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Central Heating Control
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Author:  MaliA [ Sat Nov 14, 2015 11:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Agree.

Radiators are considerably cheaper at Wickes, so I might buy some, fit them myself and then do the boiler.
Author:  MaliA [ Sat Nov 14, 2015 14:01 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
MaliA wrote:
Agree.

Radiators are considerably cheaper at Wickes, so I might buy some, fit them myself and then do the boiler.


Heh. That magnet thing they wanted a string of ponies for is only £85. And it places on line.
Author:  MaliA [ Mon Nov 16, 2015 11:36 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Local guy was £2.6k for the same. Think I'll go with him....
Author:  Grim... [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 10:45 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
As of today there's a new, better Nest out.

https://nest.com/uk/thermostat/meet-nest-thermostat/
Author:  BikNorton [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Still no built-in per-room/rad control? Tut.

Honeywell refuse to add combi boiler water scheduling which new Nest has, so they're idiots for a different reason.

One day, heating control will be right. Nest are basically there now, apart from the per-rad control.
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
BikNorton wrote:
Still no built-in per-room/rad control? Tut.

You want an internet connected motorised valve on each radiator, complete with the requisite power lead, and (probably) also a temperature sensor in each room for calibration? Have you considered what that would cost?
Author:  Grim... [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:27 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
£250 plus £77 for each radiator: http://www.honeywelluk.com/products/Val ... -Zone-Kit/
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
"They are battery powered with a two-year battery life..." I stand corrected. Impressive!
Author:  MaliA [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:47 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
"They are battery powered with a two-year battery life..." I stand corrected. Impressive!


Huh. They should put a little paddle wheel in the valve to drive a current to power them. Forever.
Author:  Grim... [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 12:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
"They are battery powered with a two-year battery life..." I stand corrected. Impressive!

Properly expensive, though.

Obviously I'm thinking about it.
Author:  DavPaz [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 12:55 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
MaliA wrote:
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
"They are battery powered with a two-year battery life..." I stand corrected. Impressive!


Huh. They should put a little paddle wheel in the valve to drive a current to power them. Forever.

Genius. Middle-age tech!
Author:  MaliA [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 13:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
DavPaz wrote:
MaliA wrote:
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
"They are battery powered with a two-year battery life..." I stand corrected. Impressive!


Huh. They should put a little paddle wheel in the valve to drive a current to power them. Forever.

Genius. Middle-age tech!


I am copy editing Kissyfur's book on engineering
Author:  BikNorton [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 13:44 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
We paid less than 60 a pop for our rad heads, and something like 180 for the EVOHOME starter kit (controller, boiler relay, one rad head).

The two year battery life is bullshit, obv - especially for the shitty in-box ones. Its started complaining about some of them after less than 18 months. We've an accidentally-accrued huge pile of Duracell's to use up but then eneloops will be going in (2x AA per rad head).

They use a custom protocol at about 811MHz and the 'put it on the ibtarwebs' box is another hundred quid we didn't want to pay because fuck off a hundred quid just so I can mess with it when I'm not even there.

And the scheduling is traditional 'designed by a heating engineer trained in the Dark Ages' stuff rather than the lovely Nest learning business. But it does the bit I want. But not a water schedule on a combi, just a kit for tanks.
Author:  Grim... [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 13:49 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Do they let you know when the battery has gone out?

Do they fail open or closed?
Author:  BikNorton [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 13:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
The controller shows battery (and comms) warnings starting quite in advance.. They fail a bit randomly, which is a bit shit, though I am wondering if (even worse) they get a bit messed up by moisture because its the bathroom and bedroom where we've been using a wallpaper stripping steamer recently that have gone, and simply taking that batteries out and putting them back in fixed the bedroom one yesterday.

So I still recommend it if you put zones above Nest loveliness, but now with caveats.
Author:  BikNorton [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 13:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
I do recommend https://theevohomeshop.co.uk/ as a vendor - they seem to have and get more stock than anyone else, ship quickly, were priced competitively when I was buying, and are ace at answering emails.
Author:  Zardoz [ Sat Nov 28, 2015 11:23 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
We has hive.

Our heating system and appliances are covered by BG home care, so when our boiler started firing up on its own they said they'd replace the current thermostat or give us £100 off Hive.

I like it.
Author:  asfish [ Sun Nov 29, 2015 18:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
BikNorton wrote:
We paid less than 60 a pop for our rad heads, and something like 180 for the EVOHOME starter kit (controller, boiler relay, one rad head).

The two year battery life is bullshit, obv - especially for the shitty in-box ones. Its started complaining about some of them after less than 18 months. We've an accidentally-accrued huge pile of Duracell's to use up but then eneloops will be going in (2x AA per rad head).

They use a custom protocol at about 811MHz and the 'put it on the ibtarwebs' box is another hundred quid we didn't want to pay because fuck off a hundred quid just so I can mess with it when I'm not even there.

And the scheduling is traditional 'designed by a heating engineer trained in the Dark Ages' stuff rather than the lovely Nest learning business. But it does the bit I want. But not a water schedule on a combi, just a kit for tanks.



