Wireless heating controls

[clairesmith58]

I got a new central heating system installed two years ago and have had problems with the wireless thermostat/controller pretty much from the start. It's a Salus Digital Thermostat and when I go to turn the heating on manually (using the 'up' key) or set it to timer, the little flame icon comes on but the signal doesn't seem to be reaching the boiler which is in the loft. I have changed batteries several times, moved the unit around the house but it makes no difference. If I do finally get the boiler to fire up, I have problems getting it to go off again - which is worse!

The problem got significantly worse after I installed a load of loft insulation which leads me to the conclusion that the signal is just not strong enough.

My question is - is there anything I can do to boost the signal on my unit or should I be looking at a new one? If a new one, should I go for a wired in system and how much would I be looking to pay an electrician/engineer?

Thanks in advance!
Claire

 

[D_Hailsham]

Salus products do not have a good reputation so it's probably a weak signal which is attenuated by the walls, floors etc between the user control and the receiver in the loft.

You may be able to improve things by getting the receiver relocated so it is outside the loft, e.g. on a first floor wall.

If that doesn't help, a better thermostat will be required, e.g a Honeywell CM921 or 927.

 

[45yearsagasman]

If the receiver unit is in the loft, then why not try and relocate it to the living areas. Many times this has been done with great success. It only requires a longer cable to relocate it.

 

[clairesmith58]

Thanks guys - do you think relocating would be cheaper than buying a new thermostat? And would it be a gas engineer or an electrician I'd need to do these jobs?

Thanks again
Claire

 

[Dan Robinson]

Old Chinese proverb - you can't polish a tu7d.

 

[Whitespirit66]

Thanks guys - do you think relocating would be cheaper than buying a new thermostat? And would it be a gas engineer or an electrician I'd need to do these jobs?

Thanks again
Claire

If it's at all possible to get a run of cable from the stat to the boiler, best bet is to use a wired stat. Lot less aggro in the long run.

Also, best with a heating engineer. Sparks aren't always good with heating.

 

[mickyg]

i dont know much about these controls but heard someone mention about altering the dipswitches to change the signal so might be worth looking into this

 

[spannerzone]

My Salus wireless thermostat packed up after about 14 months doing the same thing, the wireless receiver module was the fault (the bit hard wired to the boiler) - the wireless thermostat showed it was sending out the heating command, the wireless receiver made a little click suggesting it was recieving the signal but it did not actually make the boiler work so I imagine the receiver/control modul wasn't working correctly = I got another Salus to replace it for simplicity. Interesting the replacement receiver controller unit had a totally new design to the old one but the remote wireless thermostat was identical.

Basically they're very poorly made and unreliable as far as I can tell, my original one failed on day 2 due to very poorly soldered mains terminals (I resoldered them to get it working- the mains was essentially arcing inside the unit)

I got another Salus so I knew it would just wireup the same and work, which it did.

My original one looked like this:
http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/glowarm...gleBase&utm_medium=GB&utm_campaign=GoogleBase

but the replacement one looked like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SALUS-DIG...arden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item3f15b57b92


So a simple check is take the wireless thermostat close to the receiver controller module and see if it makes a clicking noise when you turn up the heat, if this happens but no actual boiler action occurs it may indicate a fail/failing control module like I had.

 

[simond]

Salus = prince of darkness.

Mind you, Honeywell are giving them a good run in the reliability stakes at the moment.

 

[superstardeejay]

Salus are essentially rebadged chinese things and have the same guts as others eg Towerstat / Sunvic.

I fitted a towerstat on my parents boiler a few years ago, it lasted just outside the warranty then the receiver failed. I replaced it with a Salus and that has worked ever since. That works perfectly through about 3 brick walls including 1 external cavity wall and then into a boiler room...in the equivalent of a house next-door (as my parents have a very large house). The salus has now been in for I suppose 3 years and hasn't missed a beat.

The Invensys ones sold as Drayton and Worcester also fail though IMHO are better built. I can also recommend the Siemens formerly Landis & Gyr