Smart heating controls

[OffshoreGas]

My Mrs has the heating on so high out gas main is starting to freeze up and there is a Greenpeace camp on the drive.

In a vain effort to fend off bankruptcy I’ve started looking at smart heating controls.

With the exception of the Honeywell Evohome with a smart stat on every radiator I can’t really see the point/advantage.

Chuck into the mix having to change batteries and things loosing connection they look like they would be a right pain.

The only feature I can see that may save money is turning heating on/off based on your location. I’m not entirely sure I want to give some big company the right to track y every move to save £50/year in gas.

Has anyone fitted and actually noticed a difference?

 

[Darren Jackson]

I fit the hive just as a way to comply with boiler plus, customers seem to like it but I don't actually know if it is worth it as in energy saved. But for convenience it is really good and easy to install.

 

[Gasmk1]

if your boiler can take it then weather compensation is the best money saver. but a smart stat will allow you to see if your wife has turned up the stat and you can start a long battle of turning it down without her knowing

 

[OffshoreGas]

if your boiler can take it then weather compensation is the best money saver. but a smart stat will allow you to see if your wife has turned up the stat and you can start a long battle of turning it down without her knowing

I can always turn it off remotely I guess 🙂🙂

 

[chris watkins]

Thermostats and controls
Try this link to Energy Saving Trust who are a good source of info & largely independent.
If you don't want automation (Big Bro) controls & it is an existing system I would look at Weather Compensation not the dumb one's of old (albeit that they work) but with Load Compensation / Optimiser.
Fitted to a condensing gas boiler they are worth the money.

 

[oz-plumber]

From my experience, a warm woman is a happy woman.
A warm wife is more pleasant than a cold wife.
She may complain about things - everything - but at least you can appease your downfalls by saying 'at least you're not cold'

I get enough grief from cold female customers, so I don't want to get home to find a cold miserable wife.

 

[chris watkins]

From my experience, a warm woman is a happy woman.
A warm wife is more pleasant than a cold wife.
She may complain about things - everything - but at least you can appease your downfalls by saying 'at least you're not cold'

I get enough grief from cold female customers, so I don't want to get home to find a cold miserable wife.

I give mine thermal underwear for her birthday, it works for me. 🙄

 

[OffshoreGas]

From my experience, a warm woman is a happy woman.
A warm wife is more pleasant than a cold wife.
She may complain about things - everything - but at least you can appease your downfalls by saying 'at least you're not cold'

I get enough grief from cold female customers, so I don't want to get home to find a cold miserable wife.

If she’s happy I’d check very carefully it’s not actually a man in drag. Don’t think I’ve ever met a woman that’s happy. It’s always shades of rage 😀🙂😉

 

[Rob Foster]

My Mrs has the heating on so high out gas main is starting to freeze up and there is a Greenpeace camp on the drive.

In a vain effort to fend off bankruptcy I’ve started looking at smart heating controls.

With the exception of the Honeywell Evohome with a smart stat on every radiator I can’t really see the point/advantage.

Chuck into the mix having to change batteries and things loosing connection they look like they would be a right pain.

The only feature I can see that may save money is turning heating on/off based on your location. I’m not entirely sure I want to give some big company the right to track y every move to save £50/year in gas.

Has anyone fitted and actually noticed a difference?

Buy her a thick jumper first, then insulate your gaff, then draught proof it and see where you are. centralheatking

 

[Rob Foster]

My Mrs has the heating on so high out gas main is starting to freeze up and there is a Greenpeace camp on the drive.

In a vain effort to fend off bankruptcy I’ve started looking at smart heating controls.

With the exception of the Honeywell Evohome with a smart stat on every radiator I can’t really see the point/advantage.

Chuck into the mix having to change batteries and things loosing connection they look like they would be a right pain.

The only feature I can see that may save money is turning heating on/off based on your location. I’m not entirely sure I want to give some big company the right to track y every move to save £50/year in gas.

Has anyone fitted and actually noticed a difference?

I quite like old boilers, my mrs is one chking in my experience old boilers are ....1 totally solid and reliable, usually to british standard
solid casing, no complicated controls..just feed money in and they
warm you at night

 

[oz-plumber]

If she’s happy I’d check very carefully it’s not actually a man in drag. Don’t think I’ve ever met a woman that’s happy. It’s always shades of rage 😀🙂😉

I was trying to be polite!!!!!