I remember getting to around £70 a head, but at the time you need a wireless thermostat for each room which pushed the price up.

I'm not sure I see the value in having that level of control, I have those 1-5 manual knobs on each one of mine and we manage it with those, also have my 2 year old son turning them down all the time this winter :D

Will be giving the topic of heating a deeper look next year as our house plans go in and I want all the boilers etc in the garage. Also has the house will be gutted and underfloor heating will have to be the solution in the open plan kitchen\Living area so the heating will need looking at.
Author:  MaliA [ Thu Dec 17, 2015 19:46 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Right. Good news: new boiler is hung up and 3 radiators and a towel rail are in. Bad news: no heating or hot water tonight. Or in the morning.
Author:  MaliA [ Fri Dec 18, 2015 22:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Crikey. The shower has levelled up a fair but. All done now.
Author:  Grim... [ Fri Dec 18, 2015 22:26 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
What 'stat did you choose?
Author:  MaliA [ Fri Dec 18, 2015 22:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Grim-beard... the noisy wrote:
What 'stat did you choose?


A horseman centaurstat 7 is on the wall. Might get an internet one post xmas.
Author:  Mr Dave [ Fri Dec 18, 2015 22:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Grim-beard... the noisy wrote:
What 'stat did you choose?

I couldn't decide between Strength and Dexterity, so I went for Endurance instead.
Author:  Grim... [ Fri Dec 18, 2015 23:06 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Mr Dave wrote:
Grim-beard... the noisy wrote:
What 'stat did you choose?

I couldn't decide between Strength and Dexterity, so I went for Endurance instead.

I went for Weight.
Author:  Cras [ Fri Dec 18, 2015 23:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Mr Dave wrote:
Grim-beard... the noisy wrote:
What 'stat did you choose?

I couldn't decide between Strength and Dexterity, so I went for Endurance instead.


I actually thought that's what he meant
Author:  myp [ Mon Apr 04, 2016 17:35 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
More Internet of Shit nonsense: http://uk.businessinsider.com/googles-n ... ces-2016-4
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 18:29 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Hi folks!

So, Russell and I moved to a new house at the beginning of February, and. Either of us k kw show the heating works.

We have a little control panel. We can set the heating to come on once a day, or twice, or press a button to override that if we are cold. That is all under the boiler, which is in the kitchen. That same control panel also heats the hot water.

We have a hot water tank upstairs, as well as an immersion heater.

So, what’s this little doodad half way up the stairs? A thermostat of some kind, but what does it do? As far as I can tell the heating is either ‘on’ or ‘not on’? What does this temperature dial do, if anything?
Author:  krazywookie [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 18:38 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
It should switch the heating off when the room reaches a certain temperature, you could test it by turning it right down with the heating set to "on" and the rads should not heat up.
If they do it might be faulty or more likely disconnected, they're quite often left on the wall because if you remove them it leaves a mess
Author:  Satsuma [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 18:40 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostat
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 19:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
krazywookie wrote:
It should switch the heating off when the room reaches a certain temperature, you could test it by turning it right down with the heating set to "on" and the rads should not heat up.
If they do it might be faulty or more likely disconnected, they're quite often left on the wall because if you remove them it leaves a mess


Ah, I was wondering this. It’s set to 17, and I know it gets a lot warmer than that in the house, which is why I was a bit confused by its function. I wasn’t sure if it worked with or in spite of the manual controls under the boiler. Thanks, Wookie.
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 20:28 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Satsuma wrote:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostat

Sorry, yes, I know it’s a thermostat, and what a thermostat is for, but it didn’t seem to be actually doing anything. What Wookie says about it not being connected makes sense.
Author:  krazywookie [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 20:31 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Having said that, if that ones disconnected there would be another one in the house somewhere to replace it...
Author:  Satsuma [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 20:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Mimi wrote:
Satsuma wrote:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostat

Sorry, yes, I know it’s a thermostat, and what a thermostat is for, but it didn’t seem to be actually doing anything. What Wookie says about it not being connected makes sense.


Sorry but the question was what does it do. If it’s not working then, and this might be so simple but just might work, open it up and check if it’s battery powered. Loads of old ones (and probably some newish ones) are just run by AA batteries. The battery might need replacing.
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 21:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Yes, what does it do, because it doesn’t seem to be performing a function within the house, rather than ‘what do thermostats do’, if that makes sense?

I’ve just tried to get the front off, and it won’t budge. I also can’t see any wiring, though that could be fed through the staircase. If it were battery powered how would it ‘contact’ the boiler/heating system? It looks far too old to do it through any kind of remote system.
Author:  Satsuma [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 21:26 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Try this

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/repl ... at.489700/
Author:  Satsuma [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 21:29 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Actually, looking at this, it’s not battery powered I don’t think…

https://www.diynot.com/diy/media/untitled.78290/#media
Author:  Satsuma [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 21:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Also, also, also, I’m not an electrician so I think my ability to assist has now ran its course.
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 21:37 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Well that definitely looks like the one. I’ll have a poke about in the pantry and see if the wires come out there somewhere. It seems an awful long way from the boiler. I wonder why the thermostat is on the stairs.

