Smart themostats and electric central heating

eddyc

eddyc

eddyc

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13 Nov 2009
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1,107
Hi all,

tl;dr - looking for info on modern smart central heating and water. Info on here or reccomendations for companies / tradesmen in London very welcome.


I've just moved into a new flat and am currently doing some renovations / changes. There is no mains gas supply to the flat so all heating is electric.

It's a small 1 bed flat so the current set up is:

- central heating done by 3 electric radiators
- electric immersion heater in water tank for hot water
- dimplex thermostat controlling both hot water and central heating

I've got a few issues with the current setup:

- the electric radiators are really plasticy and ugly.
- the thermostat is programmable but doesn't have any modern 'smart' features
- there is no control over the heated towel rail in the bathroom. It's currently either on or off, controlled by a switch.

I'm wondering if anyone can give me some guidance on my options? Obviously I've seen the adverts for Nest / Hive etc but there seem to be some limitations. Apparently Hive doesn't like electric radiators for example.

I'd love to have a setup where I can control the heating from my phone or where it turns on automatically with location detection. But the smart thermostat companies seem to mostly assume that you are happy with the rest of your heating system and have no guidance on what electric radiators might be compatible etc.

My main concern is keeping the energy usage as low as possible given that electricity is quite a bit more expensive than gas. I imagine that clever management of the hot water tank will make the most difference to bills. I'm living on my own so there's really no need to keep a huge tank of water hot all the time.

If people don't know the options themselves can anyone recommend an electrician or heating engineer in London that might be able to do some of the work / talk about the options?

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
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Bump

Anyone got any thoughts. If no specific knowledge then does anyone know of a company or person (heating engineer etc) who does this kind of thing?
 
Depends on what you want Hive, nest etc will only be rated for 3A max as its designed for boilers only

If you want hot water and heating control then you could use a hive and use the heating output to switch relay for the heaters. Just leave heaters set to be on all the time and let the hive/relay turn the power to them on/off etc

Need a sparky to take a look really to see how they are wired atm - if wired together no problem like economy 7 on old storage heater circuits then should be easy but if all wired from the ring then will be a a bit tricky / may need wiring altering etc

Also if you want to turn the heater on individually then hive/nest etc cant do that would need proper home automation gear lightwaverf or something etc need control hub and switchable sockets / spurs for the heaters

Ps. Maybe some of the elec heater firms are doing smart control now? worth a look then just replace the heaters themselves?
 
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Thanks for the reply. I guess I need to call a few electricians and see who is up to date on this stuff. The guy I used for other work was really good but didn't know much about heating.

I've got a bit more info on the current set up. I think this might help explain. I believe the thermostat control that is there currently is already controlling the heaters in the way that you suggest the Nest could do. The system is:

Dimplex RXPW4 wall mounted programmer

Dimplex EPX Panel Heaters

Stelflow 120L Cylinder

Thanks for your help.
 
I don't think you could replace the programmer with nest etc because i would guess it might not be a simple on/off signal but maybe a propitiatory pulse or signal because the heaters appear to be able to switch between 4 modes, so simple on or off signal a nest would give might not work, also appears 240v on is the off signal for the heaters so would be arse about face etc

Think the best bet is still lighwaverf or other remote sockets / spurs and set the heaters to permanently on but not sure if they would work like that if power was interrupted etc maybe they would loose settings or revert to off etc?

Guess lightwave would work with dumb heaters that either have power or not but those you linked have various modes etc might not work just turning them on or off etc

Not sure you are going to be able to do this without significant expense, maybe changing the whole system etc

Might be best to enquire if such a solution exists from the manufacturer then if not just waiting a few years for it to become available rather than jerry rig something
 
Thanks for the reply. I think you are right. I'll get in touch with the people who originally fitted the system and see if they have any thoughts but I'm not in a desperate hurry. I guess we are only just at the start of the development of smart home technologies so in a couple of years more stuff should be available.

It seems to be pretty much fine for now. It's just a shame that the heaters themselves are so ugly. I might consider boxing them in...

Anyway. Thanks for all your help. I'd not heard of LightwaveRF before. Looks very cool.
 
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