Future proofing & old boilers

BloiceSmith

I am planning to install a Tado system. My boiler is old. A V3+ system would be perfectly adequate at the moment. However, if I replace the boiler with a heat pump in the next few years will I regret not fitting the X system? Why?

Emcee

Hello @BloiceSmith

I am not the type to upsell. In fact, I often encourage users in the community to stick with V3+ if they have a 'normal' sized home and don't face any imminent issue with their system.

However, if you are quite certain you will install a heat pump in the future, I think tado° X might be a better option for you. This is for the simple reason that tado° X offers a Heat Pump Optimizer. The Heat Pump Optimizer X will give you smart control over your heat pump via the tado° app and will help your heat pump work more efficiently thanks to feedback from your room control devices. You can read more about this feature here. This feature is not available with V3+.

Since you state your current boiler is quite old, before purchasing tado° X, be sure to reach out to our support agents in order to perform a compatibility check. You can contact them through our live chat. Tell them you are interested in tado° X. They can confirm whether X will work with your current set-up.

If you'd like to perform more research on the topic, be aware that tado° has 2 Help Centers. One Help Center for V3+ (and earlier gens) and one Center for tado° X. Whichever generation our support agents suggest, please use the appropriate Help Center as your 'source of truth' once you make your purchase. Not all features available with tado° X are available with V3+ and vice versa.

wateroakley

Hello @BloiceSmith Welcome. @Emcee has given excellent pointers. My suggestion is to look at what you are trying ot achieve, short-term and long-term.

Benefits. Our objective was to save money on the gas bills and took the plunge nearly three years ago. The ROI was less than 12 months, whilst others on this forum mention 24 months. By scheduling the individual rooms with TRVs, the bonus was finding the room temperatures were more comfortable,

V3+ Features and limitations. a) Users can request the 'off-line schedule' feature. b) If you have a larger home, or it has thick walls, please be aware of potential connectivity range issues with the single Internet dongle. c) Some broadband router brands don't like the Internet dongle. The solution usually is to install a cheap ethernet switch or wifi extender with an ethernet port. d) Limits of 10 'heating' zones and 25 devices.

Results. This is a graph of our monthly percentage kWH for heating and hot water 2022-24, compared to mean kWh at the same outside temperature (CET) in 2018-21. The monthly results are largely down to the system scheduling flexibility, and geo-fencing, to suit our diaries. Whilst November is 50%, the 'lookup table' for recent colder days (we've been at home) are 70-85%, which may be more representative for users. No promises that the same results can be achieved by everyone.

Lastly, new users will find that there are experienced and helpful V3+ users on the UK forum.

EDIT: typos.

BloiceSmith

Thank you to @Emcee and @wateroakley for these helpful answers. Some of the V3+ offers at the moment are great, but not much use if the top of my house is out of range of the dongle or if I have to spend the money again in a year or two's time when I replace my boiler. However the ROI point by @wateroakley is well made. I will get a definitive answer from the help centre about the compatibility of tado° X with my present boiler and make a decision.