Oil central heating thermostat - recommendations?

TheVoice · 13 Jan 2015 at 12:48

Asking on behalf of my parents here. They're getting a new boiler installed within the next couple of months as the current one is at the end of its life. With that, I've suggested they get a new thermostat.

They currently have a wireless Honeywell one which can do some reasonably clever things but overall it's quite poor; it loses signal with the boiler control unit a lot (but won't tell you) which then puts the boiler into 'emergency mode' whereby it just runs whenever it likes, often at random times overnight. It also turns the boiler on and off frequently (e.g. it'll run for a few minutes, then turn off, then a few minutes later come on again) to maintain the set temperature. My Mum is home most of the time so there's no issue with the heating running throughout the day but I'm not convinced it's doing so very efficiently which means it's costing them money and probably putting more wear and tear on the boiler by turning it on and off so often.

I intend to look into Nest and Hive to see if that would suit their needs though it may be a bit too techy for them. Anyone have any alternative recommendations?

neil3k · 13 Jan 2015 at 17:36

as far as I'm aware and I'm possibly wrong but nest and hive dont work with oil fired stuff

-Ad- · 13 Jan 2015 at 21:49

Tado along with the extension box.

We're up in the same area south of the city and have used one for the past few months. Our boiler is in the garage so it was a pain walking through the house and into there to adjust the timer, so teh extension box replaced the 3 times a day timer, you plug the comms box into your router, then put the wireless thermostat where you want (has an internal battery so no need for a mains connections). Everything then communicates wirelessly.

Forget about worrying whether it turns on and off, that's what a boiler is meant to do. Use the Tado and enjoy a simple and effective heating controller.

It can either be rented for a year or bought outright. If you rent it for the year and decide to buy after this period, then the 1st year's rental will get knocked off the purchase price.

TheVoice · 15 Jan 2015 at 14:11

Thanks, I'll give that one a look and pass it along for them to look at. Presumably you program it via the phone app?

Minstadave · 15 Jan 2015 at 14:27

neil3k said:
as far as I'm aware and I'm possibly wrong but nest and hive dont work with oil fired stuff

Hive works but BG won't install it themselves.

midville · 15 Jan 2015 at 17:08

Oil here and I have TADO, really impressed so far. The only slight glitch is the Apple Phone software 'location' doesn't update as often as Android, that's the wife.

Really like TADO and would recommend it

TheVoice · 28 Jan 2015 at 19:47

Had a look at Tado but I don't think it's quite right for them. My mum's at home most of the time and my step-dad will be taking early retirement soon so there'll be at least someone home more often than not, which seems to render Tado's main benefit a bit redundant.

Anyone got any experience with Honeywell's Evohome? Bit loathed to consider it given the problems they've had with the current Honeywell one but it does at least seem a bit more intelligent and the ability to add to it (e.g. radiator controllers) would be nice as it would mean they could set various areas of the house to get heat at various times of the day.

TomO · 29 Jan 2015 at 08:40

I have an evohome setup on oil. Its a more in depth system then TADO or hive and costs accordingly, but I have a big old property where all the rooms dont have necessarily the right size radiators in and also underfloor heating now in some rooms, so I needed to be able to control each room. had it 6 months and it works great.