Evohome - two pumps

[alen]

Hi there,

I've been thinking of getting evohome but I have a question - can it control two pumps?

I have three floors and each of them has its own pump. Pump no1 is controlled by thermostat in ground floor and pumps no2 and no3 are controlled by thermostat in 1st floor. Since both pumps stop working when set temperature is reached in 1st floor, 2nd floor never heats up enough (2-3 degrees lower than in 1st floor).

Could I set up evohome in a way that if a radiator in 2nd floor would request hot water, only the pump for said floor wold turn up? Running both pumps would be a waste I guess.
I wasn't the one who set this up nor do I know much about how all of this works, but I'd like to set up the system to work most efficiently as it can.

Here is a picture of the pumps I talk about.

https://imgur.com/gallery/2Ztjl

Thanks in advance

[originaltwist]

Hi Alen, Hard to make a considered reply without more info but it sounds as though an investigation of the wiring of the stats would be a good starting point.... might they be interconnected as a workaround to get the boiler called for example e.g. does stat one call the boiler + pump1 and liven up the other stat?

[paulockenden]

With Evohome it might make sense to reduce the complexity of the plumbing and just have a single pump.

How many radiators do you have on each of those three floors?

[sandyman]

having looked at your picture it looks could be part of a pretty substantive system that is different from the typical domestic. So suggest you will get better answers if you can draw up a diagram of your system, hydronically (i.e. the logical wet layout, where the pumps and valves are) and electrically (what switches what), present that and then you may get more useful info. As you say "I don't know much about how all of this works", you may well need to do some experimentation to figure out which bit makes which other bit go. If thats over your head then call in a pro.

cheers
Ian

[eddiecallaghan]

Hi Alen,

I have a system with 5 pumps:

- Hot Water
- Under Floor Zone 1
- Zone 2
- Zone 3
- Zone 4

I ended up getting 4 base stations/relay combos and then the Hot water kit. I had a control relay on the system that controlled the boiler and pumps based on inputs from standard timer/thermostats in the various zones. I replaced the original wall controllers in the various rooms with the Evo Home controllers and then installed the 5 Evo Home relays in boiler room connected to the existing relay. I had to space the replays out from each other and the tanks to avoid interference as they were slow to react when placed neatly on top of each other. They only connect to the relay ad tell it to switch on or off. The relay then tells boiler and pump to switch on.

It was expensive to install as I needed 3 controller sets plus a shed load of TRV's but paid for itself in 3 - 5 months. The main issues was the fact the plumber had no idea on system and said he would not touch electrics so a Spark did the install once TRV's were added. I then set up the Evo Home rad controllers.

[alen]

Hey guys,

thanks for the replies.
I think i'll have to set it up as eddiecallaghan said, with 2 base stations in my case.

I have a few more questions; would my pumps (the ones in the picture) work fine or do I have to get something like this (http://media.builderdepot.co.uk/medi...e-pump-2e5.jpg), so it can handle water pressure better? I heard that the pumps I have will pump the water with too much pressure when only 1 TVR is active.

And secondly, do any of you have it set up so that the system turns off when you leave home?

[paulockenden]

And secondly, do any of you have it set up so that the system turns off when you leave home?

Yup - I do that via SmartThings (the official integration still isn't ready yet, but the 3rd party one works fine for this).

I use presence sensing to detect when we've left and then change the heating mode to Eco (suits me better than switching it off).

Presence sensing in SmartThings isn't that great though, so I've asked my alarm company to provide a signal that I can use to detect when the house is alarmed - it'll then use this to do the switching.

P.

[guyank]

Hey guys,

thanks for the replies.
I think i'll have to set it up as eddiecallaghan said, with 2 base stations in my case.

I have a few more questions; would my pumps (the ones in the picture) work fine or do I have to get something like this (http://media.builderdepot.co.uk/medi...e-pump-2e5.jpg), so it can handle water pressure better? I heard that the pumps I have will pump the water with too much pressure when only 1 TVR is active.

And secondly, do any of you have it set up so that the system turns off when you leave home?

I do this with a combination of Life360 and IFTTT. Like Paul I have it go to Eco. There's a pre-made recipe in IFTTT. It would be better to do from a single app and there can be delays, but generally it works pretty well.