But what controls do I ACTUALLY need to have installed with the boiler?!

[Blackspaven]

Just starting to have the trickle of plumbers round doing quotes for boilers and, as I suspected and hoped WOULDN'T happen, they're giving me different bits of advice on what I 'have' to have, along the lines of the 'I shouldn't install it without x/y/z'.

I've currently got a 14 year old Ariston Micro Genus 27mffi combi, which although EVERY plumber has said is cr@p, has worked fine for all that time and I've definitely got my money's worth. The issue seems to be not with the replacement condensing combi, but with the extras. Definitely getting a magnaclean of some description, so that's not an issue, but I've always quite happily controlled my old boiler with the dials on the boiler itself. So I know it's not going to balance and be thermostatic and lovely, it's either on or off, but that's suited me and the girlfriend fine.


So, both so far have quoted for Worcester.

First bloke said would I like a wired or rf controller, and personally I can't see the point in spending an extra £100 on something simply because it's in exactly the same place 2 foot away and wiring wouldn't be an issue anyway. But he gave me the choice.

Second bloke said I HAD to have one certain bit installed (can't get my head around which) so he said he was gonna quote for a Comfort II RF thermostat which would cover everything, but apart from efficiency and programmability, I couldn't see what was wrong with the good old fashioned mechanical timers?

Just not sure what I HAVE to have which my old boiler didn't seem to do perfectly fine anyway? Don't like gadgets at all, so this Worcester Wave rubbish was of no interest to me: see enough people fannying around with their heating on the train for when they get home for me to completely hold it in contempt: House is cold, put a jumper on, wait 10 minutes and it'll be warm, how difficult is that... or am I missing something?!

 

[PhoenixServices]

You need a timer and a room thermostat of some description (doesn't have to be fancy)
Plus thermostatic radiator valves on the radiators.

Those are what are needed for building regs compliance.
I lump a flush of the heating system in as a must.

For manufacturers warranty:
Magnet
Scale reducer if in hard water area.

 

[oz-plumber]

Yeah, you are missing something!!!

It's 2016.

Back in the seventies and earlier, when mechanical timers were new age it was fine - although something to be wary of.

Step forward 30 odd years and wired programmable thermostats were all the rage.
They were still something to be wary of, because the booklet that came with them, was directly translated from Japanese to English, by a Japanese person, who never spoke English as a second, third or fourth language.

As of today - stuff wifi. Just install a wired thermostat from the boiler to a suitable, close location.
You can either get a manual thermostat or a programmable thermostat.

For some comfort, wired thermostat are old school and ancient.

But then..so are some of us ....and we feel comfortable.

Hope this helps.

 

[Blackspaven]

OKay, thanks. Got trvs on all the rads, seems with Worcester it pushes up the warranty to get their stuff and it doesn't seem any more expensive than other stuff. Just spoke to technical at Worcester to get some clarity about their controls and the differences between models, and he said if you're just replacing an existing boiler you're not following building regs, you don't need to have a thermostat, it's just advisable to as it's more efficient. Sound about right?

 

[Blackspaven]

Would be happy with wired control thermostat but going for their own range increases warranty and (allegedly) efficiency, and they're more functionable for not much more money so will have to look at if it's worth it.

 

[PhoenixServices]

Thermostats and controls | Energy Saving Trust

 

[oz-plumber]

Sounds about right.

But boiler manufacturers will tell you anything to sell you their boiler.

 

[Blackspaven]

Yup, just had a look and bizarrely there's about £15 difference between the various controllers so might as well go with whatever gives the most. All the digital stuff is saying the same efficiency unless you go with weather compensation, but can't see that making a huge saving!

 

[oz-plumber]

Weather compensation.

The idea behind that is to reduce the temperature of the hot water from the boiler due to the outside temperature.

So, if the outdoor temperature was, say 15 C,m the boiler would only heat the water to, say,
50 C, instead if 75 C if the outdoor temp was 3 C.

Can save money on heating bills

 

[Blackspaven]

Does it make that big a saving, anything reeeealy noteworthy?

