Heating Controller Checklist

Dr.Tom

Hello all,

Please bear with me as this may be a bit long winded. I have searched the forums but cant find an answer to my specific requests so hoping someone can help.

I am just in the process of finishing up a mini heating retrofit to our bungalow renovation.

Old copper cylinder dumped out, new 300L solar capable hot water cylinder fitted. Solar coil currently looped with oil boiler coil. Thermostatic valves fitted on all rads.

New run of pipework fitted to allow zoning (separate heating and hot water) with two motorised valves.

Currently has old analogue timer fitted just controlling central heating.

Now here's what id like......

As futureproof of a heating control system that's currently on the market

Control of both motorised valves

Ability to add wireless TRV for separate room zoning and grouping

Wireless thermostat compatible

Now all the above is, what I feel, a run of the mill list of requests. The next three are where I am stumbling.

Electric heater control capability (we may add one).

Temperature display of hot water cylinder temperature.

I'm unsure of our "solar future" so what do I need to look for to have this function/features ready.

The only thing I am seeing that is ticking all the boxes currently is a Honeywell Evohome with suitable add-ons for hot water cylinder temp and electric heater control.

The Drayton Wiser is a close second but not ticking all boxes, namely the hot water temp.

Can anyone shed any light on alternatives. All help greatly appreciated.

Coyote

can't add any alternatives but I use the Honeywell Evohome and find it brilliant, it meets all the requirements you listed (i believe it has some controls for electric underfloor but have not looked in to it) and has local control from the controller which is a requirement for me as I don't trust that cloud only devices will be free for ever and I don't want it to stop working if the internet is off line for a few hours or days

Dr.Tom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121746342#Comment_121746342

Thanks for your reply Coyote.

Good to hear the Evohome get a thumbs up.

Can you please explain what you mean by "I don't want it to stop working if the internet is off line for a few hours or days" ?

Is Evohome not ran off the wifi and are you controlling motorised valves wirelessly through their BDR wireless relays?

Hope you can answer these questions.

Coyote

Hi Dr.Tom

Evehome controls the boiler/rads/hot water from the base station over 868mhz, the base station does have a cloud connection (wifi) so you can turn on and off things from outside the house but even if Honeywell turned off the Cloud in a few years it will still work fine as a standalone heating system.

some other company's/devices for home heating require a cloud connection to make changes or read information from them, so if your offline they don't work or parts don't work.

At a later date if the company goes bust or is bought out they might just turn it off or introduce a charge. (I don't like paying a subscription for things I already bought) which is why most people like devices with local control.(faster response as well but that's more needed for things like lights where a few seconds delay is a pain)

https://inside.lighting/news/22-04/lighting-controls-become-bricks-smart-home-company-disappears

"evohome communicates using wireless on a robust 868Mhz signal that is unaffected by common remote controls or Wifi."

the base station controls the rads, hot water and boiler over 868mhz so each device is not on your wifi only the base station.

I have a water temp sensor for the hot water tank temp (ATF500DHW kit includes a BDR91) this wireless reports the tank temp to the base station

Two BDR91 Wireless Relay box one is connected to the boiler (turn it on/off) and one to the hot water valve(from kit) (there is guides to how it needs to be setup depending of if you have a s-plan or y-plan heating systems.)

10+ HR924UK to control the rads (uses two AA battery) that wireless talks to the base station.

I also got 2 "Honeywell Home DTS92E1020 Wireless Digital Room Thermostat" for use in larger rooms or where the rad might not give great temp reading. i'm not sure they were needed to tell the truth after 5 years they are nearly never used. just use the honeywell app, home assistant or just turn up the temp on the rad which is the simplest non tech way to change the temp, and the temp from the rad controller is very close to the room temp.

Dr.Tom

Excellent detailed response Coyote. Very much appreciated.

Not the cheapest kit overall by the time all components are factored in but I feel it's the one that will suit the needs of my home best. A purchase will be on the cards.

Coyote

it's not the cheapest kit, but at the time I could not find anything that matched what I was looking for.

I ordered from https://thesmartthermostatshop.co.uk/product-category/honeywell-home/

this is a large kit for £899 8 rads and everything else needed for a full install. https://thesmartthermostatshop.co.uk/product/honeywell-evohome-wi-fi-connected-value-pack-a/

there is smaller kits and you can buy the parts one by one but they cost more bought in bits

not sure what the cost in Ireland to buy them is. one option is there is some places you can have stuff delivered to NL and pick them up yourself and drive south.

Dr.Tom

Hi Coyote,

Would you mind if I PM you with a few more questions or will we keep the discussion here for fellow "newbies" to the Evohome world?

Thank you.

Coyote

Hi Dr.Tom

ask away could be useful for anyone else that is interested in it. someone else might suggest a different system that might meed your requirements as well maybe at a better price. there is a long thread about heating automation but I don't believe that the Evehome is as popular on that thread.

I believe that it's a better system than most available but you have to want the extra options it offers, it seems to suit bigger or more complex setups. a lot of people just want to control a few valves and not the boiler and hot water and are happy with cloud only options. another thing that was important to me was the long term support that you can expect from the company, Honeywell are a very large company with a record of support. a startup or company that jumping in to heating systems might not be around in a few years (one reason to want local control in a worst case) and Google just have a habit of killing products when it suits them

Dr.Tom

Ill reply here rather than PM to keep the discussion going. Thanks for the PM by the way.

I researched a bit more into Drayton Wiser and apart from hot water temp (which they may add in the future) it may be a better option for me.

Namely lack of individual RF receivers needed plus the fact their TRV are a lot more compact than Evohome, albeit without temp display.

Also to start with buying the Drayton Wiser base pack, just for hot water and heating, is a lot cheaper than Evohome again with the caveat of a phone or tablet being needed.

What is your heating setup Coyote?