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Smart Home

10 replies

Lonecatwithkitten · 16/04/2023 08:54

We are embarking on a large refurb of a poorly extended bungalow which needs rewire, replumb and new heating system as part of the refurb.
We are looking at all manner of energy saving as part of the project (architect is passivhaus approved). We had outting to national renovation and self build centre yesterday. Where among other things saw smart home systems as they use different wiring to ordinary electrics this is an early decision to be made. Does anyone have a system disadvantages/ advantages? We like the connectivity and energy saving advantages. As everything electrical and heating wise is being replaced yes there will probably be and uplift we would have been paying for all new wiring and points already.
Things like amending the brightness of lights for time of day, ensuring all lights are turned of and heating turned down when you leave the house appeal to us.

OP posts:
WuTangGran · 16/04/2023 09:39

Call me a Luddite if you like, but more electronic gubbins = potentially more expensive future repairs. I like the simplicity of turning whatever it is on when I need it to be on.

And your rewire will cost more than a standard rewire.

LIZS · 16/04/2023 09:45

That is all very well until you get a power or internet outage. Maybe have a back up source and solar with battery. Does light dimming really save that much energy?

Lonecatwithkitten · 16/04/2023 10:21

LIZS · 16/04/2023 09:45

That is all very well until you get a power or internet outage. Maybe have a back up source and solar with battery. Does light dimming really save that much energy?

Sorry I should have added we are having two banks if either standard solar panels or photovoltaic roof tiles on the south facing parts of the roof.
This should help with power outages. We are also looking a lot grey water storage.

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Daftasabroom · 16/04/2023 10:26

Insulate, insulate, insulate, including under floor. Retrofit mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is pretty simple in a bungalow. Air source heat pump for DHW.

The green building forum is really good.

BigGreen · 16/04/2023 11:30

How costly is it? I guess it's good to include these features but no gay the expense of insulation or renewable energy from which there will be a tangible financial benefit.

BigGreen · 16/04/2023 11:30

*not at

Lonecatwithkitten · 16/04/2023 14:24

BigGreen · 16/04/2023 11:30

How costly is it? I guess it's good to include these features but no gay the expense of insulation or renewable energy from which there will be a tangible financial benefit.

Insulation and renewable energy all sorted this is an addition on top.

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GasPanic · 17/04/2023 11:26

"Things like amending the brightness of lights for time of day, ensuring all lights are turned of and heating turned down when you leave the house appeal to us."

You don't need special wiring for this. You can do it all with wi fi smart bulbs. I have them in my house, and you can link them to activate on certain actions.

Plus, trying to save on lighting costs/energy use is pretty pointless with modern LED bulbs, which use about 1/10th the power of old incandescent bulbs.

The thing probably to make sure with wiring is that you have the wiring in place to deal with electric car charging, which if you want rapid car charging is quite a bit more meaty than normal wiring (more like a cooker circuit).

One thing in my house I find is the number of sockets is very limited, expecially in the kitchen where you have lots of devices so this is worth thinking about.

Rollercoaster1920 · 17/04/2023 11:33

Beware smart lighting that requires non standard wiring. It'll be a complete pain when things go wrong in future and might need a re wire back to standard! Most things are WiFi controlled these days anyway.
I would wire surround speakers in though. 7.2 configuration. And power points where smart devices might go (doorbell, thermostat, lights etc.

taxguru · 17/04/2023 11:43

I'd only go down that route if there was a genuine cost/benefit gain, i.e. a pay back period within a realistic timescale. I can see the appeal of solar panels (again if you're going to get your investment back within, say, 10 years), but not all the lazy gimmicks such as mood lighting, central lighting controls, etc if they're going to cost a lot to install the infrastructure. You can save energy simply by using LED bulbs, and if you want gimmicks, buy the ones you can control via a phone app for dimming and colour change (which still use normal wiring and are simple/cheap to replace).

The more "gimmicks" you have, you don't just have the upfront/infrastructure costs, but you also have more potential points of failure which undoubtedly will cost a small fortune to fix!

Personally, if I were to do a rewire, I'd concentrate more on thinking about planning for traditional switches, sockets, lighting points, dual usb/traditional socket points, wiring installations for potential wall mounted TV's, so more double sockets all over the kitchen, and plenty of doubles around living rooms, bedrooms, etc., maybe better lighting circuitry for fitted wall lights, switches by the bed side to turn off main light, switches top & bottom of stairs for hall and landing lights, wiring and switches for external security lighting, etc. To be honest, I'd have enough to do to plan for normal power/lighting/security without thinking of gimmicks on top! It's our one big regret not to have our home rewired when we bought it 25 years ago as we've had to make a succession of "small" tweaks over the years for traditional power/lighting needs, which has been costly and disruptive (i.e. carpets/flooring up several times for additional lighting/socket installations downstairs!).

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