The warmer she is - the more bearable she is.

As for Robs comment....I'm not sure who come first.
My boiler or my wife....might have to go look at the boiler and see who I have a longer term relationship with.

 

[Jerry]

Smrthome controls should save you money but no one can say how much. I have had reports from customers that theirs bills have dropped substantially BUT they usually have a new boiler and smart controls at the same time.

Unless you are zoning, then the best energy savings is from a weather compensation (standard) and modulating the boiler output.

Most aftermarket smart controls do not modulate the boilers unless its is OpenTherm and a (compatible) Combi (e.g nest and vogue max).

I believe that most manufacturrs smarty controls modulate their own boilers (e.g vailliant and the vSmart) even if they are not combis.

If you want to multizone then EvoHome or Tado is your best bet before you step up a level and go whole house (e.g. Loxone)

This info above is probably wrong(ish) and there will always be exceptions.

However, money spent in insulation and draught proofing will always have the quickest repayment times.

 

[townfanjon]

Not sold on these smart apps myself, but it does depend on the house and occupant/s , two perfect examples .
1 , Mrs TFJ , retired , around most of the day , heating on 24/7 on WC in a very well insulated house , incredibly low gas consumption . I had a EPC done last year and the guy wouldn’t believe how cheap I could run the house , I showed him the gas bills to prove . ( thats a proper yorkshire man for thi )
2 TFJ’s youngest daughter, shes works shifts ,and can be held over at work and never really knows when she will finish . out of the house a fair bit , she would probably benefit from some form of smart control.
Swings and roundabouts lol

 

[Rob Foster]

I can always turn it off remotely I guess 🙂🙂

Do they do this sort of control for old boilers like my mrs, I want a simple on and off control. chking

 

[Rob Foster]

I was trying to be polite!!!!!

The warmer she is - the more bearable she is.

As for Robs comment....I'm not sure who come first.
My boiler or my wife....might have to go look at the boiler and see who I have a longer term relationship with.

my relationship with my 100ff pre dates latest wife no 3 . The
thing is easily serviced and parts from Ignite Heat Spares
keep her hot ...centralheatking

 

[OffshoreGas]

Smrthome controls should save you money but no one can say how much. I have had reports from customers that theirs bills have dropped substantially BUT they usually have a new boiler and smart controls at the same time.

Unless you are zoning, then the best energy savings is from a weather compensation (standard) and modulating the boiler output.

Most aftermarket smart controls do not modulate the boilers unless its is OpenTherm and a (compatible) Combi (e.g nest and vogue max).

I believe that most manufacturrs smarty controls modulate their own boilers (e.g vailliant and the vSmart) even if they are not combis.

If you want to multizone then EvoHome or Tado is your best bet before you step up a level and go whole house (e.g. Loxone)

This info above is probably wrong(ish) and there will always be exceptions.

However, money spent in insulation and draught proofing will always have the quickest repayment times.

Cheers Jerry,

It’s an old stone hose so options for insulation are a bit limited. I’m part way through making new sash windows to change from single to double glazed and add shutters.

Only real option for insulation is to build stud walls internally and fill with a breathable insulation. Obviously not an overnight fix but we’re doing as we go.

The Honeywell EvoHome at least seems to Rubbish the boiler down if no TRV’s are calling for heat. We’ve got a lot of pipes chased into walls/floors which again are getting replaced but will take years to do. In the mean time it seems worth trying to reduce how much heat we use.

Gas bill last year was £3’500!!

 

[OffshoreGas]

Do they do this sort of control for old boilers like my mrs, I want a simple on and off control. chking

Easiest option seems to be Hive, it just plugs into the standard back place you get with a programmer and gives you an app/web page. Stat is then wireless.

I don’t see why you can’t mix/match with smart and dumb if you’ve got an S plan.

 

[Jerry]

I prefer nest to hive because it's nicer and more things/toys can be added.

A (basic) smart controller just takes the place of your timer/thermostat and can be plonked straight onto an S Plan.

£3.5k. Ouch. I would go for massive loft insulation, draught exclusion and heavy curtains first. All external walls call be declined innternall over time. Any pipework replaced should be insulated.

