Tado, moving from boiler to heat pump. Including underfloor heating

tom_newbury

Hello,

I'm keen to install tado in our house. It uses a boiler, with three wired thermostats to control different areas of underfloor heating.

However we have a plan in the mid-term to fit an air-source heat pump and hot water tank. I'd like to fit a tado system sooner rather than later. When we switch to the heat pump, will that make the three wired thermostats useless? In which case maybe it's better to wait.

I've had a look through posts and not found a similar question - hopefully someone can help.

Thanks!

Tom

tom_newbury

Hello, still keen to hear if anyone can offer guidance - can I still use one (or more) wired thermostat controls with a heat pump & hot water tank? Or does this need a different thermostat?

Thanks!

Tom

1tom10

Hi Tom

we have had an ashp fitted by Viessman and they fitted a tado system to manage the radiator section of the heating system. There is definitely some issues with it as I had to pay to have it taken out and refitted in a different location - the controller uses RF rather than WIFI which is good and bad.

Before fully committing to a TADO I would do more research to ensure the product actually meets your needs. There is plenty of information online or come back to me if you have further questions

tom_newbury

Thanks Tom, super useful to hear bout your experience.

That's good to know. I don't think we'd have much problem with the controller, as it's likely to be very close to the heat pump itself in the house - but certainly something to be aware of.

Do you also use tado thermostats for underfloor heating? I'm still unclear on whether i'll need both when we have an air source heat pump, and so far haven't found any information on this.

Thanks!

1tom10

Tom that was the mistake viessman made, they put the controller near the heat pump. It does not work like that. The main controller needs to be within short range of the hand held temperature controller in order for it to connect and work. This was my point about RF, short distance, WiFi all over the house.

We have wunda for the underfloor heating because purchased it as a pack.

I hope this helps

johnnyp78

To put it in Tado terminology, the bridge has to be in range of all tado devices for the system to work. It’s more of a problem in large houses or ones with stone walls. They communicate on the 6LoWPAN protocol.

1tom10

Thanks Johnny for the clarification but the important point you make is a good one; the system is limited by both building size and thick walls of which I have both. Again in simple terms, not many people know what that protocol is but the important point is it has a limited range and my installer did not understand this hence it had to be re-installed in a new location.

My friend has radiator thermostats and they go out of range as they are on the third floor which is quite useless.

In a new build, built by a national housebuilder, I am sure the system is brilliant.

johnnyp78

Yup. In a small house it works well. In theory this limitation is going to be overcome when/if Tado introduces its next gen thread/matter compatible devices but there’s been no sign of that happening.

tom_newbury

This is good to know, we have some stone walls etc.

I can see some kind of extender kit on ebay, but not on the tado store, suggesting it's not currently in production.

Maybe i'll wait for a mesh wifi and/or thread/matter support.

tom_newbury

I'm also still interested in the question of Thermostats for underfloor heating. We have three, all connected to the same boiler. With a Heat pump, presumably we'd need three Heat Pump Connectors: https://smartapfel.com/heat-pump-connector-tado-introduces-control-for-heat-pumps/

Thanks,

Tom

johnnyp78

The Tado extension kit isn’t actually for extending wifi, it’s the old name for the wireless receiver. Might explain why they changed the name. As for thread/matter support, it’s been promised for a while now so i wouldn’t hold your breath…