Upgrade existing heating to Smart Control

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  • mylesm
    Automated Home Guru
    • Nov 2015
    • 153

    Upgrade existing heating to Smart Control

    Hello

    I am new here first post so hello to everyone and thanks for the forum some great reading here

    In my house I currently have 3 heating zones which are controlled by 3 Siemens REV24RF Wireless Stats which are bound to 3 Relay boxes which drive Potterton Myson zone valves for each zone and then limits on Valve fulfill call for heat on Boiler


    Basically any Valve open boiler fires all Valves closed Boiler off Valves open and close on Stat Setpoint

    This has Worked very well for last number of years Stats are set at 21c in Living areas and 19 in Bedroom Zone and I never have to adjust Siemens Stats are really Good, PID and optimum start

    I wanted to upgrade to get control on smartphone app but when I investigated its really difficult to get a system that supports 3 wireless Zones

    I dont want to go the full Smart Radiator Valve on each Rad as what I have with the 3 Zones works great House is always comfortable and Gas Bills are modest so paying out big money makes no sense as my margin for saving is low

    I want to be able to control 3 zones remotely The Honeywell Gateway only supports 2 wireless Stats I Think I can Get Evohome controller and 3 wireless stats and relays and set them up as zone actuators will this allow me remote access to 3 zones with full control over each

    I was also looking at Zwave Controller and 3 stats but to be honest I am not sure if anyone knows of a way to achieve what I want with minimum disturbance as I say what I have works great

    Thanks A Lot

    Mylesm
  • electronicsuk
    Automated Home Sr Member
    • Sep 2015
    • 55

    #2
    Three T87RF/BDR91 packs and the evohome controller should do it, but it's still an expensive proposition to only gain web based control. How many radiators do you have? If it isn't many, you might be better spending your money on HR92s.

    Comment

    • mylesm
      Automated Home Guru
      • Nov 2015
      • 153

      #3
      Originally posted by electronicsuk View Post
      Three T87RF/BDR91 packs and the evohome controller should do it, but it's still an expensive proposition to only gain web based control. How many radiators do you have? If it isn't many, you might be better spending your money on HR92s.
      Thanks for that I have 10 Rads split into 3 Zones with zone valves

      I also thought of 3 stats and relays and evocontroller but I need someone to confirm if the controller can handle 3 Stats I know the Orignal Gateway could only handle 2 Wireless stats

      But am i right in saying evohome controller would act as 1 stat and I would need 2 more for the other zones cant seem to find info on this

      All I want to do is make existing 3 Zones smart but it seems very few systems allow more than 2 Zone valve controls I might have to go the road of a Z wave Controller

      Comment

      • mylesm
        Automated Home Guru
        • Nov 2015
        • 153

        #4
        Originally posted by electronicsuk View Post
        Three T87RF/BDR91 packs and the evohome controller should do it, but it's still an expensive proposition to only gain web based control. How many radiators do you have? If it isn't many, you might be better spending your money on HR92s.
        Thanks Again

        Just a question how do people Find the Temp sensing on the HR92 valves I always found TRVs to be very inaccurate at measuring as their position is normally not the best either too close to floor or in draughts so the other way is to have a room stat bound to the rad valve but this would be extremely expensive for each room

        If I could switch 3 zone valves with remote access I would be sorted

        Comment

        • Fursty Ferret
          Automated Home Sr Member
          • Oct 2014
          • 84

          #5
          Temp sensing on the HR92 is spot on in my experience.

          Comment

          • electronicsuk
            Automated Home Sr Member
            • Sep 2015
            • 55

            #6
            Pretty sure you can have a T87RF for every zone (so up to 12) with evo. As far as the controller is concerned, it doesn't care whether the temp sensor is a HR92 or a T87RF. The limit you mention with the gateway doesn't apply - the new evo system doesn't have a separate gateway, and even on the older system, as I understand it, the only device the gateway actually connects to is the evo controller.

            Comment

            • Rameses
              Industry Expert
              • Nov 2014
              • 446

              #7
              Thanks all for the replies - Mylesm - as all the post say - you can have a sensor per rad if you wanted. You can even have each rad operate independently under a single zone (multi room setting in evohome).

              If you want remote control for 3 zones - evohome is a good choice. Or you could buy 3 x SZT, but you would need 3 gateways, so not economical.
              getconnected.honeywell.com | I work for Honeywell. Any posts I make are purely to help if I can. Any personal views expressed are my own

              Comment

              • mylesm
                Automated Home Guru
                • Nov 2015
                • 153

                #8
                Originally posted by Rameses View Post
                Thanks all for the replies - Mylesm - as all the post say - you can have a sensor per rad if you wanted. You can even have each rad operate independently under a single zone (multi room setting in evohome).

