Hot water control
I bought a evohome hot water controller when i bought my system but was put off by people on here reporting problems with it, hot water not coming on, comms faults etc. Just wondering if these problems have now be fixed as i dont want to install if there still present as the last thing i want is no hot water when its needed.
I've been running one for a couple of years without any issues, seems to work very well. What does annoy me is that when we go on holiday and use the app to turn the heating off, the hot water is still on so make sure you turn off the jot water as well.
Our hot water has been working sort of okay for years. It did frequently report a loss of comms, but this has only happened once since I changed the batteries about 8 months ago and was reset by removing and replacing the battery. We don’t rely on timed control of the hot water, because it is generally kept hot by our solar, so only needs the occasional manual boost. So far a comms fault has not coincided with a need for a manual boost. I suspect there will always be a risk of hot water comms faults, but these could be very dependent on each specific installation; you are only likely to know for sure about your system by giving it a try. Just be sure the battery terminals are tensioned and clean, and the batteries are in good condition with clean terminals. The low currents makes all EvoHome kit sensitive to contact resistance. You also need to be careful about location and separation of the kit and distance from metal (not always easy in an airing cupboard. I would give it a try and be prepared for some trial and error regarding location of the controls. A bit of a faff, but works well if you get it set up right.
Scubajoe, that sounds promising two years is a good run with no faults. I will keep the hot water switch off thing in mind.
CT1, your outcome is on the positive side so i think i will install it but leave the old control in place and wire the two through a change over switch so old system or evo can be selected. This would have the added advantage of being able to monitor the evo performance and see if any faults occur whilst not relying on it till i am happy its doing the biz.
Will check the battery terminals are ok and see if there's any life left in the batteries if not will replace with lithium AA,s. I may look at using a mains power supply instead of the batteries. My central heating bdr91 is installed in the airing cupboard following the separation rules(not easy as you say) but its been fault free apart from a few teething problems after install.
Sounds a very good plan. I think it was having good clean contacts that made the difference for me rather than battery performance, in fact changing the batteries (and cleaning the contacts) less frequently with lithiums may make thing worse? Don’t forget to clen the battery as well as the contacts.
As the HW sensor is almost inevitably in and airing cupboard, where there is usually access to a mains supply, I think it would have made much more sense to have avoided batteries, and this would have also enable more robust rf communications, such as sending more frequent messages so that one going missing would have far less impact.
Been running Evohome here with the hw kit for about a year now, have had zero issues with it, it's a brilliant system.
We got through the winter burning less gas and the house has also been more comfortable (translated = wife was warmer). So a double win!
That would be a case of failing to read the manual....Originally Posted by Scubajoe
The "Heating Off" action does exactly what it says on the tin - it turns off the heating but leaves the hot water schedule running.
Use case - summer weather when you don't need heating but still need hot water.
What you want to use is the "Away" action. This turns off the hot water schedule as well.
Use case - when you're away from the house for an extended period of time and don't need heating OR hot water.
Heating Off defaults to 5C and Away defaults to 15C however you can configure either of them to be whatever you want. (So in truth heating off mode is only a house wide set point which defaults to 5C but can be increased)
I've reduced our Away mode temperature to 10C and this is the mode we use if we're away for several days. It turns off hot water completely and turns off heating unless a room dips below 10C at which point it will come on just enough to prevent any rooms going below 10C.
Last edited by DBMandrake; 1st April 2022 at 05:47 PM.
CT1, I can see what you are saying about the battery contact and batteries. I've had many occasions were dead products have sprung to life even just rotating the batteries to and fro in there holder. I think i will take a chance with the lithiums if needed and see how they go.
Couldn't agree more with your second comment about avoiding the the batteries or even keeping them just as back up and being able to use them if the mains power supply failed ( im talking mains with a low dc voltage out bytheway).
therealfronty, another plus post for the system. Just started doing a temporary install of the hotwater kit, finish it tomorrow and hope it runs like yours.
As a follow up to my previous post, while I do have the hot water kit, I also have solar panels with a device from INTELLIGENT IMMERSION LTD: that diverts excess electricity to an immersion element with it's thermostat set at 65°C. The Evohome kit is set at 55°C and only on for an hour in the evening just as a backup.
The other benefit of using a mains powered device is not having to worry about leaking batteries. Over the years, I have had several devices damaged by leaking batteries. Price and manufacturer has been no guide to which are likely to fail. Are lithium batteries any more reliable in peoples experience?
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