Heating Controls Tado/Nest /Hive etc

[SnoopySantaPaws]

I have Gas CH with a programmable Honeywell Thermostat & TRV' s on the radiators (except for the heated towel rail)

the Honeywell Thermostat is having a well known problem with its digital display screen. There's a known work around which I've been doing for a few winters, but it's getting less effective each time & needs to be done more & more frequently. It involves very fiddly circuit boards & heating them up & I just can't be arsed doing this all the bloody time.

the cheapest/ easiest thing is probably to buy a replacement Honeywell thermostat that's a newer version of my model - & hopefully it'll just connect itself with the bit in the boiler, but no guarantees.

However, one annoyance I've had over the years is that I can't have the heated towel rail on, when the other rads are off unless I manually turn each TRV's off ( and it's just too much a faff to do that every night & on again every morning!

( I want to do this as i don't like the heating on everywhere in the mornings, but I would like to take the chill off the bathroom)

i don't want to retrofit an electrical heating thing into the HTR either. It would mean removing tiling to get an electrical supply and they don't make the tiles anymore & I really like them.

so I think the only way to achieve that is a hive/Tado system. I had considered doing a Tado replacement myself (I've done lots of things myself) but I think it's a bit beyond me these days. (Brain Fog, physical limitations due to an accident, balance/BPPV issues) so I'm thinking I might need to have it done.

Anyone have any advice/opinions/idea of cost etc??

@Caspianberg

OK I'm more confused now 🤣 you don't need a 'main' thermostat? You can just have the radiator thermostats???

So could I just add a smart one to the HTR & remove the existing one from the hallway (to swap which is the uncontrolled one) ??

& just run each radiator from the app rather than having a 'main' thermostat??

We have tado and it’s easy to use. We can turn it on/off as required. We don’t do the geofencing thing as you have to pay a monthly subscription for it, but we don’t need to anyway as it’s easy to control from the app wherever you are.

@SnoopySantaPaws
yes you just need one Tado internet bridge, and then can add as many Tado thermostats on the radius as you need. You don’t have to have wall box.

Theres a new Tado x out. It’s probably better and worth getting if you haven’t got the old one

https://uk.shop.tado.com/products/smart-radiator-thermostat-x-starter-kit so you buy one starter kit that included the bridge and one Tado radiator thermostat . Then just add as many additional radiator thermostat.

https://uk.shop.tado.com/products/internet-bridge-1 this is the older Tado bridge ( what we have)

You can’t mix original Tado with new Tado x. My dh says the new Tado x is easier as each one has own internet inside rather than relying on the main internet box

We have the Honeywell and I love it. Just really got into the app on my phone recently and made some time learning how it works. I liked the screen wizard but actually find the app easier now I’ve been in and pressed all the buttons to see what they do.
Personally I think I’d buy a new screen from someone who will take it back if it doesn’t work and a rad thermostat after that for the towel rail. Might be worth looking at a local independent supplier. (One of the reasons I buy a lot from Argos is that they take it back no quibbles, unless it’s an IPad which works, has been opened and then is not wanted, happened to the man in the front of me in the queue the other day - sorry I digress but it’s worth knowing that).

out downstairs loo doesn’t have a Honeywell thermostat and DH told me that to turn it on all I have to do it turn the traditional knob up and down but I Guess what you’re saying is you don’t want the faff of having to remember every time.

Each TRV is basically its own thermostat so the main one becomes largely redundant, just a kind of central hub for the whole system. We don't use our main one at all as each room has its own temp settings and timings and the radiators can turn the boiler on and off as needed.

There are 2 bits to this.

1. Programmable thermostat control.

This is what you have, you set the timings and temperatures you want the heating to come on and the boiler pumps heat round the whole system when called for - ie when the temperature in the thermostat location is below the required at that point in time.
If your radiators have traditional "dumb" TRVs this then limits the heat in each room based on the setting on the TRV.

1. Programmable/smart TRVs on every radiator.

This is the bit that would allow you to have the towel radiator on at set times but the others off. You'd still have to have the boiler coming on, and pumping heat round the entire system, but only the radiators where the TRV was "on" would take up the heat, the others would be closed and those rads wouldn't heat.