I’d like to get a thermostat (a modern one) to aid in controlling the heating. I’ll see what that entails and if I can find someone to add one to the system. I never know if things like that aged sone by a gas man or electrician.
Author:  KovacsC [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 21:58 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Depending on your boiler you can fit an nest quite easily.

Mine used to be on the stairs, the idea being it should be on the coldest part so the heating heats that. You can just turn your rads down to comfort level in each room.


When I put the nest in, I put in the lounge, as I want the lounge warm, not to bothered about the other rooms.
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 22:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
KovacsC wrote:
Depending on your boiler you can fit an nest quite easily.

Mine used to be on the stairs, the idea being it should be on the coldest part so the heating heats that. You can just turn your rads down to comfort level in each room.



When I put the nest in, I put in the lounge, as I want the lounge warm, not to bothered about the other rooms.


Did you get an electrician to fit the nest, or is it a gas man?
Author:  DavPaz [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 22:33 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Thermostats, even fancy smart ones, only use 2 low voltage wires. Swapping them out is often very simple and would be literally a 5 minute job for either a spark or a gas engineer.

Or a careful 2 hours for Russ
Author:  Trooper [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 22:38 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Depends on the boiler though, we had to get a man in to fit our nest, as even though it was a relatively new combi boiler, it needed extra fettling beyond just switching it out.

Also, throw in the water tank and separate water controls and it'll probably be a specialist job. We used a local plumber we know, but you can buy fitting from nest as an add-on when you buy the thermostat
Author:  DavPaz [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 23:01 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Ah yes, I was not considering hot water tanks. That does complicate things
Author:  KovacsC [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 23:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Mimi wrote:
KovacsC wrote:
Depending on your boiler you can fit an nest quite easily.

Mine used to be on the stairs, the idea being it should be on the coldest part so the heating heats that. You can just turn your rads down to comfort level in each room.



When I put the nest in, I put in the lounge, as I want the lounge warm, not to bothered about the other rooms.


Did you get an electrician to fit the nest, or is it a gas man?



I did it. It was only a few wires to fit the controller and the nest syncs to that.
Author:  KovacsC [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 23:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
When I had my hive fitted years ago British Gas did it.

The Nest was a lot easier, but an electron can do it.
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 23:11 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
I was reading about the Nest Thermostat E, which sounds promising.

Quote:
Google’s latest smart-home product is a cheaper smart thermostat that anyone can install themselves without the need for a boiler engineer.

Lionel Guicherd-Callin, Nest’s head of product marketing in Europe, described the installation as being on the same level as swapping out a light switch or light bulb.

“We wanted to create a simpler, more affordable smart thermostat for the 85% of people across Europe who aren’t benefiting from the lower bills and smarter heating they can provide,” said Guicherd-Callin. “Anyone with a screwdriver can install it in under 60 minutes without the need for an electrician or boiler engineer.”





So that sounds doable. Russell and my ma’s husband have changed out all of the light fittings, switches and power outlets, and would have been doing the extractor fan and sconces this weekend if it weren’t for circumstances, but I’ll have a look again after the new year and see how things are looking and decide whether to go that route or looking for an engineer. Knowing that you can book a guy when you buy one is a big plus point.
Author:  Sir Taxalot [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 23:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
I suppose the stairs could be considered a central place in the house, so perhaps that's why the thermostat is there. And also as Kovacs said, somewhere the heat has to 'spread to get to'.

There is of course the chance it could be broken. If you put the dial down as high as it can go, and then slowly turn it down, do you hear it click?

I find it can take quite a lot of fiddling to get heating (and cooling) set up. When we moved house about a year ago it took us some time to figure out what some of the switches did. Handily the light switched had been labelled with those little dymo labels, but the heater controls had not.
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 23:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
KovacsC wrote:
The Nest was a lot easier, but an electron can do it.

Well that’s a negative.
Author:  Mimi [ Tue Nov 30, 2021 23:15 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Sir Taxalot wrote:
I suppose the stairs could be considered a central place in the house, so perhaps that's why the thermostat is there. And also as Kovacs said, somewhere the heat has to 'spread to get to'.

There is of course the chance it could be broken. If you put the dial down as high as it can go, and then slowly turn it down, do you hear it click?

I find it can take quite a lot of fiddling to get heating (and cooling) set up. When we moved house about a year ago it took us some time to figure out what some of the switches did. Handily the light switched had been labelled with those little dymo labels, but the heater controls had not.


I have set it to various tempers since we moved here and o can’t see it’s ever made any difference. I’ll try the trick of setting it to 10° tomorrow and seeing if it still heats the house if I put the heating on. I haven’t heard a click, no, but I haven’t really been listening for one. I’ll have a play with it tomorrow when I’m feeling a bit better, I hope.
Author:  Sir Taxalot [ Wed Dec 01, 2021 0:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: Central Heating Control
Mimi wrote:

I have set it to various tempers since we moved here and o can’t see it’s ever made any difference.


Have you tried telling it to stay cool and calm?
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