Spec me a smart thermostat

eddyc · 25 Nov 2018 at 14:15

Just moved into a new flat. The old one had a crappy electricity only heating system so I never bothered with anything 'smart'. To celebrate having a proper boiler for the first time I reckon I'll get a nest or something. Flat has:

Gas boiler (has had a nest installed by previous owners but they took it with them)
4 x radiators (living room and 3x bedrooms)
1 x radiator / towel rail in bathroom

I'd ideally like to be able to control the bathroom towel rail separately from the other radiators but not sure if that's possible. I'm thinking that during the summer it'd still be nice to dry our towels but obviously don't want to heat the entire house. Equally during the winter, if I shower in the morning and then leave for work, I'd want to dry towels but not heat the bedrooms when I'm out.

Any of this possible? Nest the best or other options better?

Any advice much appreciated!

eddyc · 26 Nov 2018 at 13:37

bump?

Kemik · 26 Nov 2018 at 13:53

Depends how much automation you want.

Tado is good for geolocation. Hive is good for manual control.

You won't be able to control the radiator separately (cheaply) as the main thermostat will control the overall call to heat. If you really wanted to do that, you'd have smart radiator valves on everything.

eddyc · 26 Nov 2018 at 14:24

Cheers! Looks like Tado have an expansion for smart radiator valves. I'll do a bit more investigation into that.

Ish · 26 Nov 2018 at 15:09

I just purchased the Drayton Wiser kit. You can extra buy smart TRVs with the kit.

eddyc · 26 Nov 2018 at 15:16

Thanks. Would you reccomend it?

Ish · 26 Nov 2018 at 15:22

eddyc said:
Thanks. Would you reccomend it?

I fitted mine myself and have had no problems with it. It seems to work pretty well so I would recommend it.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 26 Nov 2018 at 17:25

There is a thread elsewhere here where I talk about my install issues with wiser, and a few others do as well.

Its a good system and in a small property you should be good to go.

I bought the control panel, and thermostat kit, but got 2x smart valves as well. Not sure if it was just really well priced, or mis-shipped.

Its definately worth considering. I am just using the thermostat as we already have TRVs, the smart control for the rads requires a TRV there, its a new top half.
Do you have a hot water tank or combi, it depends which kit you want based on that.

eddyc · 26 Nov 2018 at 18:40

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Do you have a hot water tank or combi, it depends which kit you want based on that.

It's a combi

eddyc · 26 Nov 2018 at 19:20

Gone for Wiser. £305 including the termostat and 5 radiator valves. Will see how it goes. thanks for the help!

TheOtherOption · 26 Nov 2018 at 19:52

We swapped out our old Honeywell unit for a Salus IT500 smart thermostat and are loving it!

Being able to check temperatures and change the hot water and heating remotely is so handy

Cost about £90!