I'm in the process of getting my boiler (30 year old Ideal with HW tank, thermostat in hall, TRVs on all rads) replaced. The proposal is for a Vaillant eco+ 837 combi and to renew all the TRVs, most of which are jammed open.
I'm keen to make the control system work properly. At present, hot water is not a problem but the CH temperature is controlled more by the timer than the thermostat - it's set for a couple of hours morning and evening, if we put it on during the day the house is usually too hot in the evening. This is because the hall is cold so the thermostat doesn't cut out until the bedrooms are hot., and the TRVs don't work very well (and in any case are outwitted by rising warm air).
It seems to me that using the return flow to control the boiler will be wasteful : it can't measure usage unless its heating it, and I like a very low level of heating so I don't want it constantly warm.
The weather compensating systems might do the job in that they might be able to predict what the boiler level should be in order to get the job done (and then cut off if they find many rooms are set cold). But my wife likes some internal control of temperature : she tends to use the room stat as a colder/hotter switch. I'm not sure how that fits with a weather compensator system.
I can see the point of the distributed systems with wireless valves on rads, but I think that's going to get too expensive, I don't like lots of replaceable batteries, and some valves would be a pain to wire.
I'm thinking of putting 3 zone valves (upstairs, downstairs, bathroom) partly because the old pipework makes that very easy. I'm then looking for a thermostat solution that will make sense.
Any ideas ?
I'm keen to make the control system work properly. At present, hot water is not a problem but the CH temperature is controlled more by the timer than the thermostat - it's set for a couple of hours morning and evening, if we put it on during the day the house is usually too hot in the evening. This is because the hall is cold so the thermostat doesn't cut out until the bedrooms are hot., and the TRVs don't work very well (and in any case are outwitted by rising warm air).
It seems to me that using the return flow to control the boiler will be wasteful : it can't measure usage unless its heating it, and I like a very low level of heating so I don't want it constantly warm.
The weather compensating systems might do the job in that they might be able to predict what the boiler level should be in order to get the job done (and then cut off if they find many rooms are set cold). But my wife likes some internal control of temperature : she tends to use the room stat as a colder/hotter switch. I'm not sure how that fits with a weather compensator system.
I can see the point of the distributed systems with wireless valves on rads, but I think that's going to get too expensive, I don't like lots of replaceable batteries, and some valves would be a pain to wire.
I'm thinking of putting 3 zone valves (upstairs, downstairs, bathroom) partly because the old pipework makes that very easy. I'm then looking for a thermostat solution that will make sense.
Any ideas ?