 

[oz-plumber]

Well, it would pay for itself within the first year of service.

Very simple product that doesn't usually need replacement over the life time of a boiler

 

[Chalked]

Your heating engineer will have to make sure there are thermostatic valves fitted and a timeclock/ thermostat is interlinked with the boiler.
He can't certify if with gas safe / building control, unless this is complied with. Wheat her you use it or not, is up to you.
If you want to keep it simple, use a boiler faicia mounted timer with a depressed room thermostat. ( hard wired, no batteries)
A better option is a programmable room thermostat. All in one timer and thermostat.

 

[jtsplumbing]

So is it a requirement in law to have all these controls fitted ? or just good practice ? what if (Like OP) they refuse to have these controls fitted, Do you walk away from the job, or just write on the bench mark book that customer refused to have recommended controls, To my way of thinking we cant force the customer to have something that they don't want, after all it is there money, we can only advise what they should have. Will it void any boilers warranty if they don't want any controls fitted ??

 

[GrahamM]

Crazy not to fit at very least a basic room thermostat and time-clock for the extra control it gives over your heating.

So is it a requirement in law to have all these controls fitted ? or just good practice ? what if (Like OP) they refuse to have these controls fitted, Do you walk away from the job, or just write on the bench mark book that customer refused to have recommended controls, To my way of thinking we cant force the customer to have something that they don't want, after all it is there money, we can only advise what they should have. Will it void any boilers warranty if they don't want any controls fitted ??

Just note down customer refused the energy advice for fitting of thermostat etc. and get them to sign.
Any customer that refuses at least the cheapest thermostat is a prize plumb!

 

[Blackspaven]

Got back to me saying all boilers have to have boiler interlock. But I have no idea what that is and/or what/how it relates to the controllers when he was showing me??

 

[Howsie]

You'd be mad not to fit weather compensation nowadays.

 

[plumben]

You'd be mad not to fit weather compensation nowadays.

I've never fitted one but most of the boilers I do are for landlords

 

[Howsie]

Say no more...

 

[kay-jay]

Got back to me saying all boilers have to have boiler interlock. But I have no idea what that is and/or what/how it relates to the controllers when he was showing me??

Don't buy controls. Keep your money in your pocket!
Is that what you want to hear op?

At the end of the day no one can force you to spend extra if you don't wish.
However you would be contravening the building regs and the advice of professionals.

The buildings regs police won't be beating down your door if you don't buy a new programmable thermostat however the risk is, that if you decline the advice of experts and they in turn decline the job, you may end up with a bit of a cowboy doing the installation the way you want it but the potential pitfalls of that significantly outweigh the extra cost of a few quid.

The choice is yours my friend.

 

[Blackspaven]

No, not what I was saying in the slightest, not sure how you've read that from that sentence??

I'm gonna be getting a controller of some sort, obviously, just don't know what boiler interlock is and how it relates to controllers. But thanks for the sarcastic strop... I was married to a northerner once, I forgot what it sounded like. I'm much happier now, thank you. 🙂

Perhaps someone out there does know what it is and can explain it sensibly?

EDIT: don't worry, I've just learnt about the boiler not working properly when you have a thermostat and every rad with a TRV, which was explained to me at the time but they just didn't expain it as boiler interlock, that's all. Strange, didn't think it would have been that hard to explain. Who knew?! 🙂

 

[kay-jay]

Cool story bro.

 

[Frelon]

Agree with Howsie, weather compensation should be a must have. Not much additional cost but well worth having.
Sadly not fitted in many cases to keep the overall cost down [emoji857][emoji857]

 

[townfanjon]

Another +one for the weather comp . I wouldnt be without it now

 

[jtsplumbing]

Agree with Howsie, weather compensation should be a must have. Not much additional cost but well worth having.
Sadly not fitted in many cases to keep the overall cost down [emoji857][emoji857]

