Looking at a smart thermostat - opinions?

One More Toy wrote: »

Hi guys

Anyone any advice on a smart thermostat for a 20 year old oil burner? I'm looking at a nest. Can you install them yourself?

TIA
Omt

If you are with electric Ireland. You’ll get it supplied and installed for 120


https://shop.electricireland.ie/checkout

The nest isn't for everyone . You cannot boost heating on it , you can boost hot water. With the nest they ideally want you to create a temperature schedule for the house across the day and leave the nest turn on and off the heating itself to meet the temperature schedule.

In a poorly insulated house where they are used to just hitting boost a few times a day it can be a big adjustment and many don't like it.

Is your system currently zoned?

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

The nest isn't for everyone . You cannot boost heating on it , you can boost hot water. With the nest they ideally want you to create a temperature schedule for the house across the day and leave the nest turn on and off the heating itself to meet the temperature schedule.

In a poorly insulated house where they are used to just hitting boost a few times a day it can be a big adjustment and many don't like it.

Is your system currently zoned?

You can boost. You just increase the temperature.

Boost is old school. You are better off just setting a temperature you want.

I have tado.
I`ve just done pretty much the same as yourself, took a little bit of doing but setup now and working pretty good.
The things i like about it the app is pretty good and you can turn it off on when you are away or coming home. Also as a geofencing so when you are out it will switch off the heating if you forget to do it, also when you are coming home it will switch it on again. Not really played with these but look good.

You maybe able to get away with just using the thermostat to control your burner, but i went for the extension unit which can be used to control hot water and heating individually i believe (but i`m only using the heating) also can be setup on S-plan or Y-plan if you have zones. I just had a burner so you just set it to a relay contact and works fine.

You can have two wall mounted thermostats one wired one wireless which can control the burner, then the radiator TRV which you can use to control the individual rooms, but i don`t think can control the burner

I just replaced the manual thermostat it was a immermat flash two wires in two wires out. When you install it via the app, put in the make model of the switch and it will give you a wiring diagram or you can speak to support and they will help. I`ve heard the support is desperate but not tried them.

Hope that helps.

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

It might be old school but unfortunately it's a feature most people use and still want . So it's better just to state out in the open the device does not facilitate it .

I've the hive thermostat I got free for signing with a provider and it has a boost feature in the app. I do agree it's handy as I have the thermostat set to 19 degrees and the odd time you need a boost in heat. It's rear though.
A good tip for these thermostats is to place them in the room you use most rather than the hall that the installer might suggest. I used to have a thermostat in the hall and it was useless as that room in my house is always colder due to door openings and an uninsulated wall and no curtains on windows etc.
Since doing that it's just set and forget and I never turn off or on anything. Funny enough the rads have started to come one for a bit in the mornings this week.

I've had Nest for many years, we dont miss the boost function, how new or old is boiler, we had new boiler last year that has Opentherm connection on it, that connected to NEST allows nest to set how hard the boiler works to maintain heat.

My understanding is old system just on and off, boiler works at 100% to get to temp, with opentherm it might need 100% for 10mins then only eg 60% power to maintain temp - saving fuel and wear and tear on boiler (simplified this example)

We've nest connected to Voice assistant too but dont use it much if ever

EDIT: just spotted 20 year old boiler !

One More Toy wrote: »

Boiler is about 20 years old roughly

The biggest boost to efficiency you will get is to change to a modern condensing boiler . As your system isn't zoned the controls side of it is simple .

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

The biggest boost to efficiency you will get is to change to a modern condensing boiler . As your system isn't zoned the controls side of it is simple .

Efficiency as what cost ?

I’ve a 20+ year boiler it’s an ideal classic.

My gas bill is €54 a month for a 3 bed with 5 people living in it. But it’s actually less as I’ve built up about 220 euro credit.

Replacing a boiler to improve efficiency wouldn’t make financial sense.
However putting in a smart thermostat diffenitely helper reduce my costs.

As it was no longer heating the house when it was empty

Clareman wrote:

My boiler is ~20 years old and I've a Netamo on it, got it reel with Energia, great job. Instead of thinking of the standard times for heating just think temperature. With Netamo you have a thermostat you leave somewhere and then you set the temperature you want the house to be, if the thermostat reads a temperature less than what you want it to be it turns on the heat until it gets to that heat and then it turns off, it'll then maintain that heat. You can then set different temperatures for different times or even a full schedule, it's a great job, 1 feature I like is that if you're out you can set the heat to come on so the house is warm when you get back, alternatively if you're out unexpectedly you can just lower the temperature so the heat won't come on.

Can Netamo control the HW or is it heating only?

lardarse wrote: »

I have tado.
I`ve just done pretty much the same as yourself, took a little bit of doing but setup now and working pretty good.
The things i like about it the app is pretty good and you can turn it off on when you are away or coming home. Also as a geofencing so when you are out it will switch off the heating if you forget to do it, also when you are coming home it will switch it on again. Not really played with these but look good.
.

denismc wrote: »

I have Tado, a little expensive but good otherwise.
I have smart radiator thermostats in the larger rooms which means each room can call for heat individually, which is great if you don't have zones already.
Afaik it won't control hard wired zone valves.
I was able to replace my old boiler controller myself withtheTado one , the faceplates were the same.
I think there is a subscription for the newest version of the app which is a shame as the old version is free.

I'm considering Tado as their Starter kit is a good price. I also have an older external boiler for my Oil-based heating system.
Is the Tado a good for for this type of system?
I've read people complaining about the reduced features on the Version 3+ models as well as the subscription charges. How do you find them?
Currently, our house has 1 old thermostat in the hall to control the heating - I'd like to get to a scenario where the heating is basically on 'low' all the time to maintain a constant temprepture. Can the Tado do this?

Thanks