Oil condensing boiler using smart start?

Andy1T

Hi
We have an old stone cottage, 2ft thick walls, old double glazing throughout and very little loft insulation.

The system works quite we but I'd like to improve control of temperature on the house. We only have crads on the living room, from hall and bathroom. The Honeywell bimetallic strip star is in the unheated back hall (historically out there).

I am considering replacing the existing TRVs with smart Tado TRVs to allow control of room temperature via Home Assistant.

Is this possible?

Do I need to install the Tado smart thermostat as well?

Can I just set the existing Honeywell stay at say 30degC and simply let the TRVs control room temps?

If and when the Buderus oil boiler fails (it is 20 years old but serviced annually and under a contract) it is likely we will go down the infrared or electric panel radiator route (less water around the house to leak the better). Could the Tado smart star then be used to control the infra red panels?

Can the Tado stat take outside temps from our Ecowitt weather station or from a feed via Home Assistant?

Sorry very much a newbie at this.

Thanks
Andrew

hugbilly

If you have internal stone walls I would be concerned that the tado° system’s rather weak RF communication might not work. You might want to consider an alternative make where signal boosters are available . . .

Andy1T

Thanks. Refreshingly honest.

I take it then that Tado do not/cannot use any form of mesh network such as Zigbee? I already have that running successfully.

I do have a number of WiFi repeaters and signal strengths everywhere are of the order of - 50db or thereabouts. Would Tado not use that? I did not see anywhere in the setup videos on YouTube where connection was made to the existing WiFi.

Thanks for useful info.

cuke2u

No Tado, like Wiser for example, use their own WiFi connections and it isn't possible to boost the Tado connections.

The Wiser setup is similar but their smart plugs can be used as range extenders. The weakness of the Wiser system is that the hub also has weak connectivity to the router.

Swings and roundabouts really and you'll only know when you try unfortunately.

wateroakley

If you are thinking of Tado, you could try buying a starter kit and trv from one of the reputable suppliers with a flexible returns policy (perhaps screwfix?). You could then test the kit and trvs in different rooms to see if it would work for you.