WI-FI TRVs- are these a thing?

[martyc]

Hi there.
My self and herself both work from home.
She works in the attic I work downstairs- we rarely have the heating on during the day but if we did we would be heating the whole house.
I was wondering if WI-FI TRVs are a thing (I’m sure I saw them) and if they would be a suitable solution so that we could on a cold day from our phones easily just heat the attic and the room I’m in?
Thanks
Marty.

 

[johnny2007]

Get up and shut the radiators you don't need.
Your heart will thank you.

 

[martyc]

Ah I couldn’t be doing that every day

 

[Mottie]

I asked a similar question a while ago about Hive TRV's as I was interested in heating specific rooms at specific times without running all round the house turning valves on and off. Someone replied and posted me this link which should cover my needs although I haven’t got round to doing it at the moment as I’ll need ten hive TRV's at roughly £50 a pop!

Community

community.hivehome.com

 

[mcprinter]

I have Drayton Wiser.
Similar to Honeywell Evo and Tado. Probably others too.

Stand-alone Wi-Fi or Bluetooth TRVs rely on your thermostat calling for heat or your rads won’t heat.
The systems above can just heat the rooms you want.

 

[pcaouolte]

I have Drayton Wiser.
Similar to Honeywell Evo and Tado. Probably others too.

Stand-alone Wi-Fi or Bluetooth TRVs rely on your thermostat calling for heat or your rads won’t heat.
The systems above can just heat the rooms you want.

Agreed but bear in mind that you also need to put Wiser TRVs on the rooms that you want to be cold, otherwise when one room calls for heat the others will also heat up. A full system with a hub and multiple TRVs isn't cheap.

 

[hllns]

There is such a thing but it's the integration with the heating and a level of automation that makes them useful.

I work from home some days so had a similar issue. As I have Home Assistant talking to Hive I bought myself a cheap underfloor heating actuator that replaces the TRV head:

2 Wire 230v Underfloor Heating Actuator - The UFH Company

The thermal actuator is suitable to be mounted on all underfloor heating manifolds, thermostatic valves bodies and three-way valves. Allows automatic shut-off of the system fluid under the control of a room thermostat or another electrical switching device.

www.theunderfloorheatingcompany.co.uk

Which I've connected to Sonoff mains switch that Home Assistant can talk to, you could replace this with a smart socket and stick a plug on the actuator instead.

I've then written a simple automation that checks the room temperature from a sensor in the room, the schedule of when I'm in normally in there and watches for when the Hive has turned on the heating to call for heat, if everything is right the switch powers on and the valve opens up if not it stays shut which is most of the time.

 

[hllns]

And there's also a second automation that shuts the valve 30 minutes after Hive has stopped calling for heat.

 

[martyc]

Oh lord it’s all very complicated

 

[mcprinter]

Agreed but bear in mind that you also need to put Wiser TRVs on the rooms that you want to be cold, otherwise when one room calls for heat the others will also heat up. A full system with a hub and multiple TRVs isn't cheap.

Yes
I got a hub with 5 TRVs reasonably priced from Amazon last year
Got another 3 on an offer recently.
3 bed, 2 recep house. Mrs works from home
Works pretty well from a comfort perspective.
Lots of changes to insulation and energy provider so no data on savings

 

[hllns]

Oh lord it’s all very complicated

Less so if it's a smart thermostat and the valves are from the same supplier but you'd have to check the reviews carefully, the reason I didn't just get Hive radiator valves is as well as being pricey some of the reviews were very "meh"

 

[martyc]

Thanks all.
Current thermostat is a wireless Honeywell system I put in 15 years ago- works fine but it too would need to be swapped out. I’m having a rethink and I’m going to see how feasible it would be to install or build a manifold that I can easily isolate without walking into every room in the house.

Other option I’m trying to think through in my head is if it would be possible to put these 2 rooms as a zone somehow, can’t think how it would be easily done as all downstairs rads are served by 1 set of 3/4 inch copper(just 3 rads but I’d only want 1 on)

Anyhow good for thought!

 

[johnny2007]

Oh lord it’s all very complicated

Getting up and shut the valves manually doesn't seem so bad anymore, does it?

 

[CBW]

Getting up and shut the valves manually doesn't seem so bad anymore, does it?

I’m with you, let’s do Alexa and others out of a job

 

[ianmcd]

There are some really good smart systems out there that work very well, and as you both work from home the the cost is tax deductable if you are both self employed