losing Faith with Tado.

CukeUK

So we've had a wireless tado system installed by a qualified heating engineer but right from the start we've had issues.

There is one wireless smart thermostat in the hall and one in the lounge, with two Tado SRV's, as suggested by Tado. Then there are two more SRV's dotted around the house and the rest are just TRV's with the hall radiator as the pass through.

Right from the beginning we've had issues whereby the thermostat in the lounge calls for heat, I can hear the SRV's operating. However the boiler will come on for only a few minutes then go off again, but in a ready state as indicated by the power light being on. The radiators with TRV's will get slightly warm to hot but the ones that should be on as controlled by the smart thermostat in the lounge are stone cold.

The light CH light is illuminated on the receiver and I can see and hear that the CH pump is running. However it just sits like that and the boiler doesn't ignite again at all. After rebooting the receiver, often more than once, eventually it will all work, and continue to do so until the next time, although sometimes it's work just fine and others, like today, not.

The HW works perfectly to it's schedule with no issues whatsoever.

I've been in touch with tado support, for what it is worth for the past three weeks and we do not seem any closer to this being resolved. I've gone through all the hoops with them, getting exact times when this issue occurs, pictures of the wiring and god knows how many times I've been asked what system there was before, and also bypassing the receiver to test that the CH does comes on, which it does.

Before the tado system we had a Danfoss programmer and hall thermostat, I used to just manually press a button on the programmer and the heating would come on for an hour, this has been flawless.

I cannot say I'm impressed with tado's customers support at all, it takes at least 24hrs to enlist a reply and now that we seem to have established the house CH is ok my case has been forwarded to yet another another team whilst, often as not, we wake up to a cold house and I have to get up and reboot the receiver until the CH works.

I've requested Tado send me another receiver, said I'd cover the cost of postage, but they completely ignore my requests.

As an former IT Technician I've dealt with several different support teams but tado seem to be the least organised. There is no support phone number I can see, thus everything has to be done over email, and no obvious way to make a complaint.

Close to dumping the whole system really out of frustration but as we are both pensioners, and one who is recovering from cancer treatment, we cannot afford to be without any heating even for a short time.

hugbilly

Is yours a Y plan system? If so might there be a problem with the mid position valve ?

Johnandreae

I agree about the customer service . Long waits and all one needs is someone to speak to but that imposible

wateroakley

I’ve installed two homes with Tado, the symptoms you describe are strange. If it worked with the old controls, there is no logical reason why it’s not working when rewired with the Tado wireless controller. Possibilities to consider: a faulty zone valve, especially a mid-position valve. Mis-wired for a mid-position valve can show up as HW working fine and CH only heating when the HW calls for heat. (I’ve missed a wire when replacing/re wiring an old manual control with a newer timed control, and took ages to identify the issue from the rellies description of ‘no CH’). Could be a faulty wireless receiver. Unlikely to be too far from the dongle as HW works? Faulty boiler, faulty boiler bypass valve or external bypass valve.

if you can post some details your system, pictures of your wiring, make/model of boiler, zone valves, new Tado devices, old controls, etc, we can try to be more specific.

davidlyall

Have the valve bodies of the lounge radiators been checked to confirm that the pin is moving out when the TRV opens so that there is flow? This might not be a Tado problem but rather an issue with old valve bodies

Try taking the tado TRVs off and getting the smart thermostat to call for heat. If the rads still don't warm up then the valve bodies need attention or replacing. This can be a common problem that can start over the summer when heating isn't used

CukeUK

Good morning and many thanks for your replies.

1) Not a wiring issue as this has been checked as correct by sending photos to Tado support.

2) Not a valve issue, it's a s plan with two valves, as the CH works perfectly if I wire the system so as it bypasses the tado receiver.

3) When its not working correctly all the radiators bar the ones being controlled by Tado get hot then the system just goes to a ready state. Because although the Tado in the lounge seems to initially calls for heat, I can hear them opening, it will run until the water in the CH is hot enough for the boilers own thermostat to kick in. But then the tado system in the lounge doesn't seem to know the room hasn't reached its target temperature thus the boiler doesn't ignite again and those radiators remain cold.

4) I've sent photos of my boiler, programmer and wall thermostat to tado before installing and they gave me the direction for the right system to purchase.

This morning I put it on for an hour, like I always do every morning, and it is working OK the boiler is cycling on and off and the radiators in the lounge are hot, but then tomorrow, or the next day it might not. This is the issue, it's intermittent so I never know if it's going to work or not.

I have requested a replacement receiver from tado just to test but they just ignore my requests. I've also requested what tado's complaints procedure is but also heard nothing.

wateroakley

There are several potential reasons for the symptoms in 3). Call me old-fashioned, if this was professionally installed by a heating engineer, the first port of call should be the installer?

CukeUK

https://community.tado.com/en-gb/discussion/comment/69491#Comment_69491

Well yes but everything tado connection related has been passed as good by them. This morning all was good and the system worked as it should, however this evening both the HW and CH came on as scheduled at 16:30 and both the lights were illuminated on the receiver. All the radiators were hot aside from the ones in the lounge that were cold, which are the ones scheduled to be on and showing a target temperature of 21.5c, room temperature being 20.6c. The CH light went off 20mins into the schedule, thus the boiler also went off and we're once again cold.

I have checked the valves on both radiators in the lounge and they both move ok.

I've rebooted the receiver and as has been before all is working and now the radiators in the lounge are warming up.

bornjoyful

I had a similar problem. Turns out the installer did not install 3/6 of the TVR’s correctly - lwfr about 0.5mm of brass shoqing. I undid the tvr holders and retightened then reset the tvr (following the instructions) and put back on and all worked fine for a month and now there is a totally different problem.with the aettings in the app. Dreading having to negotiate customer service again.

CukeUK

Thanks for the heads up, I fitted the SRV's myself and I've checked both them both several times, even substituted for alternatives. I've even removed them entirely as the temperature in room that is measured by the wireless sensor.

However, as explained before, it will operate ok some days, like this morning, and others only a power cycle of the receiver will get it to heat.

davidlyall

OK, I've re-read your original post.

So, to confirm, the CH light comes on on the receiver and you hear the pump running but the boiler only runs for a short time. Correct?

This doesn't sound like a tado problem to me as the wireless receiver is providing a live feed to the CH motorised valve, when the motorised valve opens, it triggers the pump and boiler to run. The facts that the wireless receiver shows a CH light on and the pump is still running would suggest that the live feed from the wireless receiver is working correctly.

I would be getting your installer to re-check the wiring/function of CH side of the system as ultimately, you said you had a working system before they installed tado and now you don't

CukeUK

Thanks for your reply, yesterday, when we had the issue, the CH light was off on the receiver but came back on when I power cycled it.. However if it was wiring why would it work one day and not the next?

I've sent photos of the wiring to tado and they've said it is correct.

davidlyall

Ah, right. That is different from your initial description of the issue.

In that case, it does sound like you have a wireless receiver issue but really you need to deal with your installer rather than Tado in this situation

CukeUK

Thanks again for your reply, my apologies as each day goes by and I'm able to discover more on what symptoms I am experiencing.

I actually purchased this myself and then employed a heating engineer to install the receiver.

However tado has just been in touch and they're will to send out a replacement receiver to try, at last. So fingers crossed this will resolve it.