Preventing radiator valves from getting stuck

papayo

Please, add this as an opt-in setting

VF93

Hi all,

Sorry to bring this up again, after all this time.
It seems I have the same problem of you, having 2 radiator valves with the black pin stuck inside; I've tried to move it a little, even pull it out, but didn't work.

Did anybody figure out how to solve this?

At this point I don't think Tado will implement this feature any time soon.

Thanks in advance!

finess

Hi VF93,

This Youtube video demonstrates it; while the audio is in Swedish, the video itself is hopefully sufficient to help you out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcDRB9xaLD8&ab_channel=StockholmExergi

I've successfully followed these steps myself. Additionally, I wipe the pin off (after I've exercised it) with cotton pads to make it run more smoothly, and also add a small, small drop of neutral oil (something like sewing machine oil) on the pin. However, note that I still have to exercise the valves once a year when winter approaches.

Best of luck to you - we'll have to help each other out, as Tado decided not to!

finess

My two cents on Tado's feedback:

• "It seems that the calcification problem is more theoretical than a real problem."
  • In other words, Tado fails to recognize the problem, essentially invalidating our opinion. Cheers, Tado.
• Our Smart Radiator Thermostats are not fully silent, this means that if we move the motor, people will notice and would start wondering why the motor moved in the middle of summer. This means you would have to exclude this from being done in the middle of the night. But even during the day this could disturb people who are on shifts.
  • Make it an opt-in feature then, and let people set the frequency or define a schedule themselves. (now that was a tough nut to crack)
• Some heating systems provide hot water all year round, and the only thing stopping a radiator from heating up is that the radiator valve is closed (district heating, or multi-family homes that are common in Germany). By opening the valve and closing it again shortly after, the radiator would heat up. Not ideal when outside temperatures are above 20 degrees.
  • Do you really think exercising the pin once a week, which takes approx. 10-20 seconds for the thermostat, will cause the radiator to heat up even noticeably? Wow.
• What to do in a low battery situation? (Can't risk the valve remaining open because the battery ran low)
  • if battery.percent >20%: exercise valve; else: do not exercise valve; (another really tough nut to crack)

I'm genuinely surprised by the complete lack of creativity and initiative that the Tado team is showing - all I'm hearing is excuses.

By the way folks, there are other thermostats out there that have this feature, such as Danfoss.

johnnyp78

In fairness, I think the Tado team on here are largely deployed to explain why Tado can’t or won’t do something that involves a significant software update. I’ve said it before but it would make sense for Tado to have a power user app that contained all these features, and a basic app for people who just want as simple control over their system as possible.

BrianJensen

Had i know beforehand how Todo ignores their users I would have stuck with Danfoss.

But since i didn't here's what i do every april.

I program Smart Schedule to OFF for every day, and then set sunday from 0345 to 0400 to max.

Sadly you cannot do less than 15 mins in Smart Schedule, but it works. The valves never gets stuck any more.