Evohome professional install costs & benefits

[scoutb]

Hello all,

I've been reading lots about the Evohome system and think it might be what I'm after. Me & my partner have a large 3 bed flat, and a 6 month old, and trying to keep the (small) nursery room temp steady whilst periodically heating other, larger rooms is driving us mad. I don't expect to make a great saving with Evohome, but convenience and peace of mind would be great.

We have a combi boiler (currently hooked up to a British Gas wireless thermostat) and 10 radiators, of which I think I'd only add Evohome to 8 to start with.

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with professional installs and knew roughly what I should be looking to pay for all that (buying the Evohome gear separately)?

I've seen tutorials on fitting the TRV's and it looks pretty simple, but when there's some wiring involved I'm of a mind to get a pro to do it, just in case there are any problems. Am I being silly? Are there any other benefits to having a Honeywell installer set it all up?

Thanks.

[G4RHL]

Firstly I certainly recommend Evohome. I looked at various types and kept coming back to it. Absolutely no regrets and like you it was not cost savings I was wanting but a better balance of comfort and control. I got that and consumption of gas has dropped a little. So a bonus.

Do you need a professional installer? There are two aspects. The valves and the electrics.

Valves. Depends what valves are in your radiators and whether you need a plumber to replace them. If you have an existing TRV the chances are the Evohome replacement will fit and you do not need a professional to unscrew the old and screw on the new. Therefore check first whether Evohome will be a straight replacement.

Electrics. Here I got a professional to wire up the relays for hot water and heating and sensor for hot water temperature control as I knew that the old control wiring installed by the builder 18 years ago followed no sensible pattern and thought it better not to mess. But if you have the relevant competency it is not rocket science. In my case the are two relays, one for hot water, one for heating plus a sensor and control to control the temperature of the hot water. In your case I guess you will only need one to switch the heating side of the boiler on and off. In effect the TRV sends its temp reading to the control panel, the panel then tells the boiler to fire up. Basically it's an on and off function. The control panel needs no installation, just a power socket or supply to it. The internet gateway is an easy self setup device as well.

Thus, if it's a straight swap of the valves that is certainly a DIY job. If you are competent with electrics it is not rocket science.

However, whilst installing it all is straight forward the best advice I can then give is make sure you read the instruction manuals and follow the instructions for pairing and do it all in the order it says. You will do the relay first and then add each zone or room. Don't rush it but follow the instructions. I think most people come unstuck at first as they do not realise they have skipped something or done something out of sequence and then we blame our tools and not ourselves!

Somewhere in these pages there are some excellent imstructions on setting it up. From the Evohome Shop I think. Just carefully follow those and you won't go wrong. I would recommend you set it up yourself and don't ask the electrician to do it as apart from there being few electricians or plumbers around who are familiar with it, it is important you fully understand it and you will if you do it. The way I put it it sounds complicated, it certainly isn't, but follow the instructions and take time over it.

End result will be a system you will be delighted with and have world wide control over!

Richard.

[paulockenden]

If you do choose an installer, quiz them about how many others they've done. My experience is that just because someone is accredited for Evohome, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll know what they are doing...

[Mavis]

If you do choose an installer, quiz them about how many others they've done. My experience is that just because someone is accredited for Evohome, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll know what they are doing...

Fully concur with this - I had my Evo installed a year past August and mistakenly thought that as they were listed as an approved installer on Honeywell's website that they would have experience. We had just moved to a new area so didn't have a 'regular person'. First one came out to give a quote and then didn't get back to me. The second was very good and we used him but he had not installed Evo before. (We are using him for other work also now.). Both people tried to talk me out of getting Evohome specifically for the expense and implied that it was only for big houses (we have a small bungalow). I definitely don't regret getting it installed and love the flexibility and control. I use it with IFTTT and once it is linked with Samsung SmartThings I will be using it in conjunction with it. Like the fact that if you are away you can still control the heating.

[Jom]

I have just installed an Evohome controller and 8 radiator controllers on a new gas boiler installation. first piece of advice, I would give you check if you already have TRV's installed on your radiators and secondly the make of TRV's. I had heard that not all makes are compatible with the Evohome radiator heads. I had to change my TRV's, wasn't a problem as system was being drained to fit a new boiler. I purchased the kit from the Evohome Shop, they offer a binding service for £30 and will bind any kit to the controller, well worth the money in my view. They will give you an excel pre-binding file to list zones and number of radiators in each zone. Fitting the boiler relay as others have said is easy enough, though check if electrical work has to be done by a registered electrician/installer. I am outside the UK and this is the case here. However my gas installer did fit the relay as part of my installation. Connecting the controller to the wifi, was simple enough once the battery on the controller was fully charged. Fitting the radiator controller heads was just a case of unscrewing the Peglar heads and as others have said, screw on the Evohome heads.
I can certainly recommend the Evohome Shop, found them very helpful, knowledgeable and professional with any questions I had.

Good luck with it, these forums are brilliant too.

[scoutb]

Thanks to everyone for your replies so far.

So far I've been quoted approx. £300 for install by one recommended company, which seemed a little steep for me, having only really managed to convince myself that I could live with the cost of the Evohome itself. I'm still waiting on a few other quotes.

The TRV fitting seems simple enough, but it's great to hear that others have managed to set up the wireless relay themselves.

If I may, a couple of other questions...

There is already a British Gas wireless thermostat which has a wireless relay, wired to the boiler. Is there a chance the wiring for this might be reusable for the Evohome relay? It's very likely that's not how these things work, but if it were I feel like I'd be reasonably confident if it were a case of disconnecting one and connecting another.

I also wondered if it would be a good idea to have the radiators balanced (by the same people installing the system, if I went ahead and got them) at the same time? I don't know if they are at all unbalanced, it just seemed like a thing that might be worth doing at the same time. We've only been in this flat for a year now, and I must say the radiators look very new for what that's worth.

[top brake]

Thanks to everyone for your replies so far.

So far I've been quoted approx. £300 for install by one recommended company, which seemed a little steep for me, having only really managed to convince myself that I could live with the cost of the Evohome itself. I'm still waiting on a few other quotes.

The TRV fitting seems simple enough, but it's great to hear that others have managed to set up the wireless relay themselves.

If I may, a couple of other questions...

There is already a British Gas wireless thermostat which has a wireless relay, wired to the boiler. Is there a chance the wiring for this might be reusable for the Evohome relay? It's very likely that's not how these things work, but if it were I feel like I'd be reasonably confident if it were a case of disconnecting one and connecting another.

I also wondered if it would be a good idea to have the radiators balanced (by the same people installing the system, if I went ahead and got them) at the same time? I don't know if they are at all unbalanced, it just seemed like a thing that might be worth doing at the same time. We've only been in this flat for a year now, and I must say the radiators look very new for what that's worth.

sounds like a pretty straightforward install and the £300 sounds a bit too cheap if anything. as has been stated please ensure that whoever you get to do the install are a Honeywell Connected Specialist who have ben trained and assessed on their expertise

[G4RHL]

sounds like a pretty straightforward install and the £300 sounds a bit too cheap if anything. as has been stated please ensure that whoever you get to do the install are a Honeywell Connected Specialist who have ben trained and assessed on their expertise

I paid £100 for the electrician. The TRVs I installed myself as no point employing somebody do that. The set up I did myself following instructions found in this forum.

[IvanOpinion]

I agree with previous comments that some Honeywell Connected Specialists seem to know very little. I phoned round several who were suggested by Honeywell's website, and I would say that I seemed to know more than all but one of them. Thankfully, one of them had done loads of installs and was excellent. I think we paid a few hundred quid for him to install, including a few pipe freezes for rads without TRVs. It took about 4-5 hours, though he had pre-bound everything. I was very pleased that I didn't try to do this myself.

[Newtothistuff]

[QUOTE=IvanOpinion;24508]I agree with previous comments that some Honeywell Connected Specialists seem to know very little. I phoned round several who were suggested by Honeywell's website, and I would say that I seemed to know more than all but one of them.

I went on the Honeywell expert finder thingy and picked the three closest to me. The first one never returned my calls (3 over 3 days) , the second one said he had done a couple of installs and that despite him never asking the size of my system told me it was unlikely that his price would be competitive or within my budget (this guy needs to put the lottery on because he can read minds). So on to the third, he told me had done several installs and kept me on the phone for 45 minutes explaining that it was all a bit of a black art and that the wireless side of things was very complex and time consuming. He came round 48hours later took a cursory glance at a couple of rads and my boiler and then spent another hour boring the pants off me with stories about previous installs that had gone wrong mainly due to issues with wireless! However he didn't ask what other wireless devices I had, DIDN'T DO A WIRELESS SURVEY or even ask where I intended to place the controller!

A week later I received the quotation of approx £2300 which was not itemised at all but included circa £800 of Evohome parts (at Evohome shop prices, all figures ex VAT).
So £1500 for install/margin on parts for what is probably a days work!

Needless to say I am doing myself!!!

IMHO it would be worth starting a list on here of companies/individuals who have done good install with an idea of the price paid for the number of devices and this would give us all options and secondly force the pirates out of the market!

[IvanOpinion]

Wow, I don't blame you for going DIY.

Looking a bit more closely at the quote I had, I reckon it is no more than £100 on top of the price if I had bought the gear from Evohome shop. So, he must have made most of his profit from the retail margin on the gear. However, we are a charity and he said he would price the job accordingly, so perhaps he would charge more for a domestic installation.

Incidentally, our work included wiring 2 relays, controlling four actuators (as we have 4 plumbed zones in our building).

[Newtothistuff]

Wow, I don't blame you for going DIY.

Looking a bit more closely at the quote I had, I reckon it is no more than £100 on top of the price if I had bought the gear from Evohome shop. So, he must have made most of his profit from the retail margin on the gear. However, we are a charity and he said he would price the job accordingly, so perhaps he would charge more for a domestic installation.

Incidentally, our work included wiring 2 relays, controlling four actuators (as we have 4 plumbed zones in our building).

Yep forgot to mention that, when I challenged the price and said that I can get the gear for £800 off an authorised Honeywell reseller or any plumbers merchant he tried telling me that he gets no discount from retail list and that in fact he pays more!! HMMM now last time I looked Honeywell sell through many channels, how do you suppose they do that if they don't offer appropriate discounts to dealers, distributors, installers and retailers?

[rotor]

My own DIY experience did make me wonder that Honeywell have been quite brave with this product, as it is far from trivial to install (it requires very high attention to detail), and I suspect there are not many professional installers that are doing a great job of this.

[G4RHL]

Am not so sure it is that complex to instal. Generally for most people the TRVs replace existing ones and a plumber is not needed. Wiring in the relays (2 in my case) I had done by an electrician who understands heating systems and is not just a socket and light switch installer, but seeing what was done it is not rocket science provided you know what wires are doing what. Uncertainty on that yes get an installer for that part, but make he or she does know about central heating, some electricians don't! Cost me £100. That then leaves setting up. The instruction manuals are not wonderful, there is better advice elsewhere in these pages, but probably good that a user does this himself as that is the best way to learn and understand what the system will do. I suspect that most readers of these pages are more than capable of doing it.

[Newtothistuff]

Am not so sure it is that complex to instal. Generally for most people the TRVs replace existing ones and a plumber is not needed. Wiring in the relays (2 in my case) I had done by an electrician who understands heating systems and is not just a socket and light switch installer, but seeing what was done it is not rocket science provided you know what wires are doing what. Uncertainty on that yes get an installer for that part, but make he or she does know about central heating, some electricians don't! Cost me £100. That then leaves setting up. The instruction manuals are not wonderful, there is better advice elsewhere in these pages, but probably good that a user does this himself as that is the best way to learn and understand what the system will do. I suspect that most readers of these pages are more than capable of doing it.

Agree 100%. Honeywell would not sell this via "consumer" channels such as Screwfix, plumbers merchants etc if they didn't think it was suitable for the enthusiastic amateur. However and conversely if they put organisations out there as authorised installers then they should ensure those people are adequately trained and charge according to an agreed structure.