Which remote heating control system?

[broona]

I'm looking at getting Hive, Nest, Wiser, etc installed, but looking for some advice before I choose one.

We've got a reasonably new Baxi combi boiler, but no external heating controls or thermostat, only the controls on the boiler itself, it was initially set up with a thermostatic radiator valve on each radiator, but quite a few of them seem to have stopped working.

Can anyone advise on which system would be best please? Cheers.

 

[topgun06]

The TRVs have stopped working how? Not allowing the valve to open enough? Valve stuck permanently open? Not opening at all?

They're something you will need to fix at some point.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Sometimes the pins stick, particularly if they are never adjusted. Its worth giving them a good wiggle and potentially taking the top off and seeing if the pin moves up and down freely with a little help.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Super large guide here, handy to know you way around one

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/thermostatic-radiator-valves.htm

 

[broona]

I want a way of remotely controlling the heating anyway, I've just turned the valves up to maximum and taken them off for now, they don't seem to open at all without me prompting them, I can always look at replacing them later depending which system I install.

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

We've had Nest now for a few months. Works well, does what I want and the app is very user friendly. The build quality of it is top notch. Doddle to install too.

Oh and it woks with the Amazon Echos around the house so I don't even have the struggle of adjusting the heating with the app

 

[task]

This partly depends on how much you want to spend and how your house is configured...

I installed Nest for a few months and it was a nice piece of kit but didn't really work for our property, now using an Evohome which is working very well and allows me to zone each room.

 

[Firestar_3x]

Installed a wiser system a few days ago, currently testing with 6 trvs, one thermostat over 3 rooms and hot water control, first impressions are very positive, will expand to cover the rest of the house over the next few weeks.

 

[dmsims]

Evohome

Wiser is immature and there are lots of issues

Nest, Hive, Tado etc are just pretty toys IMHO

 

[McB]

Had Evohome installed in last house after an issue with a cold room and it was awesome, really good room by room zoning however the app was a bit clunky. It is costly, but we didn't pay for it last time (builder issue) - I miss it a lot but we have just bought a Nest to try out in new place to replace a really old programmer (it just has one zone) - I can feel an Evohome investment coming next autumn for some of the cooler rooms. The guy who installed said Drayton Wiser all the way for cost (and ease of install for him!).

 

[broona]

Thanks for the replies. We're just in a reasonably small 2 bedroom, 150yr old corner house, 2 radiators in the living room, none in the small galley kitchen, 1 at the bottom of the stairs, 1 at the top, 2 in the main bedroom, 1 in the smaller bedroom, and 1 towel rail in the bathroom.

I'm really just looking for a simple way to remotely control the heating, rather than doing it directly on the combi boiler, a standard remote looks to be around £100, so for a few quid more I think the flexibility of an app controlled system would be better.

 

[Lingy]

I recently moved and and installed Nest thermostats and protect. It's so easy to use and learns your daily routines meaning you adjust manually less over time. It doesn't control each room individually so TRVs are still useful to balance the heat between rooms. Once you get that right then no need to mess around. I also had some TRVs stuck on full which I managed to fix as mentioned in previous post.