I couldn't find any concrete evidence that it was properly modulating and supported opentherm
Smart thermostat for new (old) house
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It's likely you'd never make back the cost of re-plumbing the hot water system to get rid of the tank. Not to mention, you'd have to go back to a tank if you ever got a heat pump in the future. I'd personally spend the money on a modern hot water tank and system boiler and leave the rest as-is.
I'm not against doing that, I just didn't know it was the way to go now.
It does make sense for future proofing to keep it that way, plus being able to use solar too.
Is that not pretty damn good, better than most people will achieve?
Sorry for going off topic, OP.
The Tado X that OP mentioned is opentherm compatible. I think it’s the older ones where some were and some weren’t.
Interesting you mentioned about OEM controls, a lot of the YT plumbing channels are saying go manufacturer controls now.
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Soldato
WB 24Ri
Gas modulation yes, Opentherm No.
Gas modulation reacts to boiler temperature, Opentherm reacts to house temperature.
There are various control methods from various manufacturers, you really need a site survey from a professional, and then a chat about what you would like to do in your house.
I fitted an Atag boiler for a friend last month, weather compensation at the boiler & a Nest smart thermostat over Opentherm. A nice setup, that ticked all the boxes, will modulate down to 5KW, and it was nice to see the Nest app access DHW (Combi) control over the Opentherm connection.
Reasonably standard for anything post-2007.
Thanks for explaining the modulation and opentherm terms, it makes more sense now!
I will get someone to come and do a survey at some point, but we have just moved in, and I can't afford a new boiler at the moment. So I don't want to waste anyone's time. For now, I just want a bit more control over the current system and to save me some pennies for the rest of the winter.
It's not.
But does modulate to a point, but like modern CPUs, it gets up to temp quickly then will turn the gas down to try and maintain temperature, but for reasons mentioned in previous posts they don't work as well as they could.
Anyhoo, back to your question, the Drayton wiser will suit your current needs perfectly and as you update the house and change things, you may want to go under floor heating in the kitchen at some point who knows but the Drayton can grow with you.
Drayton are taking over the market that the Honeywell evohome held as residio seemed to have slowed development right down and have reduced availability and raised prices considerably.
In 2020 I had a new boiler fitted just as COVID hit, I got the evohome, and ever since I regretted the purchase as the Drayton got better, Honeywell changed to residio and prices went through the roof.
Yep - I dropped a massive clanger here. Paid 7.5k IIRC for my heating system overhaul and opted for Hive, so they used a cheapie Danfoss wiring center. Done myself out of proper weather comp etc... Probably gave the plumber a £400 bonus inadvertently
The OP heating set-up sounds somewhat similar to mine. Basically the controller has 2 channels, 1 for hot-water, 1 for heating. The separate thermostat controls the heating, but not the hot water.
The problem i see with just changing the thermostat for a digital/wireless one, is that it will not be able to control the hot water, that will still be controlled by the existing controller. In my case, when I looked at it, it appeared the least work solution was to replace the CONTROLLER, and put wireless controlled valves on the radiators and simply bypass the old room thermostat.
Didn't get round to doing the above.
The problem i see with just changing the thermostat for a digital/wireless one, is that it will not be able to control the hot water, that will still be controlled by the existing controller. In my case, when I looked at it, it appeared the least work solution was to replace the CONTROLLER, and put wireless controlled valves on the radiators and simply bypass the old room thermostat.
Didn't get round to doing the above.
can you get controllers that would keep the boiler running and just divert heat into the tank when the hysteresis of the heated zone dictates switching off (to some degree offsets limited boiler modulation)
Also at the point where I update radiator valves I'm after picv ones, to automatically balance room flows,
rather than investing in (dumb digital on/off) trv valves, and then manually turn individual rooms on/off if required.
Also at the point where I update radiator valves I'm after picv ones, to automatically balance room flows,
rather than investing in (dumb digital on/off) trv valves, and then manually turn individual rooms on/off if required.
Hive, Tado and I think wiser can all control heating as well as hot water. You just need to buy the right one.
The problem I have is, if I go with Tado, they only offer a wireless one for Tado X which controls hot water too. But I have a wired thermostat. Don't know if that matters or not?!
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The wireless one will have a receiver which would then get wired into the system - it'll just make the original wire redundant
EDIT: Just to add, if you were willing a drop a little extra cash and get a modern hot water tank too, it's likely it'd come with a slight rejig of pipes allowing for a modern boiler that will do load and/or weather-compensated flow temperatures for radiators (lower temp = more steady heating, more efficiency, more comfort etc) and PDHW (priority domestic hot water) which would then increase the flow temperature up to 60-65ºC to the hot water tank only to top it off, then go back to heating the radiators at the lower temp.
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The wireless one will have a receiver which would then get wired into the system - it'll just make the original wire redundant
EDIT: Just to add, if you were willing a drop a little extra cash and get a modern hot water tank too, it's likely it'd come with a slight rejig of pipes allowing for a modern boiler that will do load and/or weather-compensated flow temperatures for radiators (lower temp = more steady heating, more efficiency, more comfort etc) and PDHW (priority domestic hot water) which would then increase the flow temperature up to 60-65ºC to the hot water tank only to top it off, then go back to heating the radiators at the lower temp.
Great, thanks!
I think getting a decent hot water tank and new boiler is the way to go it seems. Or do you mean get a better hot water tank now, and change boiler later?
I was told heat pumps use vented tanks, not unvented like with a system boiler.
Yeah, but you were musing about changing the thermostat, on mine that has zero to do with the hot water, and there are no wires into/out of it that allow the hot water to be controlled there. You'll need to change the CONTROLLER to a wireless one, not change the thermostat. And then whether you keep the thermostat is another thing to consider. I assume the wireless controller includes a thermostat, but that'll be reading the temp whereever that is located, not the temp where your current thermostat is located.
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I got the tado x wireless starter kit with hot water which seems to have a setup guide for my controller, so hopefully I'll be good to go. I will find out when it arrives in a day or so.
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