Well that's the way of the world, customer wants first class job for third class price, we can only advise ! customers always wineing about price never want to spend on heating/water, think nothing about spending 20K + on a car or 3K on a holiday when it comes to new boiler they always think its a rip off, they want a boiler fitted for 1K and expect it to last 50 years,

 

[Blackspaven]

Customer also presumably wants to understand what it is they're actually paying for, if it's actually needed, and that they're not actually getting ripped off when you ask two different installers and between them black can be white depending on who you listen

Example in question: two installers came this week, one said the boiler was fine where it was, the other said it had to be moved as Worcester require a gap of 600mm from the front of the boiler to allow removal of the cage and for the engineer to work on it and mine only has 400 odd. By the book, the second guy was 100% correct, but when I asked the first guy he just said, 'ah, it'll be fine, there's more than enough space to work on it.' So if I go for the first guy and I have a problem after which Worcester send an engineer who says it's too close and it voids the warranty, then I should just accept that the first guy was a cheeky old so & so and just go about my way?? No, but I'm expected to trust the info given by plumbers/installers without questioning it!

Perhaps if people ALL did a first rate job, they wouldn't get questioned about what they're doing, and hear whining (note the spelling) about why the prices can vary so much!!

If you hate people so much, then change jobs!!

 

[jtsplumbing]

Customer also presumably wants to understand what it is they're actually paying for, if it's actually needed, and that they're not actually getting ripped off when you ask two different installers and between them black can be white depending on who you listen

Example in question: two installers came this week, one said the boiler was fine where it was, the other said it had to be moved as Worcester require a gap of 600mm from the front of the boiler to allow removal of the cage and for the engineer to work on it and mine only has 400 odd. By the book, the second guy was 100% correct, but when I asked the first guy he just said, 'ah, it'll be fine, there's more than enough space to work on it.' So if I go for the first guy and I have a problem after which Worcester send an engineer who says it's too close and it voids the warranty, then I should just accept that the first guy was a cheeky old so & so and just go about my way?? No, but I'm expected to trust the info given by plumbers/installers without questioning it!

Perhaps if people ALL did a first rate job, they wouldn't get questioned about what they're doing, and hear whining (note the spelling) about why the prices can vary so much!!

If you hate people so much, then change jobs!!

Lucky I scrolled down on to reply or I would have missed most of your reply ! Its difficult to comment on what you have been told (hearsay) you don't have to listen to what your being told or advised, Do your own research and make your own decision then you only have your self to blame if things are not right, do all the running around, purchase all the materials, call someone to fit it, and be there so you can tell them what to do, Regards to your comment on getting different prices, well all that depends on what each persons overheads are, if your not happy with what a small (Sole trader) is telling you then go for the larger company's, BG just to name one, Do I hate people ?? 'NO' just get a bit P off at times with customers like you, thankfully I don't come across all that meny , & I've been in this job for 40+ years, and worked for all classes of people from Mr average to Lords & Ladies, and unlike you they know what they want.

 

[Blackspaven]

Problem was I WASN'T being advised on one count and then had conflicting info on the other, hence asking a larger group of individuals on here, just didn't know when you did ask things, some people throw there toys out the pram! Fortunately.there HAVE been some very helpful individuals on here who have helped me back up thewhich bits of conflicting info I was actually told.

I know what I would like, and happy to pay the going rate for it, just not happy to be fobbed off or talked down to by alpha male cowboy plumbers who don't appear to want to pass on ALL the information. Don't worry, I wouldn't let suchlike do any work in my house. ;-)

 

[Blackspaven]

To the non-idiotic egomaniacs and other less illiterate individuals on here, thanks for the heads up on the weather compensation controllers, I'll have a look into them. Surprisingly, not one person who quoted for the job suggested them, with one even just texting ":nono:" when I asked them they're opinion of them!

It's the way of the world, I guess 😉

 

[jtsplumbing]

Problem was I WASN'T being advised on one count and then had conflicting info on the other, hence asking a larger group of individuals on here, just didn't know when you did ask things, some people throw there toys out the pram! Fortunately.there HAVE been some very helpful individuals on here who have helped me back up thewhich bits of conflicting info I was actually told.

