Intelligent boiler/heating systems

JayWuk · 7 Dec 2020 at 09:54

Hey!

We need a new boiler in the next 12 months and I'm looking at our options.

I work from home in a medium sized room downstairs and while working 9-5 I'm heating the entire house which seems like such a waste. Are there any heating systems in place that can help/minimise the wasted/cost?

Semple · 7 Dec 2020 at 10:35

The boiler itself isn't intelligent, you install a smart heating system to go with it, and what you're after are smart TRVs that allow you to individually control the radiators.

Just one thing to bear in mind is that smart TRVs are quite expensive - you're looking at ~£40+ for each radiator. So unless you're living there for quite a few years, they're unlikely to pay you back in terms of the cost. You'll also need them on pretty much every radiator - i.e. there's no point in just having a smart TRV on the radiator you use for your office because that'll require you to switch off all other radiators - defeating the point of smart heating.

JayWuk · 7 Dec 2020 at 10:56

Thanks Semple, that's really useful info

Gav_r26 · 7 Dec 2020 at 11:20

Semple said:
The boiler itself isn't intelligent, you install a smart heating system to go with it, and what you're after are smart TRVs that allow you to individually control the radiators.

Just one thing to bear in mind is that smart TRVs are quite expensive - you're looking at ~£40+ for each radiator. So unless you're living there for quite a few years, they're unlikely to pay you back in terms of the cost. You'll also need them on pretty much every radiator - i.e. there's no point in just having a smart TRV on the radiator you use for your office because that'll require you to switch off all other radiators - defeating the point of smart heating.

I have the Hive ones, and with regard to your point about living there for a while, you can take them with you. Its only the 'head' you get with most so just keep your dumb heads and switch them back when you move.

we've not done ours for cost, more for just having comfortable temperatures in the rooms we want to use at the time we want. Granted that will also save us a bit of money, but it wasn't the driver for buying them.

Semple · 7 Dec 2020 at 12:02

gav_172 said:
I have the Hive ones, and with regard to your point about living there for a while, you can take them with you. Its only the 'head' you get with most so just keep your dumb heads and switch them back when you move.

we've not done ours for cost, more for just having comfortable temperatures in the rooms we want to use at the time we want. Granted that will also save us a bit of money, but it wasn't the driver for buying them.

Yes this is true, you could swap the manual TRVs back in place to carry on using them. I was probably also thinking along the lines of how long they'd last versus money saved from only heating individual rooms, i.e. you might spend an additional £5 a month more to heat your other rooms, if you needed to fit smart TRVs on 10 radiators, you'd be looking at 6.66 years to break even, so if they last that long then great.

But as you say, most people don't buy the smart stuff to save money, it's more for the convenience.

@OP i did see during the BF sales that they were offering multi-packs of smart TRVs which bought the individual cost down quite a bit.

JayWuk · 7 Dec 2020 at 12:13

Thanks. Will keep an eye out, we're in no rush. Are they all compatible with all heating systems or is that another issue I need to be wary of?

Gav_r26 · 7 Dec 2020 at 13:05

JayWuk said:
Thanks. Will keep an eye out, we're in no rush. Are they all compatible with all heating systems or is that another issue I need to be wary of?

The Hive ones really need the Hive thermostat to work best. They only half work without as they cant boost the thermostat if a room drops below the required temperature. They'll just act as more accurate, and programable TRV's else rather than true smart.

Gav_r26 · 7 Dec 2020 at 13:09

Semple said:
Yes this is true, you could swap the manual TRVs back in place to carry on using them. I was probably also thinking along the lines of how long they'd last versus money saved from only heating individual rooms, i.e. you might spend an additional £5 a month more to heat your other rooms, if you needed to fit smart TRVs on 10 radiators, you'd be looking at 6.66 years to break even, so if they last that long then great.

But as you say, most people don't buy the smart stuff to save money, it's more for the convenience.

@OP i did see during the BF sales that they were offering multi-packs of smart TRVs which bought the individual cost down quite a bit.

This is true, but I don't see why they wont go on for a good while. Not a lot too them. Also as you say the key is to pick them up cheap off ebay and in sales. I would never pay the full £54 each for them. Probably averaging about half that with mine. A few bargains and a few on sale but not as cheap.

The bigger cost is batteries. Each one seems to use a pair of AA's a year! AS I say ours were more for getting the temperature balanced across the house as we've a mixture of 1920's house and modern extension so the thermal properties are all over the shop. Can get the whole house within a degree when required now.