Just in the process of moving to a new home, it has a oil powered combi-boiler that both provides hot water (heated on-demand) and also heats the radiators. (Its a 2018 Grant Vortex Combi 26e)
All the radiators have Danfoss TRV’s on them.
There is a pretty basic Honeywell wired controller that has a timer for hot water and central heating. I have yet to find a room thermostat, unless somebody has tidied it away into a cupboard somewhere!
Any thoughts or suggestions on the best approach to control the heating across the house, something that is easy for my Wife as well as flexible for integration with HA.
I had considered smart TRV’s with thermostats and presence detectors in the main rooms, then using HA to only heat rooms that need it (beyond a minimum level). But don’t want to over complicate it either. I work form home, so my office will likely need some heating, even if other rooms are unoccupied.
I did have a search on here first, but so many posts are quite old and options and technology may well have moved on.
The main choices are around the level of automation verses gradual degredation and resilience.
There’s a few template heating controllers, I’ve been fiddling with keywords in a local calendar for timing, but overall, the issue is what happens if HA dies?
Basic systems have hard-wired frost thermostats as a backup if all else fails, so the HA equivalent is something like a basic multi-zone timer module. A large building I help manage has a Sonoff 4CH relay module for zone valve control, but this is in parallel with a HeatMiser TM4 timer. That way if HA falls over, there’s a LCD timer that a heating tech might feel more comfortable with (and the Sonoff modules running Tasmota and extra DS18S20 probes are hidden away).
This is the equivalent of keeping a local physical light switch.
The issue with ON / OFF zone control is the lack of modulation - some modern kit uses something like OpenTherm to enable better control (think a dimmer verses a toggle). The heating device can sense the return flow water temperature in a wet system and modulate to a degree, but perhaps less than something like a Nest or Hive.
I’m likely moving from gas to a heat pump soon, but not attempted to navigate the control systems as every time I start, there’s a craptactular iPhone app using a closed cloud, and as my architectural decisions are based on Privacy + Choice + Sustainability, I run away screaming.
You don’t really need smart TFV’s unless you have a need to change a particular room for a reason. I use a single smart TRF for my bedroom (switched heating off during the day and on in the evening/night. Use the other ‘normal’ TRVs to load-balance the radiators so that you get the right temp in each room.
I use a 2-channel Hive controller (water + heating) running locally over Z2M but I believe there is also a Honeywell controller that works with HA.
