Help connecting wireless thermostat to boiler

And with a bit of discipline you can also move the thermostat around whenever you want to change which room you is hotter. E.g. we usually have ours in the living area downstairs but move it to upstairs to the bedroom if someone is unwell. The discipline needed is, of course, to fit/turn down the TRVs in the living area and up the TRVs in the bedroom.

I thought I saw a note to ensure no interference from the wireless signal.

Am I correct in that I can add a Hive hub at some future date?

Thanks for that tip.

Yes, that's what's imprinted on the cover of the boiler control panel.

Why wouldn't I simply use the live and neutral wires?

Obviously you do not have a cat and all doors are required to be left open at all times and CH zones are irrelevant:-)

The receiver will need to be able to establish a radio connection with the stat controller / sensor. So not sticking it inside a metal enclosure or very close to a RF noise generating source will help with that. So not right beside a microwave over for example.

The obvious thing to do is wire it up to a power supply, and test it with the stat in the places you are likely to use it, and see that it can communicate, before actually screwing the receiver to a wall.

Yup. If you are planning to get one soon, it might be cheaper to get it with the stat as a "bundle".

good, that is reassuring.

You are using the Neutral. Using the live directly would certainly work, although it is not the way they have suggested that you do it.

It might be that there are times where it can deactivate it's live out to the stat on pin 1 (for example on boilers that have an integral timer).

Also the live on pin 1 on the boiler will be downstream of its 2A fuse. Since the stat requires fusing at no more than 3A, that is an easy way to ensure this. (the boiler supply is probably already fused at 3A somewhere - but this way you avoid doubt)

What hardware do you use? That sounds much like I would like to achieve, but don't really want to have to run new cables around the house.

Chris

This is what I wrote last year:

"My Bulldog TRVs are about 16 years old, all renewed when I had a new boiler. A couple of them have been fitted with an electronic control. I don't think anything which combines valve and detector adjacent to the radiator itself is particularly effective.

One stopped turning off. Having put back the original thermostatic head, it still seems to be stuck open, though the spindle appears to move freely.

Before the TRVs were replaced, I had regular issues with them sticking closed, but this is a new one on me.

This happened during lockdown, so I didn't want to risk diving in and rendering the whole heating system unusable. I was surprised how well the living room temperature was regulated simply relying on the main stat in the hall, so I left it alone.

My partner, mostly working from home, needed to be able to control an awkward TRV, so I moved the displaced unit to the study, where it has worked for about 18 months, and now once again I seem to have a valve stuck open.

Theoretically I could pay an inappropriate amount of money to have remote sensing and control on most of the radiators, all able to generate a call for heat.

Overall, especially if the weak point is the actual valve itself, I think I will be financially better off leaving it alone."

Now that energy costs have rocketed, perhaps I should re-evaluate the situation.

Chris

Indeed, noted.

GPWM

My error, speed reading at my age too. Thanks.

Cheers

I have Drayton wiser which does this. It replaces the sensing head on a thermostatic valve with a combined a electronic thermostat and motorised valve. You can put one on each radiator, but you don't have too. Its all wireless controlled so no wires. You do need an app to configure it. You but you can disable all the "smart features" and you can buy the bits from screwfix.

Dave

No difference in price at the moment with Screwfix, of course that might change. Worryingly now that I've seen that Hive are part of British Gas and that they are dropping all their other products (what an advert for product loyalty) I expect they'll put the prices up.

I'm still wrestling for instance how long it might take to save £135 (assuming self install). But we do use not far off 20,000 Kw for a year, which for just the two of us is a lot though partly a reflection of being in a sprawled out extended bungalow.

A further concern and this seems to be the nature of "smart" devices is that the Hive hub is not transferable to a new owner and so I wonder what other limitations and issues may be encountered.

I suppose if it cuts back 10% (is that realistic?) it's paid for itself in the year*. That is purely by not having heating on, or as high as we would if I was running back and forth to alter the boiler settings.

• Based on 20,000 Kw for the year at the new rate of 15p/Kw.

As the Ofgen notional average is based on a 3 bed room house with 2 to 3 people you seem to be 8,000kWh above this average.

Are you overheating rooms that you little use and are you keeping doors shut? Last year I visited a house where the utility room and (spare) toilet were hotter than the main living room. It wasn't much difference in their "junk" room - keeping the boxes full of crap warm.

As well as my posts in this thread see also

Subject: Turning radiator off/down - no thermostat valve Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2022 12:10:49 GMT

There is a large hall with an "unvalved" radiator as well as there being no room thermostat. And my wife's hands are freezing this morning - thermometer says 21degC.

So yes this is all about being more efficient.

I've looked a bit deeper at options and the Drayton Wiser Wireless Heating 1-Channel Thermostat Control Kit

With most of these devices there is a lot of information on Youtube.

Does that "national average" assume the house is unoccupied for a period each day?

Ofgem don't "model" usage in that way. The figures they use ("Typical Domestic Consumption Values") are based on what people use in practice:

"We calculate the typical low, medium and high TDCVs for gas and electricity by calculating the lower quartile, median and upper quartile of household consumption using the two most recent years of available data, and then taking the average."

So I guess the qualified answer is "yes" in that the way they are collecting data would tend to aggregate typical use for properties occupied less than 24/7 into the lower or medium brackets.

I avoided Hive for that reason and bought Drayton Wiser.

Probably never. I just love the extra convenience of Drayton Wiser

Wiser is transferable. Simply reset and its back as blanks.

I don't think I ever saved that much....

Dave

They are certainly aggregating properties used less than 24/7 in all 3 sets of figures. But I feel "assume" implies a decision on their part. ISTM Ofgem are just accepting the rich variety of UK households. C.f. "...assume people only take a bath or shower once a week" :)

Excellent, that's made my mind up.

But you might not have been starting from a point of having no room thermostat, and we are yet to hit the big price cap.