The cost is not just the new controller, it is having a smart TR on every rad that would bump it up.

Thank you, I'll make a coffee & have a good read of that. 😊

Oh that's interesting.

my Honeywell isn't a 'smart system' it's just a regular programmable thermostat, and the radiators just have the 1-5 TRV's on them.

it's not the remembering, it's the faff of manually turning all the others off at night & on again in the morning.(the only way to keep the 'heating on' but not heating the whole house (I couldn't sleep with the heat on) .

you can do that with you DL because your heating is already running.

Thanks @doodleschnoodle that makes sense! 😊

Hi @Chasingsquirrels nice to 'see you'

i do get all that, I think the main bit I'm not quite getting yet is how the individual S TR's 'communicate' with the boiler??

(I think originally I thought they 'communicated' via the 'thermostat main controller)

what would I need to do to the boiler to make it able to communicate with the individual STRV??

(Fucking Brain Fog - please tell me at a certain point after menopause it just fucks off agsin?!?!). I can't cope with struggling to comprehend things which SHOULD be easy, which would have been easy before this god awful brain fog)

@Chasingsquirrels In a scenario with smart TRVs, if the boiler is on to heat up just one/some rooms, is the overall consumption and cost lower? That's what i think and that's why I'd like to install them, but my husband thinks that if the boiler is triggered by a single radiator, the cost is not lower...

That is true, we don’t use that function but if you did I guess you wouldn’t want to loose it.

I think you're more right than he is, I assume (but we know what makes me!!🤣) that it's a bit lower cost as it's not 'heating up each rad, just by passing 'under' it) but that as it's still running around the whole system it's probably not that much cheaper. (???)

Yeah we probably need to get a manual to work out how it works.

I always think if somethings complicated it will go wrong but that is just me. I’m used to the manual one as well from our old house,much prefer it.

Hood luck with your decision.

Arhhh, where do I "know" you from??

I think the "talking to the boiler" bit is where the smart thermostat / Internet bridge comes in - this allows the S-TRV to communicate with the boiler, rather than just the programmable thermostat doing so.
You'll still need the relevant receiver hard wired into the boiler, but if you have a NEST hub plus all NEST S-TRVs then you just programme it all in via the app and everything is set. Heat is then called for by an individual S-TRV, via the hub or bridge or directly to the wired receiver.
I understand how the process works, but I think the cost would be quite high to add all the bits. I suppose it depends on how many radiators, I've got 13, so just the S-TRVs would cost me quite a lot, on top of the hub.

I've had a "workaround" for a few years with the downstairs living space having non-smart programmable TRVs which are set to low temps in the morning.
I also have a Honeywell programmable thermostat which sits in the living space, programmed to say 18°c in the morning so the boiler comes on and sends the heat round - but the programmable TRVs in the living space don't let the heat through there cos they're programmed to a low temp, so the living room doesn't heat up, so the Honeywell keeps calling for heat which keeps flowing round the system to heat upstairs, the hall & kitchen.
Then in my bedroom I've got another non-smart programmable TRV which is at a fairly low temp most of the evening until about 30 mins before bedtime so as not to heat it when I'm downstairs.
I can control these non-smart TRV via a phone app (Bluetooth connection) to set the programme or manually change the heat setting.

Re cost/consumption - I have no idea!

Oh, and I'm just refitting my ensuite. I ummed and arred about an electric element for the towel radiator and decided against it.
Now I'm wondering if I was wrong and whether I could still add it!

@Chasingsquirrels only from here, don't panic. I'll read that again in the morning, hopefully after some sleep (it's a nice thought) & definitely some coffee!!

I'll PM you too re original name 😊

I assumed from MN, just didn't recall the name.

I've just had a look, 4 Tado TRVs for £150, so that would be the best part of £500 to do my house, plus starter pack, plus control unit if needed.

I think about this every winter, then end up doing nothing 🤣. Maybe if/when my Honeywell programmable thermostat dies...