                If you want remote control for 3 zones - evohome is a good choice. Or you could buy 3 x SZT, but you would need 3 gateways, so not economical.
                Thanks For reply this is where it gets confusing for me I see Honeywell sell a 2 Zone Solution which has 2 SZT and One Gateway So For 3 Zones is it possible to have 2 SZT on one Gateway and 1 SZT on another therby needing 2 Gateways

                I was really looking to make what I have smart ie control heating from app but its looking like it would not be worth it as what I have with the 3 siemens stats and 3 Zone Vlvs works very well all my ZOnes control to +/- 0.5 degrees

                I might look at remote control relays just to wire across the time clock for each zone

                If anyone has any other idea please let me know

                Thanks for replies
                myles

                Comment

                • mylesm
                  Automated Home Guru
                  • Nov 2015
                  • 153

                  #9
                  Just came across this looks like it might work to automate my 3 zones



                  mylesm

                  Comment

                  • electronicsuk
                    Automated Home Sr Member
                    • Sep 2015
                    • 55

                    #10
                    Originally posted by mylesm View Post
                    Just came across this looks like it might work to automate my 3 zones

                    http://www.fibarouk.co.uk/boiler-con...o-dual-relays/
                    Sounds like it would work, if all you want is on/off control. However, in your original post, you spoke about full control over each zone. That, to me, suggests that you should be able to remotely monitor the zone and change setpoints. For that, you need evohome or a similar system. Equally, I suppose you could buy three Nest thermostats and fit one per zone.

                    Whatever you choose, doing the job properly is going to require some capital outlay. What are you actually hoping to achieve? If all you want to do is turn your heating off if you've accidentally left it on while away from the house, for example, then perhaps some basic home automation would better suit your application?

                    Comment

                    • mylesm
                      Automated Home Guru
                      • Nov 2015
                      • 153

                      #11
                      Originally posted by electronicsuk View Post
                      Sounds like it would work, if all you want is on/off control. However, in your original post, you spoke about full control over each zone. That, to me, suggests that you should be able to remotely monitor the zone and change setpoints. For that, you need evohome or a similar system. Equally, I suppose you could buy three Nest thermostats and fit one per zone.

                      Whatever you choose, doing the job properly is going to require some capital outlay. What are you actually hoping to achieve? If all you want to do is turn your heating off if you've accidentally left it on while away from the house, for example, then perhaps some basic home automation would better suit your application?
                      Thanks for reply I really want to be able to switch on off heating remotely as I say in my op my current system works very well and I couldnt tell you when I last adjusted setpoint we leave living areas at 21c and bedrooms 19c and it holds that great , I dont really have any problem with capital outlay but I dont really think I need to go the full blown automatic everything as I say and I am not really sure which way to go and its hard to get good info and I was thinking now that Fibaro HCL would give me on/off initally but as its Zwave I could add on later but I am not sure what the Fibaro HCL is like is it reliable etc

                      I could go the road of individual Honeywell Stats but again confusion reigns some people say I need a gateway for each stat so for 3 stats 3 gateways but I see Honeywell sell a kit with 2 Stats and one gateway as a multi-zone system

                      And then I could go Evo home but I dont think I would gain anything with that as my system is good as it is so thats where I am

                      mylesm

                      Comment

                      • top brake
                        Automated Home Legend
                        • Feb 2015
                        • 837

                        #12
                        evohome wifi connected pack

                        Y87RF2024 x 3

                        perfect application for evohome - bind using 'zone valve' application type

                        you can either have a boiler relay or continue with the existing orange wires to fire the appliance
                        I work for Resideo, posts are personal and my own views.

                        Comment

                        • mylesm
                          Automated Home Guru
                          • Nov 2015
                          • 153

                          #13
                          Well I bit the Bullet and bought a Vera Edge cost £98 and 3 Hortzmann Zwave Stats £58 Each and used these to replace existing stats these can control heating valves directly and also through Vera so if internet down Heating still works

                          It was easy to set up and works well I have full control with my tablet or phone both at home and outside via wifi or 4G
                          The advantage of Vera to me is it allows me to add extra Zwave Devices if I wish and there are lots of devices

                          I also was not happy with Honeywell Tech Support as on two occasions I was told that the Gateway could only be bound to one stat but this is wrong it can support 2 stats

                          So for me the Zwave is great and you can also add Zwave TRVs and control them as well via Vera

                          Mylesm

                          Comment

                          • mylesm
                            Automated Home Guru
                            • Nov 2015
                            • 153

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Rameses View Post
                            Thanks all for the replies - Mylesm - as all the post say - you can have a sensor per rad if you wanted. You can even have each rad operate independently under a single zone (multi room setting in evohome).

                            If you want remote control for 3 zones - evohome is a good choice. Or you could buy 3 x SZT, but you would need 3 gateways, so not economical.
                            This is an indicaton of where confusion reigns for me A honeywell expert telling me I would need 3xSZT and 3 Gateways but Honeywell sell a multizone SZT pack with 2 Stats and one Gateway

                            Because of the poor advise I decided to go a different route and went Zwave and it is working really well up and running approx one month now with no problems

                            Comment

                            • Caesium
                              Automated Home Jr Member
                              • Oct 2015
                              • 13

                              #15
                              Originally posted by mylesm View Post
                              Well I bit the Bullet and bought a Vera Edge cost £98 and 3 Hortzmann Zwave Stats £58 Each and used these to replace existing stats these can control heating valves directly and also through Vera so if internet down Heating still works
                              Which valves are you controlling with these stats please?

                              Comment

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