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I have been looking at eTRV’s mainly Screwfix and trying to get my head around the options. Looking at controlling four rooms I have been comparing the price and what they will do.
Top of list is the EvoHome coming in at £487.98 if I am getting it right one does not need a room thermostat everything is controlled by the thermostat pack and is all singing dancing.
The rest also need a wall thermostat to shut boiler down during the summer so I am adding £80 to cover cost of programmable thermostat so all on a level plane.
Other end of scale is the Pegler Terrier i-temp i30 £185.96 there is no wifi each unit is independent I can easy understand both these options, there is around £300 between the two options, and the more expensive clearly gives better control and easier to install as no need to fiddle getting the wall thermostat to switch off boiler at correct point, you in these two extremes get what you have paid for.
However between these two extremes you have:-
MiHome £282.97
LightwaveRF £389.95
Devolo £429.95
JG Speedfit think this is for under floor heating so I will forget this one.
From what I can work out, the Devolo can work with or without a hub, so without a hub it would be just £319.96 but it then just does same as the Pegler so seems rather over priced. I assume even with the hub it will not directly control the boiler?
The LightwaveRF has poor reports saying it is noisy, so it would seem of the mid priced options the MiHome comes out on top.
However I have fitted MiHome and I found there were some aspects which one does not realise until actually fitted and running.
The whole idea of using TRV control is it is seamless, the boiler adjusts output and the valves gradually open and close so there is a low hysteresis the thermostat does as the summer months arrive finally switch off the boiler, but until that point it is gradual, however maybe too gradual over night dropping from 19°C to 16°C it rarely actually hits 16°C and from 16°C to 22°C in the morning from 6 am to 8 am it never gets to 22°C when at 8 am it drops to 19°C it is just about at 19°C the target of 22°C is to ensure valve fully opened it do not expect it to be reached. So the MiHome in real terms because it is so slow is rather a waste of money, the ability to change the temperature with phone or PC is simply not used because the temperature needs changing so far in advance, it may as well have been the Pegler that was fitted.
There were also other issues, with two thermostats being fitted one solely to give a morning boost. I had noted with Nest one could use a follow command, however it is the TRV which follows Nest, not Nest following the TRV so it means to use follow command all rooms are at the same temperature, and the whole idea was that each room was independent.
I will admit I selected the MiHome as also wanted remote controlled sockets; however LightwaveRF also does remote controlled sockets, and as yet only 2 rooms with eTRV’s fitted. Hind sight and hind sight is easy, should have used the Pegler and saved some money. The EvoHome to my mind far too expensive, and would still need either lightwave or MiHome hub for sockets.
So has anyone else used eTRV’s and how well did they work in practice? To get mine working as I wanted, I had to add a standard TRV to hall radiator, the hall was heating up too fast and switching off the wall thermostat, if I turned down the lock shield valve then after answering front door it took to long to reheat hall, so with the wall thermostat set to 19°C and the TRV starts to close at 18°C it gives me the extra time required to get rest of house warm. Clearly would not have this problem with the EvoHome. Now don’t really need the second thermostat, but no real point in removing it either.
So which do you have? And how well has it worked? I have daughters house to do now, so asking how others have found them.
Top of list is the EvoHome coming in at £487.98 if I am getting it right one does not need a room thermostat everything is controlled by the thermostat pack and is all singing dancing.
The rest also need a wall thermostat to shut boiler down during the summer so I am adding £80 to cover cost of programmable thermostat so all on a level plane.
Other end of scale is the Pegler Terrier i-temp i30 £185.96 there is no wifi each unit is independent I can easy understand both these options, there is around £300 between the two options, and the more expensive clearly gives better control and easier to install as no need to fiddle getting the wall thermostat to switch off boiler at correct point, you in these two extremes get what you have paid for.
However between these two extremes you have:-
MiHome £282.97
LightwaveRF £389.95
Devolo £429.95
JG Speedfit think this is for under floor heating so I will forget this one.
From what I can work out, the Devolo can work with or without a hub, so without a hub it would be just £319.96 but it then just does same as the Pegler so seems rather over priced. I assume even with the hub it will not directly control the boiler?
The LightwaveRF has poor reports saying it is noisy, so it would seem of the mid priced options the MiHome comes out on top.
However I have fitted MiHome and I found there were some aspects which one does not realise until actually fitted and running.
The whole idea of using TRV control is it is seamless, the boiler adjusts output and the valves gradually open and close so there is a low hysteresis the thermostat does as the summer months arrive finally switch off the boiler, but until that point it is gradual, however maybe too gradual over night dropping from 19°C to 16°C it rarely actually hits 16°C and from 16°C to 22°C in the morning from 6 am to 8 am it never gets to 22°C when at 8 am it drops to 19°C it is just about at 19°C the target of 22°C is to ensure valve fully opened it do not expect it to be reached. So the MiHome in real terms because it is so slow is rather a waste of money, the ability to change the temperature with phone or PC is simply not used because the temperature needs changing so far in advance, it may as well have been the Pegler that was fitted.
There were also other issues, with two thermostats being fitted one solely to give a morning boost. I had noted with Nest one could use a follow command, however it is the TRV which follows Nest, not Nest following the TRV so it means to use follow command all rooms are at the same temperature, and the whole idea was that each room was independent.
I will admit I selected the MiHome as also wanted remote controlled sockets; however LightwaveRF also does remote controlled sockets, and as yet only 2 rooms with eTRV’s fitted. Hind sight and hind sight is easy, should have used the Pegler and saved some money. The EvoHome to my mind far too expensive, and would still need either lightwave or MiHome hub for sockets.
So has anyone else used eTRV’s and how well did they work in practice? To get mine working as I wanted, I had to add a standard TRV to hall radiator, the hall was heating up too fast and switching off the wall thermostat, if I turned down the lock shield valve then after answering front door it took to long to reheat hall, so with the wall thermostat set to 19°C and the TRV starts to close at 18°C it gives me the extra time required to get rest of house warm. Clearly would not have this problem with the EvoHome. Now don’t really need the second thermostat, but no real point in removing it either.
So which do you have? And how well has it worked? I have daughters house to do now, so asking how others have found them.
