CH Controllers

[Tim Watts]

OK - just had a visit from a plumber who seems like a decent chap (personal recommendation and he works mostly with copper).

Looking at a Worcester Bosch combi.

But controller?

He's of the opinion that with a bungalow, 1 main zone is sufficient. he's probably right - the upstairs (will be living room) gets heat from downstairs - no heating up there right now and it's actually quite warm.

The conservatory will have UFH *and* a Myson wet fan blower - both with separate control.

He's not a controller fanatic (ie he's not trying to "sell me the fancy one"). However, I'd like a reasonably smart one with Internet access for the main house.

So, for the main zone, there's the WB Wave system which has weather compensation.

Or I could shove something like Nest in which at the back end is treated like a programmer/main stat.

In either case, I'd have to do a Logical-OR with demand from the conservatory. The conservatory does not need fancy internet control - probably be done on a local stat/timer with a manual demand switch on the fan heater.

Any suggestions?

[John Rumm]

Does that also hold true in the cold bits of the winter?

My place is also a converted bungalow but it definitely needs heating upstairs (4 beds, 1 bath, 1 ensuite) - however not as much as the downstairs since its both smaller and better insulated. Hence I put it on its own zone when doing the big heating refit a couple of years back.

Not tried that level of connectivity on mine (yet), so won't comment.

IME its well worth having. This time of year it keeps the heating ticking along on a very low flow temperature (40 deg or so), and is seamless - you are not really aware the heating is even on unless you go touch a rad, and it keeps the temp in the house nice and even without overheating or cold spots.

You may find some of the manufacturers controls already understand the concept of more than one zone. With mine I added a box if tricks called a mixer module:

It basically glues a boiler with posh ebus controls onto a three zone (2 heating + 1 DHW) set of traditional controls or to more sophisticated UFH blending controls.

I have a feeling WB had some similar bits.

If you get a boiler with an ebus interface, there are quite a few projects out there for gluing it to a raspberry pi etc.

[Tim Watts]

"ebus" - Thanks John - that is VERY interesting.

It might be worth commissioning the wet/gas with a thick controller than I can tit around when he's gone. Controllers is definitely something I'm interested in!

[John Rumm]

May be of use: