Looking for an Evohome installer in the East Midlands

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  • DBMandrake
    Automated Home Legend
    • Sep 2014
    • 2361

    #16
    Originally posted by paulockenden View Post
    I think there's a general problem (not just with Evohome - it happens across various product ranges and indeed various industries) where one person in a company gains accreditation for a system, but then other employees are sent out to do the actual work.
    I think it's more than just that - understanding and installing something like an Evohome system competently requires some degree of cross-disciplinary skills on the part of the installer.

    To install a complete heating system, the bulk of the work is a plumbing job to which most plumbers are of course well skilled at doing. Naturally there is also some electrical wiring to be done to get a boiler and basic thermostat and timer working but lets face it - as electronics/electrical wiring goes this is very simple stuff, and with today's standardised "wiring centres" it becomes almost "paint by numbers". Connect your switched spur supply here, connect your wall stat there, connect your boiler here, fit these link wires if you do or don't have zone valves, and so on.

    I don't want to step on any toes but I would venture to suggest that from what I have seen a significant number of otherwise very competent plumbers who install boilers for a living get by with a very limited understanding of the electrical side of things and pretty much do the electrical side on a paint by numbers approach using a few memorised common configurations without really understanding the electrical circuits that are behind those configurations. Likewise a basic timer is something akin to programming an alarm clock and not particularly daunting to deal with especially if you are supplying and installing a few familiar models.

    However when faced with something new like an Evohome they suddenly have extra complications thrown into the mix that they have probably not had to deal with before - wireless communications, including the binding process, and more sophisticated programming. (Even the TRV's have configuration options on an Evohome, let alone the controller, and the controller is basically a full computer...)

    Because of the flexibility of the Evohome system, system design becomes even more important - if the system design isn't something that matches a configuration they've dealt with before they're likely to struggle.

    In short, to do a good job of installing an Evohome system (at least on a professional basis) you really do need some conception of how RF propagation works in buildings, how to configure wireless devices to communicate with each other, how to program devices more complicated than a conventional timer, how do design an overall system consisting of so many different wirelessly communicating devices etc...

    Some of this can be acquired by training but I think for some plumbers it will never be their thing and they will eventually retire out of the system as these smarter heavily computerised control systems become more common...

    This is not a slight on the Evohome system in particular - it's a general trend towards more complicated and intelligent heating systems which simply require a broader set of cross disciplinary skills to do competently.

    The same thing has happened in the field of car repairs where mechanics who are good at "spannering" and might be brilliant at stripping down an engine and overhauling it are really struggling with the increasingly complex electrical and computer systems that control and manage all aspects of a car these days...some will adapt and keep up while others will fall by the wayside.
    I'm not sure that there's an easy answer, either.
    I think the only real answer is more cross disciplinary training of people in fields like heating and plumbing - it's no longer a field where you can get by only with your mechanical and plumbing skills. You need to be an all rounder, and not everyone is cut out to do that.
    Last edited by DBMandrake; 19 April 2016, 12:18 PM.

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    • WiteWulf
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Mar 2016
      • 40

      #17
      Last post (hopefully!) on this matter: I met with 2RED's "proper" evohome installer today at lunchtime, who came out armed with a box full of spares. We replaced the faulty items then spent some time going around checking each valve was accepting changes, opening and closing properly and the radiator was actually heating. We replaced a couple of dodgy HR92s and corrected some other incorrect settings on a couple of HR92s. Some HR92s didn't seem to be actuating the valves properly, but these were reseated and started operating properly.

      The installer told me that the whole thing wouldn't work without the RFG100 powered up and working. I explained to him that they'd supplied the newer controller with built-in WiFi and he wasn't aware these even existed! They'd bought the package from Plumbcentre and, even though their website doesn't list the RFG100 as part of that kit, it was in the picture on the website and they'd supplied it. The installer checked the invoice and found they'd not been charged for it, that no cost had been passed on to me, and he took the bridge back with him.

      Everything seems to be working properly now, although I had a bit of a panic when I got back to office and all my monitoring scripts abending. It seems Honeywell have retired some old API URLs, a quick update to my scripts and all is well.

      I have to say, despite the initial problems with the install, 2RED have responded swiftly and appropriately to my concerns and the eventual outcome has been what I hoped for initially. I'd certainly use them for regular plumbing jobs again in the future but I'll be looking after the evohome stuff myself from now on.

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      • rotor
        Automated Home Guru
        • Aug 2015
        • 124

        #18
        Originally posted by WiteWulf View Post
        Everything seems to be working properly now, although I had a bit of a panic when I got back to office and all my monitoring scripts abending. It seems Honeywell have retired some old API URLs, a quick update to my scripts and all is well.
        ABEND! Haven't heard that for 20+ years -- talk about useless nuggets of information being stored in the brain...

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        • WiteWulf
          Automated Home Jr Member
          • Mar 2016
          • 40

          #19
          Originally posted by rotor View Post
          ABEND! Haven't heard that for 20+ years -- talk about useless nuggets of information being stored in the brain...
          I know, I know...showing my age/heritage ;-) Cut my teeth doing PL/1 coding on a big MVS/CICS 'frame back in the day...

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          • ludditeal
            Automated Home Sr Member
            • Feb 2004
            • 62

            #20
            Originally posted by WiteWulf View Post
            I know, I know...showing my age/heritage ;-) Cut my teeth doing PL/1 coding on a big MVS/CICS 'frame back in the day...
            British Gas. British Shoe or Nat West in Kegworth? (PL/1 IMS from RR Derby)

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            • WiteWulf
              Automated Home Jr Member
              • Mar 2016
              • 40

              #21
              Originally posted by ludditeal View Post
              British Gas. British Shoe or Nat West in Kegworth? (PL/1 IMS from RR Derby)
              #OT

              Allied Domecq Computer Centre (old Allied Lyons CMS, as was), in Burton On Trent. Taught me a lot about working in a "real" commercial environment before settling down in the cushy University job I have nowadays...

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              • paulockenden
                Automated Home Legend
                • Apr 2015
                • 1719

                #22
                Originally posted by WiteWulf View Post
                Allied Domecq Computer Centre
                That takes me back. We build/hosted AD's first ever websites, much to the disgust of the IT team who wanted to do it in-house. Having said that, they were a great much to work with.

                P.

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