I know what I would like, and happy to pay the going rate for it, just not happy to be fobbed off or talked down to by alpha male cowboy plumbers who don't appear to want to pass on ALL the information. Don't worry, I wouldn't let suchlike do any work in my house. ;-)

There is some information we are not allowed to pass on to non Gas Safe people (Like you) as it is against forum rules, as you are aware there are Stupid people who think that messing around with gas is ok, & for all we know you could be one of them !
If you would like to know the secret's of the inner chamber then all you have to do is become as Registered gas engineer

 

[Blackspaven]

Inner chamber, lol. Fair play. 🙂

No, in MY job, I come across idiots who have messed with their own gas & electricity in the guise of diy quite a bit, so I completely understand that it's not something to 'have a go' with and would never try, I said as much on another thread.
I'm happy for whoever with whatever the right qualifications are to do the work for me, and at a reasonable price (even usually tip workmen if it's a good job), but BECAUSE at times it can all be a strange language (as with any technical job, mine included), sometimes there are a few things that just need explaining so one can appreciate what you need, what you're getting, and that the person giving it to you is along the same lines as the customer in terms of what the end goal is. Nothing in this thread that's overly difficult, just after a little clarity with some heating terms, practicalities and parts.

All I was struggling with at the start was something one of the installers said but didn't describe very well when asked... and who likes to ask someone the same question three or four times without getting a little awkwards?!

Every person on here knows that some people sell by baffling with science... and sometimes that science ain't too... scientific! 🙂

 

[Blackspaven]

To the non-idiotic egomaniacs and other less illiterate individuals on here, thanks for the heads up on the weather compensation controllers, I'll have a look into them. Surprisingly, not one person who quoted for the job suggested them, with one even just texting ":nono:" when I asked them they're opinion of them!

It's the way of the world, I guess 😉

Sorry, I did put a star in the word to avoid it being rude, but fyi, the plumber who didn't like the weather compensation devices said it was a four letter word that comes out one's bottom and rhymes with Brit. 😀

 

[Dotty]

Sorry, I did put a star in the word to avoid it being rude, but fyi, the plumber who didn't like the weather compensation devices said it was a four letter word that comes out one's bottom and rhymes with Brit. 😀

That's as may be. It still contravened the forum rules which you are stretching with this last post.

Please refrain from doing so.

 

[Blackspaven]

Will do chief. Just giving a direct quote so hard to do other than what he said, not my own personal opinion. But noted. 🙂

 

[Jay The Plumber]

To the non-idiotic egomaniacs and other less illiterate individuals on here

that's the way to win us over.

 

[Blackspaven]

Us?? Boys club all of a sudden?

 

[lame plumber]

very special club, you won't ever see a sole trader going on strike, we value our customers to much. Always ready for work.

 

[Jay The Plumber]

Us?? Boys club all of a sudden?

you came here asking advice, then you start insulting the community here, you are behaving no better than any other internet troll .. so yes 'us', the community.

 

[Blackspaven]

Not allowed to strike even if you wanted to. 😉

Whoa, back up sunshine, who was it who started off all aggressive?? Me?? No!! If you can't take it, don't give it!

Or are you saying part of the allowance of being gas safe is being allowed to talk to people like a jeremy hunt?! Nice attitude!

 

[Dotty]

OP. You either want advice or you don't.

I believe that you've been advised several times on this thread what controls you need as a bare minimum and what additional controls you can add to achieve the optimum performance from your boiler. Your boiler, you can have what you want. The question you really need to be asking yourself is whether you want to save a quick buck now or reduce your fuel bills over the life of the boiler.

But please don't be insulting us because we won't go into technical specifics. You don't need to know them. We do. All you need is a trust relationship with the installer. Which you clearly don't have.

 

[lame plumber]

Not allowed to strike even if you wanted to. 😉

Whoa, back up sunshine, who was it who started off all aggressive?? Me?? No!! If you can't take it, don't give it!

