I thought it may be tidier to put this in a new thread.
January 2015, after a complete rebind of everything as per instructions I tried optimisation, letting it run for three weeks to learn. I was unimpressed. I set it for no more than one hour. It always came on just under an hour before the set time, little regard for how long it took a room to warm up. One room is comfortable to be in after about 15 minutes and would be up to temperature in 30 minutes or so. Never needing an hour. Another took longer. Optimisation off had the rooms too cool too quickly. I abandoned it.
Recently I upgraded my control panel to the new WiFi one and the firmware therein is the latest. I decided to try optimisation again.
It has run now for three weeks. It comes on about 58 minutes before the set point no matter what room is being heated. Some rooms take longer or shorter times to reach set point but in the three weeks optimisation has not learned that, it just comes on 58 minutes ahead. If I watch the control panel it tells me optimisation has clicked in 60 minutes before but there is always an approximate two minute delay before the boiler starts.
I still found that the same room was up to temperature in no more than 40 minutes and certainly comfortable in 15 minutes. This morning for example my living room is set to 20C to come on at 06:30 on a Saturday and Sunday. Optimisation switched it on at 05:30. The start temperature was 16.5C. Within 15 minutes I am at 19.1c as per a room stat whilst the TRV says its 18c (it actually reads 17c but I have allowed for the fact the TRVs in my living room have a -1c compensation dialed in). The room is 20.5C after precisely 26 minutes. Not the 60 optimisation thinks it needs. Optimisation in the three weeks it has been running has not seemed to have learned.
Another room though barely got there.
However, optimisation off seems better. It does not have rooms cooling down so quickly as it did a year ago.
For me optimisation still does seem a waste of energy but I am going to leave it on and simply change the set points in the rooms to be heated by advancing the start time, i.e. a room set to come on at 07:00 I will change to 08:00 knowing that optimisation will actually start heating it at 07:00. I may as well do this for perhaps the longer it is running it just may be the more it will learn.
What it has shown is that I have two rooms where the radiators are undersized. Plus a third radiator could do with being replaced. It had also highlighted the fact, often debated in the forum, that the TRV will think the set temperature for the room has been reached when it hasn't, it is affected by its proximity to the radiator, and even though I understand it is designed to sense the rising air current beneath it, it is influenced by the radiator heat such that it tells the boiler to cut out but the room has not reached the set temperature. Usually the room is about 2c lower. After time it does get there. As a consequence in one room I have done a -1c compensation on the TRVs and that has helped. What I find now is a separate stat at waist height toward the middle of the room shows a higher temperature than the TRV.
I know I could buy the freestanding portable thermostat and that would cure the problem of the TRV not getting the temperature right during warm up time, but it is a lot of thermostats to buy for each room! Plus I would get quite a bit of earache about all the thermostats fastened to the walls around the house!
It would be nice if the app showed optimisation was running as it does on the control panel plus be able to edit the quick action menus from the app and select quick actions to run for a few hours as opposed to 24. I know, all said before elsewhere in the forum.
January 2015, after a complete rebind of everything as per instructions I tried optimisation, letting it run for three weeks to learn. I was unimpressed. I set it for no more than one hour. It always came on just under an hour before the set time, little regard for how long it took a room to warm up. One room is comfortable to be in after about 15 minutes and would be up to temperature in 30 minutes or so. Never needing an hour. Another took longer. Optimisation off had the rooms too cool too quickly. I abandoned it.
Recently I upgraded my control panel to the new WiFi one and the firmware therein is the latest. I decided to try optimisation again.
It has run now for three weeks. It comes on about 58 minutes before the set point no matter what room is being heated. Some rooms take longer or shorter times to reach set point but in the three weeks optimisation has not learned that, it just comes on 58 minutes ahead. If I watch the control panel it tells me optimisation has clicked in 60 minutes before but there is always an approximate two minute delay before the boiler starts.
I still found that the same room was up to temperature in no more than 40 minutes and certainly comfortable in 15 minutes. This morning for example my living room is set to 20C to come on at 06:30 on a Saturday and Sunday. Optimisation switched it on at 05:30. The start temperature was 16.5C. Within 15 minutes I am at 19.1c as per a room stat whilst the TRV says its 18c (it actually reads 17c but I have allowed for the fact the TRVs in my living room have a -1c compensation dialed in). The room is 20.5C after precisely 26 minutes. Not the 60 optimisation thinks it needs. Optimisation in the three weeks it has been running has not seemed to have learned.
Another room though barely got there.
However, optimisation off seems better. It does not have rooms cooling down so quickly as it did a year ago.
For me optimisation still does seem a waste of energy but I am going to leave it on and simply change the set points in the rooms to be heated by advancing the start time, i.e. a room set to come on at 07:00 I will change to 08:00 knowing that optimisation will actually start heating it at 07:00. I may as well do this for perhaps the longer it is running it just may be the more it will learn.
What it has shown is that I have two rooms where the radiators are undersized. Plus a third radiator could do with being replaced. It had also highlighted the fact, often debated in the forum, that the TRV will think the set temperature for the room has been reached when it hasn't, it is affected by its proximity to the radiator, and even though I understand it is designed to sense the rising air current beneath it, it is influenced by the radiator heat such that it tells the boiler to cut out but the room has not reached the set temperature. Usually the room is about 2c lower. After time it does get there. As a consequence in one room I have done a -1c compensation on the TRVs and that has helped. What I find now is a separate stat at waist height toward the middle of the room shows a higher temperature than the TRV.
I know I could buy the freestanding portable thermostat and that would cure the problem of the TRV not getting the temperature right during warm up time, but it is a lot of thermostats to buy for each room! Plus I would get quite a bit of earache about all the thermostats fastened to the walls around the house!
It would be nice if the app showed optimisation was running as it does on the control panel plus be able to edit the quick action menus from the app and select quick actions to run for a few hours as opposed to 24. I know, all said before elsewhere in the forum.
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