New to forum - questions on Evo Home!

[Sew247]

So I've been doing some research and stumbled across this great forum. My situation as follows:

Live in a large 2 storey plus roof conversion Victorian house currently on an old system with cold and hot water tanks and open vented central heating system. Currently on an old potterton gas boiler. Plan to rip it all out and start again as rads are at least 25 years old and boiler grossly inefficient.

Have ruled out Megaflo as I don't think we will have any issues with pressure and can't see us having issues with multiple baths showers running at same time. Probably looking for the biggest combi possible, such as a Worcester Bosch WB42CBI and will do away with hot water tank and come straight off the boiler for hot water.

I originally was planning on zoning the system; splitting into three zones, but thinking the Evo Home might be a good option to save on pipe work, motorised valves etc and possibly work out cheaper with better control.

My main questions:

1) I need Rads for 4x bedrooms, 2x living rooms, hallway and 2x bathrooms. Also need to future proof for underfloor heating in kitchen when I do my extension. My main question is, does it make sense to use the individual Evo home rad valves on all radiators? Or could I have hallway and 2x bathrooms come on all the time when the boiler runs. In effect they would behave like traditional Rads on normal thermostats which could come on with a timer or when any of the other Rads call for heat?

2) The Evo home valves. How efficient are they at detecting temperature drop in large rooms? Is it possible to have a separate temperature sensor in the room which then signals the temperature to the Rad valve? My concern being that they hit temperature and the room is not warm (I guess the solution would be to set a higher temperature in this instance, which means lots of trial and error and tweaking?)

3) Underfloor heating. What Evo Home valve / system do you use for this?

4) Interference / signal issues. I'm in quite a big house and read some people having issues with signals and connectivity; is this a known issue to anyone? I'm planning on having the boiler in the roof on a gable end and would like the control system on the ground floor will this be an issue or can I hard wire from boiler to control panel?

5) System balancing issues. Presumably the engineer can balance the system ok with Evo a Home valves or does it become tricky.

6) Finally, are there any other alternative systems out there or does anyone know of any planned new systems / upgrades to Evo Home which others on here use and would recommend.

Sorry for the long post, but any thoughts / pointers to further information would be greatly appreciated

[JohnnyP]

Evohome is a great retrofit to an existing system. Hometronic was certainly the best I could do without a major refit. However, if you have decided on a complete refit, I would give preference to a control system which did not depend on wireless communication. In my experience, wireless comms, as implemented by Honeywell, produces inexplicable dropouts a handful of times per year.

[top brake]

sounds like a perfect application to fit evohome to, make sure you carry out a signal strength check, install the wireless relays as per the instructions and there will be no reason why the system isn't reliable in your house. Have you considered engaging the services of a Honeywell connected specialist?

responding to your specific questions:

1) you can start off with a few HR92 on the key zones and leave other radiators to heat when the HR92 controlled zones call; but ideally fit HR92 everywhere and you will have full control, best comfort and least waste. It is easy to add/extend later; futureproof for your underfloor extension.

2) for rooms with (e.g. boxed in radiators or long curtains) it is easy to add a wireless thermostat on the wall to measure temperature, this leave the HR92(s) to concentrate on opening the radiator valve

3) The HCC80R underfloor heating controller works with evohome controller and wireless thermostats to control the thermal actuator heads/pump on the manifold for wet underfloor heating.

4) planning and signal strength testing (location) key to a reliable wireless installation

5) balance the system as normal, the HR92 head fits on regular TRV; balancing usually done at the lockshield/manual valve

6) the evohome controller has just been updated and now includes Wi-Fi connectivity to your broadband so no need for a separate gateway