Hello Everyone, I am a newbie trying to convert my heating into a smart system ! I am working on a HA setup using virtual box VM on windows 11 on an intel NUC mini pc. Looking for your help and recommendations on what smart thermostats and TRVs I should buy !
I am based on UK & my house is heated by communal / district heating (water based) with Metropolitan heating. I have a HIC unit (Danfoss HIC with Grundfos upm 3 circulating pump) and a Danfoss Sonoselect 10 meter built in. I also have a wired Myson MPRT thermostat in the hallway. Looking for recommendations and help on
Can I replace my thermostat with Nest Learning thermostat ? Google says it’s compatible!
I have 4 rooms with 6 radiators? I am also looking to buy Smart TRVs for controlling heating of individual rooms. Does Nest thermostat have to be compatible with smart TRVs or can I use HA automations to increase or decrease the heat of individual rooms ?
Can I use zigbee TRVs along with Nest Thermostat ? or should I only be using WiFi TRVs ?
Should I also buy temperature sensors or does TRVs have temperature sensors built in ?
Please help me to understand what Thermostat and TRVs I need to buy and convert my existing setup to smart heating system!!!
The hallway thermostat controls the heat interfaces unit (HIC) in the utility room. I am on a district heating / communal heating instead of a gas / water based combo boiler in the house. I know for sure I cannot use TRV’s to turn on / off my HIU. But current thermostat (programmable myson MPRT thermostat) lets me turn the heating on / off, set schedules to have low / high heat throughout the day !
Thanks for the info on sensors. I am planning to Aqara zigbee sensors for temperature and use the readings to turn on / off individual TRVs. Also thinking to use a zigbee thermostat to replace my current thermostat which is not smart but rather a simple programmable thermostat
So this HIU essentially controls all the hot water in the apartment?
I have never seen one but I googled what it was.
So both tap water and radiators?
And just to make sure I haven’t misunderstood, if you switch of the HIU when you leave the apartment then you use no energy at all?
And if you simply turn it on again the tap water and radiators get hot again?
Can you/how often do you control the tap water separate from the radiator on this?
Maybe I’m wrong but as I see it, it seems this unit is a Killswitch for the apartment?
So if you were to only make this part smart then you would be able to switch everything on/off with presence but one room might get hot/cold because you don’t have individual control of each radiator?
So what part is the part where the landlord measures your consumption?
Because making all parts smart will probably be expensive and might not even return the investment before one or more devices break
So this HIU essentially controls all the hot water in the apartment? - yes this pumps hot water to radiators - this is based on a Danfoss flat station HIU
I have never seen one but I googled what it was.
So both tap water and radiators? - it pumps hot water to radiators only. The central district heating system pumps hot water to taps seperately on a continuous basis and is not dependent on HIU unit in my utility room
And just to make sure I haven’t misunderstood, if you switch of the HIU when you leave the apartment then you use no energy at all? - **yes that’s correct **
And if you simply turn it on again the tap water and radiators get hot again? - no it turns only the hot water flow to radiators. Hot water to taps is seperate and not controlled by the HIU in my home’s utility room
Can you/how often do you control the tap water separate from the radiator on this?Preformatted text
Ok… got it.
So if you put TRVs on all the radiators then will the consumption be 0 when all is off or do the meter only detect if the HIU is on?
If the above anser is that it says 0 consumption when all TRVs is off then that is probably where I would put my money.
If you can fairly well use only the thermostat in the hallway to control the heat in the whole apartment then that will probably be cheaper.
But both seems overkill IF the consumption is 0 when the radiators are off even if the thermostat in hallway is at max.