Or are you saying part of the allowance of being gas safe is being allowed to talk to people like a jeremy hunt?! Nice attitude!

I think Mr Hunt has it dead right to be honest, folks who after 10 years can pull in £70k a year should earn it.

 

[Blackspaven]

If money is your goal, then more power to you. Doesn't drive all of us.

I'm merely responding to people attacking me for no reason, but this is getting more and more ridiculous as it goes on. Again, I didn't start any of this at all so I presume those in did will have a word page to them, surely in the name of equality and balance, yes?

Yes, got my answer already, but then it altered to a chat about weather compensating controllers, hence my thanks to those who brought them to my attention. Everything else was NOT of my construction!

I think a mod should close this thread, it's gotten childish!

 

[rpm]

I think a mod should close this thread

After 41 posts on something quite simple I agree.

 

[Blackspaven]

Absolutely! To be honest, I got my answer by about post 20 at the most but then it naturally swerved into talking about weather compensating units before taking a harsh left into abuse the op country! 🙂

 

[Masood]

EDIT: don't worry, I've just learnt about the boiler not working properly when you have a thermostat and every rad with a TRV, which was explained to me at the time but they just didn't expain it as boiler interlock, that's all. Strange, didn't think it would have been that hard to explain. Who knew?! 🙂

Your understanding of boiler interlock is still incorrect. It's true that you should not have a TRV in the same room as the room stat, but boiler interlock simply means any form of time & temperature control which positively shuts off the boiler when there is no demand for heat. So just having TRVs won't be compliant, but it's nothing to do with whether or not there's a TRV in the same room as the stat...

 

[Blackspaven]

Sorry, was trying to simplify my understanding cos typing on my phone is a pita!! 🙂

 

[Howsie]

Where did you find your plumbers for the quotes?

 

[Blackspaven]

Mainly recommendations off Streetlife.

 

[Howsie]

Is that the only way you know?

 

[Blackspaven]

Asking people who have been happy with previous work? Whatever I say will be wrong so go ahead.

 

[Howsie]

Sorry I was making a joke wrt the song Street Life by Wendy Crawford.

 

[Howsie]

You may have been unlucky with who you had in. I know many plumbers that don't have a clue when it comes to these sort of thing. Anybody can make rads get hot. You only have to look at how many boilers that are oversized to see that the fundamentals pass them by.

 

[Blackspaven]

Ah, gotcha... and I know the song. 🙂 (just been taking a few hits on here of late so I've gotten a bit bleurgh)

Yeah, possibly I've been a little unllucky, it's just that I asked 5 people to quote for me from various sources and all have come up with different solutions, different ways of doing things, different 'rules' of what's 'allowed' (!!), and different ideas,... and very different prices, so it's unbelievably tricky for the layperson to try to work out what's actually needed and how much one should actually be paying when people in the trade are doing it every single day so know the worth & value of most things, boiler-wise.
If it was all along the same way, you could judge things on price, professionalism, apparent knowledge, etc. but it's such a wide playing field it's a nightmare when you're not up to speed. I appreciate all the people on here who have been giving their honest opinions though, I'm very much more clued up as to what I need and which plumbers seem to be on the money and which are wide of the mark. 🙂

Well done fellas. :willy_nilly:

(To be fair, I don't think the guys were 'bad' plumbers or anything like that, it was just such a variation that some outshone others, that's all. That's life!)

 

[Howsie]

Where are you based? I will be able to put you in touch with the right people. They will sit down with you and explain what you need and why. There will always be a couple of ways to skin a cat but the fundamentals are the same.

 

[Blackspaven]

Much love for the offer Howsie, but in the last few days I've managed to get a fella who seems really good, explains the why's and how's in a way that's understandable, charges a decent amount and is an all round good egg, so the job's his, it's just the small details over what bits & bobs I'm gonna add on... couple of extra rads and stuff... ;0)

Actually, I'm not too far from you in general, I live in Farnborough, just over the Surrey border.

