link them via homekit too if you wish).

Let's me do all sorts of clever things with blinds closing based on temp and open windows preventing a temp drop leading to a call for heat from thermostat.

yak

I have a dual zone heating system and an oil boiler.... I want to install a smart controller (with wifi) access for the heating system to provide remote control of the boiler. Ideally i'd like to be able to control individual rooms independently (so turn of radiator in guest bedroom when no guests are about), the best way of achieving that seems to be to have smart TRVs installed at each radiator, is that possible with Eph/Ember? If so does anyone have experience with them?

Pique

Is there any benefit of changing from Ember to a Climote?

Would a Climote thermostat be a simple substitute for the EPH one for water that is wired to the sensor on the tank or is it a balls?

Is the Climote even an upgrade?

cornflake1

Got an EPH Ember system installed in the summer and only really starting to use it now. The problem is that the heating doesn't always turn on. We have three zones, upstairs, downstairs and hot water. At 5pm today I turned on the downstairs boost for an hour and the heating came on and turned off as it should. I just turned on the upstairs boost at 7pm and no heating.

This has been happening frequently. It's always the second time we turn it on in a day. We've tried turning it on from the app and on the control panel. The panel lights up for the correct zone but nothing happens. We continue turning it on and off and eventually it works. We're going to have someone look at it but Murphy's law it will all work correctly while they are here. Anybody else experience this?

Pique

At the risk of sounding insulting, is the temp set above the current temp when you try to boost it?

What happens if you just set a scheduled period instead, does it work then?

Pique

I still have the Ember, but the thermostat for the water is located on the wall while a wire runs through the wall to the sensor on the tank. However, the batteries in the unit are dead and I can't take it off the backing plate more than a cm due to the wires. I don't just want to yank it out an rip the wires out. Any ideas how to replace the batteries?

nongasman

Hi all, looking some advice please. Currently got EPH R37-HW with two wired thermostats and 1 wired HW thermostat.

Looking for out of home control and for simplicity looking at R37-RF with gateway. - should just be simple switch.

For those who’ve upgraded, did you just leave your existing EPH hardwired thermostats or disconnect them. For those who left them wired, can you use the RF thermostats in addition if they’re paired to the correct zone? Does this cause any issues.

Thanks in advance.

The devils

I got rid of all my eph stats and my wireless controller..the hub was too expensive and wireless stats to upgrade. Installed hive instead (black friday deal) no issues so far and a simple install 😀

Rock Paper Scissors

I just woke up this morning and tried to turn on zone 1 (water) using the boost feature and noticed that the light in the panel didnt come on as it normally does.

I checked the app and there is no temperature displayed for zone 1 and there seems to be a low battery icon in the app as shown in the screenshot below.

The weird thing is that when i press zone 2, the light does come on and zone 2 temp (heating) is shown in the app

Any idea whats wrong here folks?

Never seen that battery icon before

Rock Paper Scissors

All sorted, it was a battery in one of the thermostats

branners69

Hi,

am a new user to EPH Ember with 1 zone. During the Summer I want to turn off all the rads and boost an hour a day for hot water. But it seems that if the temp in the house is the same at the thermostat, the boost wont work?

Do I have to keep increasing the thermostat throughout the Summer so that the boost will work?

Maybe I am better off putting the immersion on a timer.

Branners

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120535225#Comment_120535225

I take the batteries out of the thermostat and it works fine. Didn't realise it had got that warm already and was panicking that my boiler was broken. But I absolutely detest the Ember system, was sold a pup by my installer. As soon as I have spare cash I'm replacing it with a system that works properly!

dunnetd

Hi, my EPH unit has stopped communicating with my modem today and won't pair back, stuck on the green/red light. I tried the function and WPS button reset on the side but it just keeps saying no WiFi connection after flashing. Have reset in the past with power cut and always came back to green but not this time.

Can anyone advise how to solve this?

Screenshot_2023-05-01-20-32-33-030_com.ephcontrols.ember.jpg

IMG_20230501_182413.jpg

branners69

Thanks a million that seems to have worked 👍

rameire

My two zones are showing up now on my Google home app on my phone.

