EPH Ember

I installed a smart TRV in my kitchen but it just changes the output that the TRV is set too and doesn't talk back to fire the boiler if it goes below a set temperature.

I've both Ember and the TRV hooked up to home assistant for some monitoring / control from there. I mostly use that to set the EPH to different temperatures at different times of the day. But plan to look at using it to change modes too.

I was looking at the Netatmo ones previously. I previously had the Netatmo thermostat thingy but since Ember was installed I'm looking for good and cheap (yeah yeah I know) TRVs.

If you had Ember set to 21C and the TRVs set to 19C, what would happen? The boiler will keep firing in an attempt to get to 21C but the rads will be closed off, so will the excess go to the HW until that stat trips? Will the Boiler continuously run to achieve the Ember target temp?

Seems to me that could cause trouble. IDK. I suppose you could put the Ember stat in the coldest room of the zone and have it set to 21C in there, with TRVs in the warmer rooms of that zone (which might be 23C when the other room reaches 21C) to control the temp there.

Axamentia

Also in the same boat we have all EPH set in the house, so just buying the email gateway will get me improved functionality.

Might pair with the Home assistant, but really interested in finding a way to make API calls so we can regulate nursery temp.

Axamentia wrote: »

Also in the same boat we have all EPH set in the house, so just buying the email gateway will get me improved functionality.

Might pair with the Home assistant, but really interested in finding a way to make API calls so we can regulate nursery temp.

https://github.com/ttroy50/pyephember

That is the library that the home assistant plugin uses. There are docs that describe the API in case you want to use another language

Axamentia

Great thanks!

Axamentia wrote: »

Also in the same boat we have all EPH set in the house, so just buying the email gateway will get me improved functionality.

Might pair with the Home assistant, but really interested in finding a way to make API calls so we can regulate nursery temp.

Just make sure you have a "RF" model stat, these are the ones that will work with the gateway.

Axamentia

I presume we have the RF model, we have wireless thermostats we can place in other rooms and control the 3 zones.

Correction: Wireless Gateway not Email gateway XD

"Might pair with the Home assistant, but really interested in finding a way to make API calls so we can regulate nursery temp."

The GH link won't allow you to do anything more than the phone app does, and neither will allow you to regulate a single room without TRVs. If you place the stat in the nursery and monitor it then it's your easiest option atm.

matrim wrote: »

I installed a smart TRV in my kitchen but it just changes the output that the TRV is set too and doesn't talk back to fire the boiler if it goes below a set temperature.

I've both Ember and the TRV hooked up to home assistant for some monitoring / control from there. I mostly use that to set the EPH to different temperatures at different times of the day. But plan to look at using it to change modes too.

Thanks , so basically the ember is switching the boiler to on based off a thermostat you have located somewhere and the TRV is acting like a flow control where you can limit the output to a radiator.

I can see logic in this , for example let's say there are two rooms you occupy most of the time locate the stats in those and let them fire the boiler as needed based off the temperature you want.

Now there are 3 other rooms you occupy seldomly. Fit these with TRVs that you can control with an app. Set them to minimal heat output.This saves going around to those individual TRvs and manually turning them down if the room is not in use.

Is this what you mean?
I thought the ember didn't allow different temps at different times of day- or does home assistance get around this ?

Also what do you mean by changing modes?

Boro

Just got my boiler replaced and ended up with the gw01. I haven't plugged in the gateway yet. Are these things secure?

matrim wrote: »

I installed a smart TRV in my kitchen but it just changes the output that the TRV is set too and doesn't talk back to fire the boiler if it goes below a set temperature.

I've both Ember and the TRV hooked up to home assistant for some monitoring / control from there. I mostly use that to set the EPH to different temperatures at different times of the day. But plan to look at using it to change modes too.

What trv you using ?

sightband

Hi,

All new to this...we bought a new house and the boiler has the following control panel.

Any idea if the ember gateway is compatible and how much they are?

Thanks.

Negitive, you need the *-RF series to work with the gateway.

Your one with gateway compatibility :
https://www.ephcontrols.com/section/3-zone-programmer/

They look the same.

sightband

Standard Toaster wrote: »

Negitive, you need the *-RF series to work with the gateway.

Your one with gateway compatibility :
https://www.ephcontrols.com/section/3-zone-programmer/

They look the same.

Thanks

sightband wrote: »

Thanks

I'm in the same boat. Looking to diy replace my R47....vs upgrade to an RF model. Maybe also include smart trvs.

Haven't researched enough yet to make a decision.

sightband

Standard Toaster wrote: »

I'm in the same boat. Looking to diy replace my R47....vs upgrade to an RF model. Maybe also include smart trvs.

Haven't researched enough yet to make a decision.

would appreciate if you could pass on whatever decision you make. have absolutely no knowledge about this.

is there any way of getting a installer in to replace the unit and give some kind of trade in discount on it i wonder.

Sure will do.
The cheapest place i found online for the EPH stuff was eurosales.ie
The gateway was €91 +vat and the R47-RF was €189 +vat. That was a year ago mind, never pulled the trigger on them.

House has 4 heating zones. I've a Henley Druid 25kW stove with back boiler, a Firebird C26 oil boiler, 30tube solar for hotwater and triple coil tank. Looking to get a setup factoring in all of the above. (if possible!)
I think smart trvs on the rads will help alot.

I'll keep you posted

s8n

I'm having a new system installed and eager to know if users on here recommend this or nest

KingCong

s8n wrote: »

I'm having a new system installed and eager to know if users on here recommend this or nest

I have EPH and wouldn't recommend it, see my post on this thread for some reasons why: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057912428

s8n

KingCong wrote: »

I have EPH and wouldn't recommend it, see my post on this thread for some reasons why: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057912428

Thanks. Its pushed me towards nest (Alexa integration also a big requirement)

Totally agree with 3 of your points. Different temps across the different times of the day, smart TRVs and reporting.

