Annual oil boiler service just done. The engineer was surprised that the house, built in 2004, doesn't have a room thermostat in any room. Apparently, from 2005 on this became a requirement.
Anyway, he said there are wireless thermostats available that can be connected to the system. He mentioned one from Siemens that he said was very good. (I have total faith in this engineer, by the way. He has always provided good service.)
Now, is this a good idea or a waste of money (it'd cost around £130 for the part and the labour)?
Lacking a room stat, it will cycle on the boiler stat continuously while ever it is turned on - I assume it must use TRV's. A room stat would shut both boiler and pump off when the the set temperature is reached, so well worth the money.
totally inappropriate in my house. OK in the main living area (if you have one) but it's likely to get set high if people elsewhere complain that their heating keep shutting off.
All my rads have TRVs apart from the rad in the hall where the wireless room stat/programmer is located. It's always seemed a mystery to me why you should need a room stat *and* TRV's because they are often fighting against one another! If the hall reaches temperature then the stat will shut down the boiler even if the TRVs in other rooms are calling for heat. Doesn't seem to make sense...
What you do is balance the (hall) rad so its low output, then all the heat goes to the TRV rads till the rooms are warm. Once they shut down the hall warms up, and once that happens, master stat shuts off the PUMP.
Well the Honeywell CM927 I bought 3 years ago is still running happily on the original pair of Duracell AA's so battery replacement doesn't seem much of an issue :-)
if the stat on ebay was the siemens one the op mentioned, then ok, but it's a no name jobbie, sure it'll prolly do the same job, but it's like boilers, you can get a ravenheat for about 400 quid, or a workie bosch for a grand, which would you rather have?
batteries, pffftttt, i've just replaced the single AA in my wireless stat which i bought new in 2008, i bunged a duracel in it as that's what i had laying around, origional battery was some no name chinkie jobbie that prolly cost the manufacturer a fraction of a P.
Interfeerance, i did have that when i first installed it, neigbour had a similar stat, they just wired it in and left it to it, i tried the same, and of course it was on the same channel, flipped one dip switch at each end to change channel, job done.
I put my stat in the living room during the day, and take it to the bedroom at night, i've found a spot in both rooms to put it where it keeps the temp how i want it, i deffo wouldent go back to wired stats,
As for the price the op was quoted, bod knows what labour charges are nowadays, it took me about 20 minutes to fit and set up my stat, the stat it's self cost about 50 quid, so if it's a couple of hundered quid an hour labour, it's fine, of course the installer has his mark up on supplying the stat and all that.
ask him how long it'll take for the stat he fits to repay you??
Unless you need heat 24/7, go for one of the intelligent ones that knows how long the house takes to warm up and starts the boiler just in time. Since your main cost will be labour, the extra won't be that significant but the savings should be.
After all, all it's got to do is send a value to a receiver every few minutes. My radio-controlled digital clock in the kitchen consumes an AA battery every eight years.
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