Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Thermostat
Hi
I am going to be changing my boiler and with it the thermostat controls. I am quite confused by the options and wonder what people thought of apps. I like the idea of being able to control the heating when I am away but I am not sure how it works. If it relies on wifi what happens is the wifi drops out. I am wondering whether to stick with more traditional controls. Would be great to have some advice on this?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JennyC on
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We have a Nest and love it. I’m not very technical but it couldn’t be easier and so handy to control from your phone when somewhere else. Never had any problem with the wifi dropping out.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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I second that. I've had a Nest for a few years now (since my old thermostat broke) and I love it. It knows when I am on my way home and turns the heating on for me!
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I just looked up as saw Kate’s comment below as we have loads of Wi-Fi outages but it never affects it. The nest doesn’t use Wi-Fi to connect to the boiler- there is a ‘heat link’ box wired to the boiler, and the nest dial communicates wirelessly to that but not using your Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi connected to the nest dial is needed for you to control the heating remotely and have certain functionality. Also the dial has a 10 hour battery for power cuts.
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We used this guy
Rokas Smart Services Ltd
075 1352 4811
https://goo.gl/maps/6BzJH7yFCpX1BTmE6
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Permalink Reply by David on
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I also have a Nest thermostat and also love it.
And I also used Rokas to install it, but if you're getting a new boiler then your boiler installation person can install it at the same time if you order the thermostat from John Lewis in advance.
When I purchased this house, there was a British Gas supplied Hive thermostat installed. It was good enough, but we experienced an internet outage and the thermostat stopped working. Later we had Wi-Fi interference from a neighbour and the thermostat stopped working. Finally Hive themselves had an outage with their web based APIs and the thermostat stopped working.
I investigated all thermostats when my boiler was being replaced, and the Nest 3rd Gen one is basically a tiny computer that you have locally and it stores everything locally and controls the boiler via the HeatLink box (meaning you can place the thermostat part in the room you occupy most, probably your living room). Wi-Fi is used, as is the internet, but only to allow your app to control it. Full control is permanently done via the local controls, so any internet outage doesn't affect your ability to control the thermostat.
Would highly recommend Nest... would also highly recommend Rokas but it will be cheaper just to get whomever is installing your boiler to do the thermostat at the same time.
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Permalink Reply by KP on
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Thank you Jenny. This is very reassuring. The thought of it being solely reliant on WIFI was making me nervous
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I got a wireless thermostat and regret it - it switches the heating on of its own accord if the Wi-Fi drops which is really frustrating. I wish I’d stuck with the traditional wall mounted one.
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That sounds annoying. It's that thought which worries me. It's hard to decide
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I have had a Honeywell wireless, portable thermostat for each of my homes since my first house purchase over 25 years ago. When I arrived in the UK I could never understand how people lived in a modern world with boiler-mounted on/off timer switches. The portable feature allowed me to set the heating for the room I was actually in.
I swear by it and have never had any issues with them. I don’t like the ‘smart’ feature of modern equipment that uses apps as this shares your personal data with ‘others’ though and so I don’t have this. Also I personally am wary of having to use my phone/tablet to control equipment. So I guess I am a sort of Luddite now.
But younger people have no hesitation in using their phone for everything, including payment. And you say that you are interested in being able to control the heating remotely. I would just say build in flexibility so that you aren’t reliant on only the phone/tablet/computer to control the system.
The most important is to select a system based on YOUR lifestyle needs. Don’t let the installer impose their own technical choices on you.
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Thank you JJ B. I'm also a bit of a Luddite which is why I am thinking carefully about using an App and also don't particularly want to share all my info with them. However I do also think some of this is unavoidable in the world we live in today. I totally agree it has to match my needs so this is why I am looking into all my options
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