Home heating/water/immersion options

captainshamroc

Hi Folks,

I have read a lot of the threads here so hopefully won't be duplicating questions already answered. Apologies if a bit long

We moved house back in March. Our old house was your normal 3 bed semi with a single heating zone and hot water tank. We had Nest installed and loved it. We never bothered with the learning function as our schedules are fairly fluid. We would sleep with the window open all year round so the only rads we used were the living room and the box room where we used to hang clothes to dry. We loved the remote access and can't live without it now.
The house we moved to is a mid 80's detached with a single heating zone and is bigger with a converted attic so I've been looking at options. The only current smart items we have is a Nest smoke alarm and a few Sonoff plug-in switches. I've no interest in making the lights smart or adding voice control so tying the heating into anything else is not a priority. The only other thing I may add is a smart doorbell and maybe a security camera.
We don't need the intelligence of Nest but want the remote access and control-ability. We will probably only use the living room daily, probably a bathroom in the winter mornings, office in evenings but as this is our final home and you don't know what may happen, future proofing is probably sensible so I would like control over guest/potential kids bedrooms and bathrooms. I don't want anything with monthly charges so that rules out Climote

I could put in a Nest and a remote immersion switch similar to this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07FZ65W6L/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=A18C9CJ8IWNXUA&psc=1
The advantage of this would be it is a cheap solution, easy to use, works when the wifi is down, fits in with existing Nest software etc but the downside would be lack of control-ability and still being stuck with one zone.
A friend got Ember installed by a local company and is very happy with it. They already had two zones, it gave remote access and was moderate expense
The one I am leaning towards and the one I see least about on boards is Honeywell Evohome with Electric Ireland. The trv's are fairly clunky and its the most expensive because of the number of radiators that would need trv's and every rad needs one to get the grant but also gives total control. Room by room or build your own zones.

Just wondering what other peoples opinions are. What have I not thought about? I'm not sure if it can work directly if the wifi is down. It also doesn't do anything with the immersion and you use the gas to heat the hot water which is supposed to be cheaper. I'm leaning toward getting it done professionally as I am doing enough projects around the house as it is and the other half already is not happy that we are not getting people in to do them quicker

bk

Tado Thermostat.

They also support smart TRV's, similar to Evohome, so assuming your rads already have TRV's they maybe a cheap and easy replacement and give you per room multiple zones.

Tado, Nest, Evohome, etc. all integrate well with voice control and other smart home systems if you change your mind about that in future.

BTW if you do decide to go with Evohome, make sure to check into the various grants available from the government for getting it installed in your home.