Eph 2 zone programmer, what does it mean?

Manion

Really simple question I think, but I cannot find the answer online. I've a two zone EPH programmer at home, and two controls, one for each floor. I'm wondering, does this mean hot water and each floor are heat controlled separately or is it just hot water and rads?

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/eph-controls-r27-hw-2-zone-hardwired-programmer/128HK?gclid=Cj0KCQiAzMGNBhCyARIsANpUkzPIxTx_OQyQ4REBfeT7ifsoTB0U29a3Sws8vTbdDC6gcmhUQovjfI4aAh_kEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

10-10-20

The two zones are the hot water and the central heating.

If you had split central heating zones - upstairs and downstairs - then you would need the three-zone variant of this programmer.

Wearb

and two controls, one for each floor.

What do you mean by above, two thermostats?

It's most likely as 11-10-20 said, but it could also be controlling two heating zones and not DHW

Manion

Hi, I've two of these thermostats, one for each floor and the R27 HW I linked to. I started looking into this today because one of the thermostats stopped working and only the radiators on the top floor stopped.

We've an air to water heat pump and we had always understood the programmer unit controlled the heat pump and the hot water as well.

I'm thinking of replacing the programmer and stats with an ember system but find I'm ignorant of how this is currently set up.

Wearb

The one you linked to only has 2 channels so cannot do all 3 separately.

You might have 2 zones combined or another controller for dhw.

Manion

Thanks, one of the neighbours cane back there and said the hot water is controlled directly from the joule system and the thermostats are just central heating.

I was wondering, are the Eph thermostats and programmer suitable for replacement with a nest or similar. I'm somewhat confused as the nest appears to be a combined thermostat and programmer?

Wearb

My belief is that the low water temperature of a heat pump makes smart thermostats mostly redundant. That is because it will work best if you allow the thermostats to control the zones and leave it at that. The slow heat-up and slow cool down (hopefully) doesn't lend itself to constant switching on and off.

Manion

Ah yeah, it took two days for us to notice the drop in temperature when the thermostat stopped working. I'm mainly interested in something I can monitor and configure remotely. I'm thinking the Ember might be right as it will go into the same back plate.