Greetings Home Assistant Forum Folks,
I’m looking to build a Home Assistant Setup for monitoring my heating system. I have a Steam boiler system that is almost 95 years and I will replacing it next year. For this heating year I would like to collect some data to help inform my selection to replace it.
I’d like the setup to be as plug and play as possible, so I’d like to double check some of my selections. My goal is to collect the data, not make a project out of setting up Home Assistant.
To that end I think that if I use
Home Assistant Green
Boiler Sensor - I have one selected, Boiler Monitor, Display and Home Assistant Project #20429 by richardsg307 in a github post , but the forum won’t let me post with more then 2 links. So if anyone can’t find it if you look I can post the link in a subsequent post.
and for Temperature Sensors
XIAOMI LYWSD03MMC - Link to Ebay
My biggest concern is whether these types of sensors will work with the bluetooth adapter and Home Assistant. All my reading seems to suggest this should go together easily, but if anyone could chime in and double check me before I buy it I would appreciate it.
Thank you very much!
Jim
Nope, that makes perfect sense. I was hoping to start with some sensors close up and then when I need it, use a Bluetooth Proxy. The first few sensors will be in the same room / 1 room away which I was hoping would work for the bluetooth. Then for farther rooms once I have it working I can add the ESP Proxy.
Hopefully that makes sense.
Thanks!
Did you find threads or examples of the Bluetooth temperature sensors working with HA? That should be your main concern. The hardware you selected is fine for the task at hand.
The proposition of using bluetooth proxy’s gives you the advantage of having the ability to deploy/read Bluetooth any where you have wifi.
On your goal itself: is reading the temperature enough for what you want to achieve? Is the boiler currently simply providing heat to the whole house, with no modulation or control in the rooms themselves?
The main question here is “what kind of data will help you make a more informed decision”.
Also, I am impressed with both the age of the current boiler and with your ability to prepare for its replacement!
Seriously. Bluetooth proxies are great. But if you are just getting started, it is probably easier to just get a bunch of Shellys to (also) use them as Bluetooth proxies. Monitor the energy consumption of the heater (e.g., with a Shelly PM Mini Gen 3, EM Mini Gen 4, or if you need higher power, a Shelly EM Gen 3 or Shelly Pro 3EM), make a few lights smart, control roller blinds, etc.
It can be the case that a self-built ESPHome Bluetooth proxy works without any hurdles. When you are setting up HA itself, you might be happy if these just run OOTB.
Also, keep in mind that if you have a reliable Bluetooth proxy, you might not even need a USB Bluetooth adapter.
For Thermometers, I am relatively happy with the ones from ThermoPro, at least a bit bigger brand. The integration is quite solid, I have no complaints since one year of usage.
Never used a Shelly in my life so I wouldn’t know.
Shelly is one of the most used integrations in all HA installations, I think that speaks for itself. I think they offer a nice mixture of openness, easy-of-use, functionality, reliability, and good price.
Also Matter has a mfgr kill switch, so I don’t use that either. (re: your signature line)
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