The IFTTT or Google home / Alexa support doesn't concern me too much but lots of people have them (I don't).

The thing is, if they opened their API and made some small changes then 2 of the first 3 above (duff temps and reporting) could easily be added. Hell a coder user could do it easy enough with their cooperation.

Maybe they would be open to considering this approach.

Pique wrote: »

Totally agree with 3 of your points. Different temps across the different times of the day, smart TRVs and reporting.

The IFTTT or Google home / Alexa support doesn't concern me too much but lots of people have them (I don't).

The thing is, if they opened their API and made some small changes then 2 of the first 3 above (duff temps and reporting) could easily be added. Hell a coder user could do it easy enough with their cooperation.

Maybe they would be open to considering this approach.

If you have home assistant you can get some of them already.

Which is useful if you already have the system and don't want to change. If you are looking for a new install I wouldn't let that be a decider

matrim wrote: »

Pique wrote: »

Totally agree with 3 of your points. Different temps across the different times of the day, smart TRVs and reporting.

The IFTTT or Google home / Alexa support doesn't concern me too much but lots of people have them (I don't).

The thing is, if they opened their API and made some small changes then 2 of the first 3 above (duff temps and reporting) could easily be added. Hell a coder user could do it easy enough with their cooperation.

Maybe they would be open to considering this approach.

If you have home assistant you can get some of them already.

Explain? I have it but would love variable temps and reporting. Smart TRVs are on the list too when a decent brand is reasonably priced (which I haven't seen yet).

matrim wrote: »

Pique wrote: »

Totally agree with 3 of your points. Different temps across the different times of the day, smart TRVs and reporting.

The IFTTT or Google home / Alexa support doesn't concern me too much but lots of people have them (I don't).

The thing is, if they opened their API and made some small changes then 2 of the first 3 above (duff temps and reporting) could easily be added. Hell a coder user could do it easy enough with their cooperation.

Maybe they would be open to considering this approach.

If you have home assistant you can get some of them already.

Explain? I have it but would love variable temps and reporting. Smart TRVs are on the list too when a decent brand is reasonably priced (which I haven't seen yet).

Pique wrote: »

Explain? I have it but would love variable temps and reporting. Smart TRVs are on the list too when a decent brand is reasonably priced (which I haven't seen yet).

I traced their API and wrote a python library that can interact with it. I've added it to home assistant so that you can use that platform to monitor and manage the system. You can also hook home-assistant up to google home / alexa / IFTTT to get some control from those too.

https://www.home-assistant.io/components/climate.ephember/

This shows my heating for today

If you wanted to avoid home assistant you could use the python library directly to write a small program that changed temps based on a cron job.

Ooh. Interesting.

matrim wrote: »

I traced their API and wrote a python library that can interact with it. I've added it to home assistant so that you can use that platform to monitor and manage the system. You can also hook home-assistant up to google home / alexa / IFTTT to get some control from those too.

https://www.home-assistant.io/components/climate.ephember/

This shows my heating for today

If you wanted to avoid home assistant you could use the python library directly to write a small program that changed temps based on a cron job.

Did you ever think about contacting them?
I'm going to get it installed soon as I've considered all the other options and going with EPH from a support/installer point view .
The Geofence I think is overkill - I don't need it.

What you have there overcomes the limitations of Ember for me.

Maybe they should hire you for some contract work :-)

john_doe. wrote: »

Did you ever think about contacting them?
I'm going to get it installed soon as I've considered all the other options and going with EPH from a support/installer point view .
The Geofence I think is overkill - I don't need it.

What you have there overcomes the limitations of Ember for me.

Maybe they should hire you for some contract work :-)

I sent them a couple of questions about echo system stuff (e.g. TRVs) but didn't mention the library, mainly in case they decide to get upset and change it.

For TRVs they pretty much said it won't happen. I'd be surprised if they every got much more in their current system. It seems like they just got what is supported in hardware and made it software. Their hardware doesn't support multiple temps so it would have to be controlled by their external software so would only be for the limited number of customers with the gateway.

Plus, looking their code, it seems like some of the stuff is coming from an italian company, who outsource to a chinese company and the API is a bit of a mess. I wouldn't be hopeful of them taking adding many advanced features.

So, if you are happy with a basic system then go for it. But if you actually want more advanced features, then i'd say take a bit of time to get a better system.

matrim wrote: »

I sent them a couple of questions about echo system stuff (e.g. TRVs) but didn't mention the library, mainly in case they decide to get upset and change it.

For TRVs they pretty much said it won't happen. I'd be surprised if they every got much more in their current system. It seems like they just got what is supported in hardware and made it software. Their hardware doesn't support multiple temps so it would have to be controlled by their external software so would only be for the limited number of customers with the gateway.

Plus, looking their code, it seems like some of the stuff is coming from an italian company, who outsource to a chinese company and the API is a bit of a mess. I wouldn't be hopeful of them taking adding many advanced features.

So, if you are happy with a basic system then go for it. But if you actually want more advanced features, then i'd say take a bit of time to get a better system.

Thanks are you sticking with the EPH?
I could take in back Into Home assistant , I was setting up an oilpal today to monitor oil usage and was looking to see can that also be pulled into Home assistant.

I'm not pushed on advanced features , I think a lot of them are gimmicky enough and not convinced technology is quite strong enough yet.

Something with easy control via phone I think will do me for now.