Smart Home Heating Help please

ping8781

ping8781

ping8781

Associate
Joined
30 Apr 2013
Posts
286
Location
West Sussex
Hi all,


After a bit of ‘Smart Home’ help.

We are in a rented 2 bed flat with electric only, no gas whatsoever ☹
Currently have a number of Google Homes (3), Hue bulbs and motion sensor, Harmony remote and hub and a smart plug.

We currently have electric ceiling heating and safe to say it’s rubbish. After 4 years of trying to get it to work efficiently we have given up with it and it’s massive electric bills.

We are now using a couple of oil filled radiators to heat our flat (2x2.5Kw). So far it’s working out well and using far less electricity than the ceiling heating.

Fortunately the flat is very well insulated as a result of having the ceiling heating.

We are currently using a normal standalone digital thermometer on the sideboard to gauge room temperature and then either use the mechanical timer on the oil radiator or just turn it on/off manually if we are home if we feel it is hot enough/cold in the rooms.

I would like to make it much smarter so we can schedule the ‘heating’ to come on/off more accurately (day/time) than the oil radiator timer but also better control based on room temperature.

My thoughts are that if I can get a ‘smart’ Wi-Fi thermometer / thermostat and link it with IFTTT or similar to a smart plug then we can effectively make a ‘normal’ heating system in the rooms.

If temp is below X, turn on smart plug. If temp is above Y turn off smart plug but only between times A and B in the morning and C and D in the evening etc.

Can anyone advise on an IFTTT or similar compatible ‘smart’ thermometer / thermostat? Or is there another way I haven’t considered.

Many thanks
 
You can use IFTTT to trigger a smart plug upon a specified temperature being reached - there's 'Weather Underground' which is a service you can set your location up and it should get your local temperature. This probably wouldn't be as accurate as a hardware based solution though, Netamo do a weather type station but can be quite costly.

Also you might find it tricky getting it to turn off if above a certain temperature whilst being between certain times. (IFTTT is a bit fiddly to get to work with multiple criteria).

I think the best way of doing this would be to set the smart plug up with a schedule, to turn the heating on/off at your desired times (just as a normal heating system would work). And then have an IFTTT trigger to switch the heating on when current temp dips below X degrees. Just need to decide whether you use a weather based app to collect the outdoor temps, or whether you purchase hardware to do this.
 
Many thanks. I am on a budget but happy to buy hardware if required and it'll do what I need. I can certainly appreciate a small outlay will pay me back over time if it saves on electric usage. I would certainly prefer internal temp monitoring over a weather service for accuracy but certainly a good idea to split the load and let the plug do the scheduling.
 
Ooooo yes, could be a good option, will investigate. Thank you

edit: Would be good to know if there is also an option that uses a 'standard' smart plug so it could be overridden via Google Home app or voice if required.
 
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