So it's goodbye to Evohome/Opentherm, and 19TRVs in 12 Heating Zones: my house sale completes this coming Tuesday. We move into a new build - much smaller - property on Friday which has 3 zones (2 CH and 1 HW) with TRVs on all radiators. The new property has wall and floor insulation; argon-filled DG and an EPC of 87. The heating controls are ESI.
In amongst the stresses of buying and selling, I have been looking carefully at smart heating options. At the outset, let me say that, even after 4 years of Evohome use, my wife is no great fan of smart heating controls. She knows that if I was no longer around, she would struggle even with a simple HR92 battery change. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade her that SiL will only be 20 miles away so the cavalry is close by.
Even if she was to agree, I have yet to convince myself that the sums add up. We will be two senior citizens at home for most of the day with the heating on from 7 to 10pm. Close monitoring of my present system (Atag boiler with OT) shows conclusively that maximum efficiency and lowest cost is achieved by letting the system get up to heat, and then letting it run with no controller; App or HR92 fiddling. In my recent exchange with BRE about EPCs and smart heating controls, it is clear that they do not believe that Evohome offers savings greater than those that can be achieved by turning down TRVs in unused rooms. So in a home the shouldn't cost much to heat, the RoI on smart controls does not really stack up. I will only know when I have monitored usage and cost over a Winter period.
I have enjoyed the 'challenges' of Evohome which at times has been frustrating, and I most certainly have learnt a lot from the knowledgeable posters on this forum: so thank you one and all. So was it all worth it? The answer has to be 'yes'. Over 4 years, a new boiler and Evohome has probably cost me over £4K. We have seen some small savings but not enough to cover the cost of Evohome. That said, I think that a new boiler with 8 1/2 years remaining on the warranty and Evohome was a USP - so, overall, I don't think that I have wasted my money.
I shall of course continue to monitor the forum.
In amongst the stresses of buying and selling, I have been looking carefully at smart heating options. At the outset, let me say that, even after 4 years of Evohome use, my wife is no great fan of smart heating controls. She knows that if I was no longer around, she would struggle even with a simple HR92 battery change. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade her that SiL will only be 20 miles away so the cavalry is close by.
Even if she was to agree, I have yet to convince myself that the sums add up. We will be two senior citizens at home for most of the day with the heating on from 7 to 10pm. Close monitoring of my present system (Atag boiler with OT) shows conclusively that maximum efficiency and lowest cost is achieved by letting the system get up to heat, and then letting it run with no controller; App or HR92 fiddling. In my recent exchange with BRE about EPCs and smart heating controls, it is clear that they do not believe that Evohome offers savings greater than those that can be achieved by turning down TRVs in unused rooms. So in a home the shouldn't cost much to heat, the RoI on smart controls does not really stack up. I will only know when I have monitored usage and cost over a Winter period.
I have enjoyed the 'challenges' of Evohome which at times has been frustrating, and I most certainly have learnt a lot from the knowledgeable posters on this forum: so thank you one and all. So was it all worth it? The answer has to be 'yes'. Over 4 years, a new boiler and Evohome has probably cost me over £4K. We have seen some small savings but not enough to cover the cost of Evohome. That said, I think that a new boiler with 8 1/2 years remaining on the warranty and Evohome was a USP - so, overall, I don't think that I have wasted my money.
I shall of course continue to monitor the forum.
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