Smart Radiator Valves

GoWhest · 26-09-2020 11:21am #1

I see that Hive have 30% off their smart Radiator Valves and was wondering if these would be any good. I'm kinda thinking with Winter coming in and work from home going to continue indefinitely, rather than heating the whole house all day, just have one radiator on in the room that I'm using at the time, for example just heat the office room between 9-5, the living room between 5-10 and the bedroom between 10 and 11. I live alone so don't see much point having the living room and bedroom warm when I'm not in it. Its an old house but it does hold the heat reasonably well. I already have the hive heating control which is great - used to turn on the heat as I was leaving work so the house would be just right when I got home.

Another issue that I'm hoping that they may be able to solve is that i'm not a fan of the heat and would be happy with a temperature of about 19°. I've the hive thermostat located in the living room which doesn't hold the heat as well as my little office room, so when the living room is at a cosy 19, my office room could be approaching the mid 20s. I think you can set a temperature on the valves and they shut off once the desired temperature in the room is reached?

DGOBS · 26-09-2020 1:01pm

Hi, I have them and find them good (entire house done with them)

You can use them individually, group them (bit of fiddling to do that) and choose if you want them linked back to the hive stat (ie, individually they can call on your boiler) and set individual times and temperatures.

Pretty good

26-09-2020 4:52pm

They look cool, what would be great is if you could have the boiler and pump switch off when the rooms are at the right temp and back on when it cools down again.

Tenger · 27-09-2020 7:23pm

You can apply for an SEAI grant of up to €700 for upgrading your heating controls.
I applied yesterday, very easy.
Now I just need to get the registered plumber to install thermostatic valves across the whole place. (getting same guy to install a new boiler too)

27-09-2020 9:32pm

Tenger wrote: »

You can apply for an SEAI grant of up to €700 for upgrading your heating controls.
I applied yesterday, very easy.
Now I just need to get the registered plumber to install thermostatic valves across the whole place. (getting same guy to install a new boiler too)

I wonder though will they last ? I've had several of the non digital type and they are either seriously inaccurate or fail altogether.

Tea drinker · 27-09-2020 9:41pm

Tenger wrote: »

You can apply for an SEAI grant of up to €700 for upgrading your heating controls.
I applied yesterday, very easy.
Now I just need to get the registered plumber to install thermostatic valves across the whole place. (getting same guy to install a new boiler too)

Is there a grant on the boiler too? I'm thinking of my own 2006 boiler....

GoWhest · 12-10-2020 3:38pm

So I took the plunge with these. I had to use parcel motel as they don't sell them in their Irish store. Initial impressions are good. You can set the temperature schedule for each room that they are fitted to and they can fire the boiler if needed. I gave it its first test this morning - I had my office room set to 17 from 9 with all other rooms set to protection (off). Right on cue at 9 the boiler fired up with only the office rad heating up. It cut-off then when the temperature was reached.

The only very small criticism I would have is that one of my radiators had an M28 valve (no idea why since they all went in together), rather than the M30 so I needed an adaptor. They say that they will send you one free of charge. I contacted them through the app and they gave me a number to call. I called the number and it turned out to be British Gas...who answered with "the current wait time is between 2 hours and 2 hours 30 minutes" so I managed to get one on Amazon.

John.G · 12-10-2020 7:27pm

DGOBS wrote: »

Hi, I have them and find them good (entire house done with them)

You can use them individually, group them (bit of fiddling to do that) and choose if you want them linked back to the hive stat (ie, individually they can call on your boiler) and set individual times and temperatures.

Pretty good

Maybe a stupid question re a smart TRV, how are these actually powered?, is there a battery in each one or what?.

GoWhest · 12-10-2020 9:41pm

John.G wrote: »

Maybe a stupid question re a smart TRV, how are these actually powered?, is there a battery in each one or what?.

Two AA batteries in the hive ones.

ebayissues · 13-10-2020 10:55pm

How doe the grant work? Do you have to spend x money upgrading controls to avail of the grant?

Sleeper12 · 14-10-2020 8:27am

ebayissues wrote: »

How doe the grant work? Do you have to spend x money upgrading controls to avail of the grant?

The grant is to get you to install zones in your home. Upstairs, downstairs & water. You will also need to upgrade your controls themselves. It's a sizeable grant & I have heard of companies doing the work for the grant money & nothing extra a few years back. Not sure if this is the case now but well worth upgrading. The grant is the sweetener but you will save money on your bills & you will have a better heating system

poker--addict · 17-05-2021 7:18pm

Looking at TADO, I would need all rads fitted with the correct heads for a smart rad TRV, so a bit of work involved. Does the grant require me to do anything specific with the immersion, in respect of zones? Does fitting a smart switch with remote/mobile connectivity satisfy upgrading the water system?

Sleeper12 · 17-05-2021 8:34pm

poker--addict wrote:

Looking at TADO, I would need all rads fitted with the correct heads for a smart rad TRV, so a bit of work involved. Does the grant require me to do anything specific with the immersion, in respect of zones? Does fitting a smart switch with remote/mobile connectivity satisfy upgrading the water system?

You will need to engage a company registered with SEI. Pretty sure you will need to get BER cert. As far as I know the grant is to upgrade the heating controls/timer etc. Don't think the grant covers smart TRVs

LenWoods · 21-05-2021 11:05am

if anyone is draining there system for fitting valves or just as a routine service,
i highly recommend adding a bottle of endotherm to your system when refilling,
im saving on heating costs with it, really does work,

https://purchase.ie/product/all-products/endotherm-central-heating-saver

brightkane · 27-05-2021 5:41pm

Hi, Instead of a new thread my query is similar.

If I put smart valves on the upstairs rads with whatever hub is required could I then turn on the heat and have it set up so I tell Alexa/Google to turn of the upstairs rads so only the downstairs is heated?

Kinda zoning the house. But I wont have the ability to heat just upstairs on its own.

Theory is sometimes when the weather is nice I can heat the downstairs but not the upstairs as its normally warm enough upstairs...

I hope that makes sense!

Markcheese · 27-05-2021 7:31pm

brightkane wrote: »

Hi, Instead of a new thread my query is similar.

If I put smart valves on the upstairs rads with whatever hub is required could I then turn on the heat and have it set up so I tell Alexa/Google to turn of the upstairs rads so only the downstairs is heated?

Kinda zoning the house. But I wont have the ability to heat just upstairs on its own.

Theory is sometimes when the weather is nice I can heat the downstairs but not the upstairs as its normally warm enough upstairs...

I hope that makes sense!

Would have thought so - ( without looking at the spec of a system) .
You should be able to control the temperature of each room / radiator ,
You may be able to "zone " your hot water system as well , so you could heat or not heat the water in your hot water cylinder as you choose ...

brightkane · 27-05-2021 10:02pm

Cheers. Currently 2 zones. One for radiators for the whole house and one for hot water so water can be heated independently at the moment.

Was just looking for a solution to close off the upstairs rads using smart technology so that only the downstairs is heated.

Smart Radiator Valves

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