Smart thermostat for new (old) house

D-Ranged

D-Ranged

D-Ranged

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We moved to our new to us bungalow, at the end of November. After lots of fixing and getting things sorted, I am now looking at getting a smart thermostat.

Currently, the house has an older system boiler setup. It is a Worcester boiler, estimated to be about 12-15 years old, and a hot water tank In the airing cupboard.

It has a Sunvic Select 207xl controller underneath the boiler on the wall and a thermostat in the hallway.

Currently, it's setup to turn the hot water on in the morning and evening, and the heating is similar. The thermostat in the evening however doesn't seem to make a difference, and the heating seems to just keep blasting on and on, unless I turn it off at the controller.

I have a feeling, out first bill is going to be pretty nasty. I've looked at the settings on the controller and can't really see why it won't turn off via the thermostat in the evening. Also the thermostat dial doesn't seem accurate.

So im looking at getting a smart thermostat. Seemed to have narrowed it down to turn Tado X or Hive.

Id need hot water and heating control. I will upgrade the boiler to a combi at some point next year but I don't know when, so this is the best option to control it for now.

Which one do people recommend. Also, do I need a wireless or wired one? I was getting a little confused by this. Current thermostat is on the wall in the hallway and is wired.
 
A combi isn't an "upgrade", it is just a different type of boiler. When I did my full refurb I opted for an unvented tank and system boiler. My shower is like a jet washer now :)

Combis are typically oversized because they need to drive showers, which makes them pretty inefficient for normal heating duties (low and slow over a long period of time).

Get a thermostat that supports OpenTherm to be fractionally future proof. The Hive isn't. I'm not sure if the Tado X is either - but the earlier EU versions of Tado certainly were.

A mistake I made when I did my new boiler was not getting the proper Vaillant wiring center and Vaillant controller. That would have given proper weather compensation and flow temp modulation. So don't overspend because if you do replace it later on, you may want the OEM controls of whatever you end up with.
 
D-Ranged said:
We moved to our new to us bungalow, at the end of November. After lots of fixing and getting things sorted, I am now looking at getting a smart thermostat.

Currently, the house has an older system boiler setup. It is a Worcester boiler, estimated to be about 12-15 years old, and a hot water tank In the airing cupboard.

It has a Sunvic Select 207xl controller underneath the boiler on the wall and a thermostat in the hallway.

Currently, it's setup to turn the hot water on in the morning and evening, and the heating is similar. The thermostat in the evening however doesn't seem to make a difference, and the heating seems to just keep blasting on and on, unless I turn it off at the controller.

I have a feeling, out first bill is going to be pretty nasty. I've looked at the settings on the controller and can't really see why it won't turn off via the thermostat in the evening. Also the thermostat dial doesn't seem accurate.

So im looking at getting a smart thermostat. Seemed to have narrowed it down to turn Tado X or Hive.

Id need hot water and heating control. I will upgrade the boiler to a combi at some point next year but I don't know when, so this is the best option to control it for now.

Which one do people recommend. Also, do I need a wireless or wired one? I was getting a little confused by this. Current thermostat is on the wall in the hallway and is wired.
Click to expand...
I have Tado (non X) for a couple years. Per room thermostats on a schedule is game changing. Highly recommend.
 
dlockers said:
A combi isn't an "upgrade", it is just a different type of boiler. When I did my full refurb I opted for an unvented tank and system boiler. My shower is like a jet washer now :)

Combis are typically oversized because they need to drive showers, which makes them pretty inefficient for normal heating duties (low and slow over a long period of time).

Get a thermostat that supports OpenTherm to be fractionally future proof. The Hive isn't. I'm not sure if the Tado X is either - but the earlier EU versions of Tado certainly were.

A mistake I made when I did my new boiler was not getting the proper Vaillant wiring center and Vaillant controller. That would have given proper weather compensation and flow temp modulation. So don't overspend because if you do replace it later on, you may want the OEM controls of whatever you end up with.
Click to expand...
Isn't that what newer builds are doing now? I always thought a combi is better, because you are only heating the water you are using, rather than heating water to a tank and then keeping that water hot too?
 
D-Ranged said:
Isn't that what newer builds are doing now? I always thought a combi is better, because you are only heating the water you are using, rather than heating water to a tank and then keeping that water hot too?
Click to expand...
The loss is absolutely negligible. You may have an old vented tank at the moment but newer ones are weapons grade. Mine lives in the attic which is like 4 degrees atm. Plus solar can be diverted to water if you have a tank.

Both have their place but neither are upgrades on each other. Just different solutions
 
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D-Ranged said:
Isn't that what newer builds are doing now? I always thought a combi is better, because you are only heating the water you are using, rather than heating water to a tank and then keeping that water hot too?
Click to expand...
My previous house, new build, had a tank. When we did the boiler on this new house, we also did boiler with tank. Multiple plumbers recommended that to us since we have 2+ showers/baths.
 
dlockers said:
The loss is absolutely negligible. You may have an old vented tank at the moment but newer ones are weapons grade. Mine lives in the attic which is like 4 degrees atm. Plus solar can be diverted to water if you have a tank.

Both have their place but neither are upgrades on each other. Just different solutions
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have an old vented tank in the airing cupboard in the bathroom at the moment, and the gravity tank in the loft. I will look at solar at some point as well but there is so much that needs updating here.

XeNoNF50 said:
My previous house, new build, had a tank. When we did the boiler on this new house, we also did boiler with tank. Multiple plumbers recommended that to us since we have 2+ showers/baths.
Click to expand...
Interesting, so already two votes for boiler and tank. Ill get some quotes for that too then. We only have one bath with shower tap
 
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