Smart Fused Spurs

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  • Hashterix
    Automated Home Lurker
    • Aug 2020
    • 3

    Smart Fused Spurs

    Greetings,

    I'm about to take on a property which has electric heating throughout, as well as electric hot water. All of this has been newly installed but the seller has gone the cheap route so it's all very basic (separate units with their own timers and thermostats, and no connectivity). It's a property that may be empty some of the time and will some of the time have rooms rented out.

    1. The first issue is, of course, I need to be able to control all the units remotely so that I ensure I'm not wasting power while the property is empty.

    2. The second issue is scheduled (and ideally thermostatic) control. While this is built into the radiator, I'd rather ensure that radiators aren't left blasting unreasonably at all hours of the day.

    3. The third issue is the location of the hot water tank, accessible only through one of the bedrooms. A timer on this would be fine, but it would be good to be able to have a hot water "boost" button in a communal area like the kitchen should it ever be needed.

    Every unit is on its own fused spur, which would be the ideal position for a smart interface. I've looked high and low for ideally a fused spur unit that would work with a Z-wave smart home system which also provides thermostatic control (or since it's z-wave would be operable using other thermostat units), but the best I've been able to find is a WiFi fused spur unit that has schedule control via an app (no thermostat, no ability to make it work with other buttons): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Timeguard-C.../dp/B07228W28L

    Smart fused spur units seem like they should be one of the most obvious and widely available components of a smart home system, yet I can't find them anywhere?!

    I would be very grateful if someone would be able to point me in the right direction.
  • Hashterix
    Automated Home Lurker
    • Aug 2020
    • 3

    #2
    Nobody has any idea about this?

    Comment

    • ssb_tv
      Automated Home Lurker
      • Nov 2018
      • 8

      #3
      Does each heater have it's fused spur ran back to the consumer unit as a radial circuit or are the fused spurs just on the socket ring main? I'm thinking you could put some contactors in the consumer unit to switch the loads using some Honeywell BDR91s setup to heat using electric heating. Only thing is the thermostats would be wireless which would be quite annoying in a rented property. In terms of wifi fused spurs, that timeguard unit you've found seems to be the only one I can find too. Something like some contactors in conjuction with a smart heating system or plain timeswitches in a lockable DIN rail enclosure would be your best bet to be honest.

      Comment

      • Hashterix
        Automated Home Lurker
        • Aug 2020
        • 3

        #4
        Originally posted by ssb_tv View Post
        Does each heater have it's fused spur ran back to the consumer unit as a radial circuit or are the fused spurs just on the socket ring main? I'm thinking you could put some contactors in the consumer unit to switch the loads using some Honeywell BDR91s setup to heat using electric heating. Only thing is the thermostats would be wireless which would be quite annoying in a rented property. In terms of wifi fused spurs, that timeguard unit you've found seems to be the only one I can find too. Something like some contactors in conjuction with a smart heating system or plain timeswitches in a lockable DIN rail enclosure would be your best bet to be honest.
        It's a bit of a mix unfortunately, looking at the labels on the fuse box, some radiators are on dedicated circuits but some share a ring main (not ideal), and I don't want to go replacing a whole fuse box with a smart one, that's way more hassle.

        The heaters themselves are 1500W, so I'm thinking of wiring in 2.5kw z-wave switches like this: https://www.vesternet.com/collection...tering#reviews

        Then hook that up to a smart hub like Samsung Smartthings to set schedules and rule based control based on things like thermostat inputs or perhaps movement sensors to knock heaters down by a few degrees in rooms that haven't had movement for say 30 minutes. Shame the heaters themselves don't have smart controls.

        These units are very expensive though compared to the cost of electricity per radiator you might use. The return on interest, unless you had a lodger who was unreasonable with their use, would be slow and perhaps make it not worth it.

        Comment

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