Digital thermostat as an alternative to Hive

I'm soon going to be moving into a new (to me) flat that has a new combi bo iler with an old fashioned wired thermostat. The timer is mounted on the fr ont of the boiler and is a very crude mechanical thing with little switches .

Part of me wants to install a Hive system but as a halfway house I'm wonder ing about about replacing the basic thermostat with a digital one - then I could leave the boiler on constant and set some fancy varying programs via the thermostat - different times and temperatures on different days.

Does my proposed setup and sound practical and can anyone recommend a stat please?

Reply to
Murmansk
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As this is a DIY group you could do as I did

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I think I worked out (for someone on this group) that it cost me about £18 to build.

It's not perfect I would have done it differently if I had the wherewithal to design it, but it doesn't rely on a server in the cloud, it's cheap, and best of all it pisses off the friends who pay BG $$$ for one.

There is a touch screen version in development I understand.

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Reply to
Graham.

So basically a standard programmable thermostat then...

Yup eminently doable. I quite like the Horstman Centaurstat 7. It gives several time slots per day (up to 6 IIRC) and all 7 days are programmable independently if you want (or you can copy one day's settings to any other, or do basic 5+2 day programs)

Reply to
John Rumm

John Rumm wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:

What about Hot Water - will you leave that on timer - or have a cylinder thermostat?

Reply to
DerbyBorn

The OP mentioned a combi boiler, so that is heated on deamnd.

However if you have stored hot water, then you will need a more conventional programmer and cylinder stat for that bit.

Reply to
John Rumm

Unless to go for something like Hive which - if you buy the right model

- can do both. [You still need a cylinder stat, though].

Reply to
Roger Mills

Unless you really need the abilty to control the heating remotely a programmable stat will be perfectly satisactory.

"really need" in that the flat is unoccupied fairly often on an irregular basis for unpredictable periods of time. So "holiday mode" of a programable stat won't be usefull.

Even then if the flat up to reasonably recent insulation standards it probably won't take long to warm up from a set back temperature anyway.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

For me, remotely doesn't have to be over such a long distance, I can be working upstairs, think "hmm, getting chilly" and tweak the heating up a degree or two for an hour or two without leaving my desk - because you just know if you go downstairs to prod the stat, you'll get a coffee while you're at it, maybe a quick snack to go with it, oh might as well open the post ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

If you do go for a Hive, shop around. This was discussed recently, and I gather they go for £200+, £9/month and suchlike. Just checked and I got mine for £130 just before xmas from Amazon.

Maybe a wireless stat?

Reply to
RJH

Sorry! Was thinking "old" when mechanical timer mentioned.

Reply to
DerbyBorn

The oil fired combi boiler I have does have a small store of hot water which it tries to keep hot. Fortunately it also has an internal on/off programmer so I can use it with a 1 channel programmable Heatmiser Smartstat.

Reply to
Michael Chare

Exactly what I did here quite a few years ago. I replaced the old wired thermostat with a Siemens RDE10 digital thermostat, 7 day programme, 12 high/low settings per day. It has has two temp settings (high and low) but no off, however I just use the boiler timer if I want an off setting. The RDE10 works off an AA battery, and just has a one set of volt free contacts (ie a switch) for the boiler control, so didn't need any additional wiring to that which was there for the old room stat. Battery lasts 3+ years. The RDE10 was about £30, but is obsolete now. There are probably similar things around.

Reply to
Davidm

I've found a wireless stat/programmer which can be carried around[1] is good for people who like to tweak the temperature. It even managed to stop 'er indoors leaving the TRVs set to heat the living room to 25C.

And I can see it's a better option than a time-delay lock on the door to a home office :)

[1] which is of course any battery powered one if you screw it to a back plate rather than a wall :)
Reply to
Robin

Could be, but if the room it'd normally live in doesn't have a TRV and all others do, when you move it elsewhere you could have to tweak TRVs or you might be heating up the parts of the house where you aren't.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Oh yes indeed. I didn't mean to suggest it's the best solution, just a bit better for people who in practice won't turn fixed stats up and (especially) down, let alone tweak TRVs.

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Reply to
Robin

boiler with an old fashioned wired thermostat. The timer is mounted on the front of the boiler and is a very crude mechanical thing with little switch es.

ering about about replacing the basic thermostat with a digital one - then I could leave the boiler on constant and set some fancy varying programs vi a the thermostat - different times and temperatures on different days.

Did that and learnt that:

  1. different temps at different predictable times are not wanted
  2. smart stats are a usability problem, resulting in poorer energy use IRL
  3. They have relatively poor reliability. Went back to a bimetal stat, gratefully.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

2200 > 0700 15 C optimum start target 18.5 @ 0700 runs through to 1600 with a same temp event at 1200. 1600 > 2200 20 C

Even SWMBO'd can operate the stat. Just push the up button a couple of times. This overides that time periods tem setting and is the reason for the same temp event at miday, it cancels any overide set in the morning. The lower night and day temps save energy, it very rare for there to a call for heat overnight but there would be with the temp stuck at 20 C.

Not a problem here, one is 5 years old, the other over 10. Wireless as well. Danfoss TP75 RF.

No chance. B-)

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I'd have a fan heater in the SOHO rather than heat the whole place. Or just go and get a coffee, moving about and hot drink would warm me back up. Snack, hum maybe but I'm being very good and limiting myself to one packet of ginger nuts and one pack of dark chocolate digestives a week, When they're gone, they're gone. B-)

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Speak for yourself... I find them quite handy.

When setting up initially perhaps, but not once set.

Thereafter its just a case of hit an up or down button if you want to manually jog the temperature up or down.

They also have the advantage that you can't forget to turn them down again - they will automatically revert to program once they next time slot is reached.

Can't think why. They normally have better accuracy and control than a bi-metal type. Less overshoot etc.

Again not IME. I have had a couple myself, and installed a few for others. Never had a single problem or failure.

Reply to
John Rumm

Turning the heating off when not around on a regular basis, or setting it to a lower value when irregularly not there works perfectly well for me. We've no use for different settings where we're here.

I assure you it was.

that approach doesn't work well here.

they do fwliw, but when people can't work out easily how to work them they don't get adjusted down when it's wanted. Result: more energy use.

I'm sure if you look at a sample of a few bimetals you'd usually find the same. It's too small a sample to be useful. Domestic electronic circuits simply don't have the reliability/longevity of a bimetal stat.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

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