Old House- making a little smart

irishguy19772

Have an old bungalow that I am trying to make a little smart. Here are some basic ideas. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated as I am a complete novice.

1https://www.plumbingproducts.ie/heating-control-packs/5230-eph-ember-1-zone-system-pack.html

Was recommended this by friend for heating controls. I know the whole house is not zoned yet (rads come on upstairs/downstairs) and immersion is heated. So not sure if I need 1 zone or 2 zone.

2)HBN WiFi Smart Wall Timer Switch, Compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, No Hub Required, APP Remote Control, Control Your Devices from Anywhere 13 amp 3120 watts (1 Pack) https://amzn.eu/d/cved5DI

going to put this on immersion for heating shower

3) Echo Dot (3rd Gen) - Compact Bluetooth Speaker with Alexa - Charcoal Fabric https://amzn.eu/d/gTQg2Mc

Going to buy echo dot and some smart plugs and lights

Fighting Tao

We have a 40 year old house and have added Meross smart plugs in a lot of places. Some smart lights, smart gang leads, smart bulbs, smart heating (Tado) as we only have the one zone. The Tado system is very easy to install but you need existing thermostatic valves on the radiators.

External lights come on when human motion is detected outside, and when away internal lights will come on too. We also have a Switchbot for an external sensor light that unfortunately turns on day and night, so the Switchbot turns it off at sunrise and on at sunset at the light switch

Lights in the hall come on a few minutes after we wake up at about 30% power, they go off when the house is empty or time of day. There is loads that can be done, even so far as automating blinds and curtains to open and close.

Dehumidifier comes on when humidity levels get high (humidity is caused by a more expensive issues to fix).

It becomes addictive and you’ll be constantly looking for new stuff to do.

I love the Meross range of stuff. I have plugs, lights and bulbs. They are relatively inexpensive and very reliable compared to other brands. I was tempted to go with their smart heating controls but it’s not long on the market and so went for more tried and tested Tado.

emaherx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058277090/old-house-making-a-little-smart

2)HBN WiFi Smart Wall Timer Switch, Compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, No Hub Required, APP Remote Control, Control Your Devices from Anywhere 13 amp 3120 watts (1 Pack) https://amzn.eu/d/cved5DI

going to put this on immersion for heating shower

I would not power the immersion with this alone, consider a higher rated contactor with this, maybe 20Amp+. Also worth considering that this device is completely cloud based for scheduling so if internet connection is down or providers cloud service is down then the schedule will not be followed. Perhaps not that big a deal for hot water. I have one of these switching my boiler, its been reliable enough, but in the beginning I had some issues with failed schedules which is not nice for the CH, but I now have it running with Home Assistant on the Local Tuya integration which cuts out the need for an active internet connection to the cloud service.

irishguy19772

Any brand you would recommend in place of the immersion switch?

emaherx

Not especially, most smart switches are similar, there are a few specifically designed for immersions but are very expensive for what they are.

My advice is use a contactor then you can use any smart switch from whatever ecosystem you like, even perhaps a spare zone on your planned heating controller.