 

[Dotty]

Much love for the offer Howsie, but in the last few days I've managed to get a fella who seems really good, explains the why's and how's in a way that's understandable, charges a decent amount and is an all round good egg, so the job's his, it's just the small details over what bits & bobs I'm gonna add on... couple of extra rads and stuff... ;0)

Actually, I'm not too far from you in general, I live in Farnborough, just over the Surrey border.

Make sure you treat him well, leaving the makings for tea and coffee always goes down a treat,

 

[Blackspaven]

Abso-bloomin'-lutely! 😀

(couple of beers to go home with after as well probably! 🙂 )

 

[Howsie]

Much love for the offer Howsie, but in the last few days I've managed to get a fella who seems really good, explains the why's and how's in a way that's understandable, charges a decent amount and is an all round good egg, so the job's his, it's just the small details over what bits & bobs I'm gonna add on... couple of extra rads and stuff... ;0)

Actually, I'm not too far from you in general, I live in Farnborough, just over the Surrey border.

Could you PM his name. I may know him...

 

[Blackspaven]

Will do, I only know his first name! Actually installed the existing boiler & central heating 14 years ago but didn't think he was available... but now he is! Lives in Basingstoke.

 

[Blackspaven]

Okay, so the fitter is looking into price difference between the Comfort 2 I'm possibly having and the FW100 weather compensating system, which looks quite likely I may switch to, but...

...the brick insulation in my house ain't bad but not great: it's a victorian house which can't be cavity insulated cos of the rubbish the builders shoved into it 120 years ago. So does that make a difference to that type of controller? Only asking as I've read on an other thread it can be an issue in a flat. I get how it works, just wondering if my house can intrinsically knacker it's worth!

Any thoughts?

 

[newcastle phill]

Yes - anyone got a shotgun

 

[Howsie]

Weather compensation is right in every circumstance and should be mandatory. It will benefit every installation.

 

[Scott_D]

Post the winning quote 😛unk:

 

[oz-plumber]

Weather compensation is right in every circumstance and should be mandatory. It will benefit every installation.

Except on UFH.

I have to disconnect one this week because the customer is complaining that the floor temperature is not warm enough.
Can't explain to the customer the benefits of having weather compensation.
They just want warm floors all the time.

Their gas bill versus our planet - and my sanity.

 

[Blackspaven]

Newcastle Phil, you can catch the trigger with your toe if you try hard enough.

Reason I'm asking is cos the guy fitting it hasn't installed one before and therefore can't advise on it as HE doesn't know, but thanks for the advise, as long as there's no issues with my old house itself I may well go for it, it does seems almost like common sense. (when I asked him, he said probably only 5% of plumbers have installed them but 100% of them then rate them highly)

Phil... Good luck in the championship next year. 🙂

 

[Howsie]

Why doesn't it work on UFH?

 

[Blackspaven]

Ooh, just had an interesting conversation with a tech bloke at WB about the FW100 weather compensating controller, see what you guys think of this:

I said I had a Victorian house which can't be cavity filled and is a bit nippy at times, the heat insulation isn't great but managable, and he said don't get the weather compensating module cos it'll never reach warm enough temps. Said the installer will set the heat curve for it to work to in any specific house but it'll take the outside temp and not compensate for the potentially low temp inside so 10 degrees outside will only give you about 40 degrees, hand/luke warm kicking out the boiler. There's no thermostat with that bit of kit. Said straight out, don't bother, go for the Comfort 2 cos it's got an internal thermostat instead and will work the boiler in relation to the inside temp and give a better result.

Food for thought?

 

[Howsie]

Not really. He's wrong but that's not the first time I've heard rubbish from them. Give Viessmann, ATAG or Vaillant a call and see how different the response is.

 

[oz-plumber]

Why doesn't it work on UFH?

It does work.

I just can't explain to the customer that due to higher outdoor temperatures the boiler heats the water to a lower temperature - hence lower temperature floors.

I am dealing with Eastern European's - can't tell them anything

 

[Howsie]

Say no more.

 

[oz-plumber]

Did you explain to the person that you also would like and internal thermostat as well.