On/off controls seem to be going away. The reasoning is that it is more economical to maintain a (minimum) temperature all day/night than to blast the boiler on max twice a day.

Finally, oversizing (by approx 25%) will allow the boiler to run lower temperatures for longer, giving a better energy saving. There are much more enlightened people on here that can explain this better than me!

 

[OffshoreGas]

I prefer nest to hive because it's nicer and more things/toys can be added.

A (basic) smart controller just takes the place of your timer/thermostat and can be plonked straight onto an S Plan.

£3.5k. Ouch. I would go for massive loft insulation, draught exclusion and heavy curtains first. All external walls call be declined innternall over time. Any pipework replaced should be insulated.

On/off controls seem to be going away. The reasoning is that it is more economical to maintain a (minimum) temperature all day/night than to blast the boiler on max twice a day.

Finally, oversizing (by approx 25%) will allow the boiler to run lower temperatures for longer, giving a better energy saving. There are much more enlightened people on here that can explain this better than me!

We’ve inherited about 200mm of mineral fibre insulation in the loft, we’re planning a conversion at some point which will hopefully improve it then.

It’s not a 2 bed semi so I’d expected fairly high running costs but I’m hoping to improve a bit with some controls. About 50% of the house we don’t really use day to day so intelligent rad stats seem like a winner short term at least.

We’ve got a fairly recent Valiant ecoTec 64kw. Weather comp sounds like it’s worth exploring.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Jerry]

Weather comp usduallycomes as standard with smart home controls

The Energy Saving Trust recommends at least 270mm.

Zoning (either through wireless TRV's or old skool through a 2 port valve etc) should save you money. How much is probably unknown. Wireless thermostats connected to a smart controller might save you 3-5%????

 

[OffshoreGas]

Weather comp usduallycomes as standard with smart home controls

The Energy Saving Trust recommends at least 270mm.

Zoning (either through wireless TRV's or old skool through a 2 port valve etc) should save you money. How much is probably unknown. Wireless thermostats connected to a smart controller might save you 3-5%????

My thinking is as we’re currently losing a fair amount of heat into the stone work it would be worth not having water circulating if we don’t need to.

I’ve emailed Honeywell asking if TRVs form a mesh network. We’ve got about 6ft of stone between boiler and some if not it’s probably a no go.

 

[Jerry]

My thinking is as we’re currently losing a fair amount of heat into the stone work it would be worth not having water circulating if we don’t need to.

I’ve emailed Honeywell asking if TRVs form a mesh network. We’ve got about 6ft of stone between boiler and some if not it’s probably a no go.

They dont form a mesh. Let me know if you find a company that does (apart from Loxone £££££)

 

[Chuck]

My Mrs has the heating on so high out gas main is starting to freeze up and there is a Greenpeace camp on the drive.

Sophisticated controls will save you money if the problem is that the house is too hot but you have the opposite problem so don't expect much in the way of savings.

In my own house, I saved 30% by switching gas supplier and about 10% by replacing dumb timeswitch with a CM927 thermostat/programmer.

The laws of physics don't care how smart your controls are; a house with high losses is going to be expensive to keep warm.

 

[OffshoreGas]

My thinking is as we’re currently losing a fair amount of heat into the stone work it would be worth not having water circulating if we don’t need to.

I’ve emailed Honeywell asking if TRVs form a mesh network. We’ve got about 6ft of stone between boiler and some if not it’s probably a no go.

I’ve found Drayton do a range extender plug.

Sophisticated controls will save you money if the problem is that the house is too hot but you have the opposite problem so don't expect much in the way of savings.

In my own house, I saved 30% by switching gas supplier and about 10% by replacing dumb timeswitch with a CM927 thermostat/programmer.

The laws of physics don't care how smart your controls are; a house with high losses is going to be expensive to keep warm.

Our problem is we keep really irregular hours.
I think we could save money by reducing the temperature of parts of the house we don’t use and keeping the house cooler when we’re not home.

 

[EvilDrPorkChop]

Got Evohome, full rad valves etc. Transforms your heating and bills. Bite the bullet and go for it. House is pretty well insulated, but we like it warm and our gas bill is around £90 a month in winter on a non condensing boiler with Unvented tank.

All the customers I fitted it for say it transforms their systems too, one guy said it saved him 11% on his gas bill yet his house is a lot warmer and comfort levels are a lot better.