It is September 2022. What devices to buy, to prepare the heating for a winter of high energy costs?
It’s basically about thermostats. While everybody is waiting for matter devices, it is time to prepare for the winter. What to buy in this situation?
If you buy an entry level smarthome set from Hornbach, as I did last year, it does come with z-wave thermostats ( Eurotronic Spirit Z-Wave Plus). You would expect, they have a reason to decide vor z-wave.
On the other hand, matter is based on zigbee. That could lead the conclusion, that z-wave is already a dead end. Will zigbee also be dead with matter or do zigbee devices mesh up with matter?
Nope it’s not. Both protocols will coexist for a long time. They target entirely different markets.
No.
What is available to you right now and what does the job in a satisfactory way right now. If you always wait for the next fad or hype protocol out there, you’ll never get anything done.
Unfortunately I don’t detect the difference in the market. As for thermostats I find both types on the amazon market in large number. For sure I can connect both to HA (in theory). Even the Hornbach hub supports both protocols. Z-Wave thermostats are a little cheaper at Hornbach.
ZWave targets more commercial security setups. It’s a proven stable technology with a year long track record. It also has a number of technical advantages, such as better range and RF penetration. It’s more expensive though. Matter is mostly targeting the mass consumer market.
I’m not convinced a smart thermostat is the most important thing when faced with increased winter energy costs. Obviously you can set any thermostat lower, or even adjust it to match your daily schedule. Smart thermostats will just make that more convenient and possibly more automatic. I have three, and I think they may save me some money, but not a huge amount.
Far more important is insulation, efficiency of your heating appliances and fuel choice.
I would have agreed a few years ago when it was still common for many people to have rigid and mostly repeatable work schedules. But now, as people work from home a lot more, I’m not so sure anymore. I think schedules are less predictable now or just more complicated. Some days you might work from home, some days you might be in the office. And these days can change. Then the day you’re supposed to work from home there’s an important meeting you need to do face to face, so you’re out.
Controlling your heating with something like presence adapts much better to these flexible schedules. While I don’t use a ‘smart’ thermostat myself (which I think is mostly marketing BS), I do control my heating with presence and some other heuristics. I always had a pretty flexible work schedule even before Covid and I can definitely see a notable decrease in heating costs since I added the control. In fact I think this part of my home automation is the only one that actually saves me money
Per-zone control. There are thermostats (obviously), but not smart ones. They let me set the consignment temperature over zwave though and that’s all I need. HA then manages this depending on presence, time of day, home office use, weather forecast, etc.
Well, I think it makes some difference to heat the kitchen 24 hours or just one hour in the morning and one in the evening for sitting. In between a much lower temperature for working is suitable.