It shows the temp and I seem to be able to select from the Auto,On,Off options.

When I select the Heat option the temperature toggle opens up to be changed.

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120544039#Comment_120544039

Did you ever get this sorted?

Struggling here to get the unit to pair back up to the Wi-Fi.

Comerman

Hi folks, we had an ember ps 2 zone system installed a few years ago and find it more frustrating than anything else, can I ask if it's possible to have it taken out and if so how?

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121582923#Comment_121582923

I'm hoping to replace mine this year

LizardKing

So if anyone has the Ember setup with Alexa (via Ember Programmer skill) they may have been frustrated by the lack of a BOOST option.

A few days ago I noted the thermostat zones showed in the alexa app with some modes listed.

• Heat
• Auto
• On/OFF

So it turns out the boost option is equivalent to the mode heat

if you want to boost your heating you can say , Alexa set heating zone to heat

or

boost your hot water say , alexa set hot water zone to heat

Can setup Routines to do this too based on various inputs or phrases you want.

e.g

Alexa , its cold!

or

Alexa , boost the heat

Hopefully this helps some people as it was frustrating to me not having the boost in Alexa

Cheers

dam099

Does that leave it boosted indefinitely?

If so you might want to add two more actions, a Wait one for X minutes and one to switch back to Auto mode.

LizardKing

No, it boosts for 1 hour , like the Ember App boost option. To cancel the boost you can say Alexa, set the heating zone to auto.

The devils

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121582923#Comment_121582923

I replaced my eph last year didn't go for eph ember very poor reviews.

Anyway replaced with hive very easy to do - wiring a little bit of hassle but nothing do hard

matrim

The only plus I can find for the ember system is that you can have the hot water monitored with a thermostat instead of just a timer. But I'll probably look to replace some time this year too. I had Tado in my rental last year and found it very good.

I've also noticed that EPH are launching a eTRV but it doesn't mention if it works with the other systems https://www.ephcontrols.com/section/etrv/

Rock Paper Scissors

Just recently the 2 zones disappeared off my ember app and i cant see any option in the app to add zones.

Anyone have any idea how i can add the zones back?

I had 2 zones, 1 for water and 1 for heating

Cheers lads

seanvox

Have you tried pairing the gateway with the app again? Sounds like that might be the issue: https://youtu.be/GcIs3GjxZ5c?si=KDMRAHajzOMfrlaZ

Rock Paper Scissors

Yes i paired the gateway again (have the green light) and its connected but the zones are gone.

Pique

Not trying to be funny but did you try turning it off and on again? The control panel, not the app. Use the isolation switch or just flip the relevant breaker for 10 seconds.

LizardKing

Alexa app and skill were working fine until this morning I noticed a problem with communications. devices showed as unresponsive in alexa.

I tried reset the wifi on ember gateway and took about 7 attempts to get it to work. Then tried disabling the zones and the skill in the alexa app and reanabling. it reconnects to skill but could not re-discover the hot water or heating zones, these are working in the ember APP however.

Have emailed EPH support to see if they know of any issues with alexa and or the skill not working.

Anyone else seeing the same?

jethrothe2nd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949403#Comment_121949403

Yes same for me. I've also done the same trouble shooting as you with no success. I am mailing EPH support as well

shz

I have had this same problem starting earlier this week. Have had no problem for the past year but can't get it to reconnect. Have you managed to fix it?

jethrothe2nd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121952746#Comment_121952746

I've exhausted the limits of my technical ability. I've mailed EPH and we'll see what they say if anything. It's not the end of the world given the App is functioning fine, but its annoying…

Comerman

+353 21 434 6238 I have this number for a while for support, worth a try

jethrothe2nd

Looks like whatever was causing the issue has been resolved. Mine is working fine with Alexa today.

LizardKing

Back working again here , had to re-discover the thermostats again and rename them so my routines worked. I have mine re-named hot water zone and heating zone and they discover as just hot water and heating. All good again. hopefully won't need the heating too much during the next few months :-)

Pique

No chance they'd update the functionality to allow different temps at different times like every other smart heating control I suppose?