I think he misunderstood your request, to the point of, having the system run off the weather compensation thermostat only

 

[Blackspaven]

I confirmed that the kit didn't come with a thermostat so how does it work and apparently (if I understood it right) it's designed to work as one OR the other: the controller when fitted on the slot on the boiler uses the outside sensor, when fitted on the wall acts as a thermostat, but that then stops the outside sensor from working as it doesn't receive, it' sends. So if it's physically in the boiler, there's no in signal for a room thermostat, just the outside sensor.
There's a hard wired, wall mounted 'cage' so the controller can be popped out the boiler itself and clipped in the cage as a regular thermostat to do one or the other job.

I did say that I thought if you had both then you could work on the thermostat temp, and the outside temp could balance HOW the boiler works to compensate so you kept the room at the temp you want but have an efficient boiler, but he said it can't work with both the sensor and a regular thermostat, not wired that way. He said it was more designed for a more modern, better insulated house.

Also, I may end up renting this place out in 5 years and he said that you have to manage heat curves, which in summer/winter are fine, but in the crossover months of spring/autumn it would probaly be a pain and you'd be constantly adjusting it all to get it right if the house possibly isn't as good as a modern build in holding heat.

Annoying.

 

[oz-plumber]

The easiest solution to your problem would be to have an indoor thermostat installed with an external weather compensation thermostat installed.

Have the installer set the system up.

If you are not happy with the performance of the system with both indoor and outdoor thermostats, just disconnect the external weather compensator from the terminals in the boiler.

That will mean, that with radiator panels, the boiler will just heat the water up in the system to the set water temperature on the boiler.

The boiler will assume you want an indoor temperature of 21C. The weather compensator will say the outdoor temp is 16C. That will tell the boiler to heat the water, to say 50C, because you don't need 75C to bring the house up to temperature.

That's all they do. Everything is generally pre-set to these parameters.

There is tech info on all this, but for domestic installations, there is not much more you really need to know

 

[Blackspaven]

Cool, thanks.

 

[Frelon]

oz-plumber, an excellent description of what weather compensation does. I had it installed in my house in France (heating engineer just included it in the install without asking me, after all he is the expert). It is one of those things that when installed it just works quietly doing it's job.

When I bought my new build house here in the UK two years ago I asked the developers to specify weather compensation with my standard install Ideal boiler. After many exchanges something along the lines of "Oh, what does that do, I must ask the heating engineer doing the install?" Heating installer (doing 150 houses) knew nothing about weather compensation, so I brought him up to speed by pointing him to Ideal weather compensation kits. The site manager came back and told me that this would cost another £400 to install, £200 for the electrician and £200 for the plumber!! Now that is what I call a rip off - the cost of the kit was less than £30!!

Sadly (for me) I decided not to have weather compensation and installed a Nest Learning Thermostat after the house was finished!

Needless to say these discussions all took place before the house was built!!

 

[Howsie]

Unfortunate with the Nest but they do look nice...

 

[PhoenixServices]

Frelon why not get it installed now by a local engineer, wouldn't cost that much. Could probably sell the nest on eBay and come out even.

 

[Frelon]

When I made enquiries about this amongst my local engineers, none were interested in the job!

The north facing wall of my house where the sensor should be located is rendered in the latest polymer render (white). I do not want wires running down from the sensor on the outside of the house to the boiler so only solution was to come through the wall with the wires and somehow try to run them inside the house (cavity wall) to the boiler - yet another challenge. This was why I wanted the wiring installed during the build process, but builder was uncooperative!

The fall back option was the Nest, and I must say it has worked without any problems since the installation. It links through the internet to the local weather situation (outside temperature) and appears to make adjustments accordingly.

Initial installation of the Nest was a challenge as none of the local heating engineers had any experience of installing the Nest system, but all said they would "give it a go!". No thanks, I do not want to be a guinea pig for their learning!! The authorised Nest installer did it in 30 minutes and gave me a comprehensive run through of the controls - not that much instruction is required.

So overall a less expensive method of installing weather compensation - that works.