Various issues with Tado system - can anoyone advise?
(long post alert)
Hi all, I got this around a year ago. I'm extremely disappointed with it so far and I'm really regrettting the purchase.
I have a smart thermostat and six smart radiator valves. I thought it would be great to be able to remotely control heating and especially the individual radiators in each room.
However, the system just seems to do what it wants and instead of saving money it's ended up costing me far more .
First and biggest issue is that radiators come on by themselves when I switch other ones on. For example, whenever I turn a radiator on downstairs the bedroom radiator comes on. it's showing as off in the app, and it's off according to the SRV too. There is no way whatsoever to turn it off unless I turn all the radiators off. I work from home so the net result of this is that my bedroom heating is on continously from morning to night every single day and my bedroom is like an oven all day long.
Turning a radiator on manually using the CRV still turns the upstairs radiator on. It's having a disastrous effect on my heating bills. As you can see in the screenshot, it's apparently 28C in my bedroom and the radiator is switched off, or should be. The entrance SRV (in the porch) is also permanently on and is at 24C according to the app, yet it's also switched off according to the app and the attached SRV.
By the same token, sometimes radiators refuse to turn on if I attempt to turn them on using the SRV rather than the app. I have to turn them on via the app or they just won't come on. Most of the time this doesn't happen but sometimes it does.
Next thing is the idiotic readouts from some of the SRVs. In the attached screenshot, the four radiators that are on are all in the same room. The smart thermostat says it's 20.3C. This tallies with another thermostat I have so I'm happy this is accurate. The 'Near Kitchen Entrance' SRV reckons it's 28C. This is no more than eight feet from the smart thermostat and yet it's 8C different. The 'Far Kitchen Entrance' SRV is two feet away from the 'Near Kitchen Entrance' SRV and somehow there's a 7C difference. The two radiators are seperated by a pillar so they aren't passing heat directly to one another.
You mgiht think the pillar in between them is contributing to heat build up and affecting the readouts, but the one reading 28C has the SRV on the opposite end of the radiator to where the pillar is. In fact it's on the edge of an open archway leading into the the (unheated and considerably cooler) kitchen, whereas the one reading 21C has the SRV close to the pillar. So you'd expect the latter to be giving inflated readings if anything.
There's no other heat source anywhere near these two radiators. The only other heating source is the third radiator, which is is almost 20 feet away and there's a sofa between the two. It's also worth noting that the third radiator 'Dining Room' is right up in a corner of the room, yet this also reads 21C. The bedroom SRV also seems to give an inflated temperature readout, as does the 'entrance' one.
The heating has been off for a while in the screenshot (thermostat temperaure reached) so the readings are dropping to closer to what they should be. They all exaggerate temperature when the radiators are on, but some more than others. Bizarrely, the ones that are in a corner, or blocked in are the ones that give the most accurate readings. The ones that massively exaggerate the room temperature are the ones that aren't blocked in any way. They're all installed in the same way, vertically, if that helps.
My next question is, is there a way to define which radiators come on when I turn on the smart thermosat ('heating' in the screenshot)? Currently it turns on two radiators out of six (and 'unofficially' turns on the bedroom and the 'entrance' ones). I can't see how to change this setting anywhere. It's unspeakably tiresome having to manually change six different radiator settings everytime I want to turn the heating on or off. Smart Schedule is unusable due to this - imagine doing six individual radiator settings for multiple time slots across multiple days. No thanks.
Why isn't there a button that just turns the heating off? It seems the most obvious thing in the world. I had hoped I could use the geofencing button for this, by changing it to 'away'. But nothing happens when I change the setting. Even when I go out. I get the prompt to change to 'away' mode so I change it.......aaaannndd the heating stays on regardless.
To my mind, this system is a pile of garbage. Such a good idea in theory, but it's awful and seems unfit for purpose. It cost me hundreds of pounds to puchase, and it's cost me hundreds of pounds in increased heating bills since.
Really hoping some kind person can advise how I can overcome these issues. Sorry for the long post!
Comments
-
I'm certainly no expert when it comes to Tado, but reading through your issues I'm wondering a few things (and it may be you have already tried all of this, so I apologise if I'm repeating things you've already done):
For the radiators that are coming on by themselves such as the bedroom, it would seem to me that the Tado SRV isn't able to fully close the valve properly. This would mean that whenever the heating was turned on elsewhere, hot water can flow through this radiator. The room will continue to heat up as it can't close the valve (or rather - it 'thinks' it has closed the valve). A few things you could try:
1. Check the valve pin hasn't seized up - remove the Tado SRV, and using something like a coin push the valve pin up and down to see if it moves ok.
2. It could be that when the Tado SRV is at its full extent it cannot push the valve pin all the way down. In my case, for my TRVs I had to use the Tado adaptor that comes with a number of different length pin extenders. If you're using similar - try fitting the longer adaptors, and recalibrate and see if that fixes the problem.
For the SRVs that seem to be reading really high - obviously them being next to the radiator can inflate the readings, but as you point out some of yours are reading way higher than others. It could be that those are faulty, but something worth double checking - do you have any temperature offsets set on any of them? Seems silly, but could it be the offset is set the wrong way round - so is artificially inflating the temperature?
Another thing to try here is to temporarily swap two of the SRVs - one that doesn't read high with one that does - and see if the high reading follows the suspect device or stays put.
Finally, it looks like you have all 6 SRVs and the smart thermostat in their own unique "zones", yet it sounds like several of these radiators are in the same large room - unless I've misunderstood? Is there a reason why you'd wish to control those independently? I wonder if they'd be better grouped into a single zone for that room, with the smart thermostat as the measuring device? This would mean that when you turn on the heating for that zone - the smart thermostat will monitor the temperature and tell the SRVs when to open/ close.
Again, it may be you have tried/ thought of all of these before, but just thought it's worth throwing them out there just in case any of it helps.2 -
Agree with cbd20. Though for maximum reliability I would be inclined to go a step further and fit new directly compatible valves (which do not require adapters) to all your radiators that are controlled by Tado actuators and re-calibrate the actuators. Recalibration takes only a minute or two and as you most likely are aware is done by just removing the TRV batteries for a minute and then refitting the actuator (bayonet fitting) to its plastic base and waiting till the calibration process has completed - the calibration display patterns on the TRV will stop. This will almost certainly solve your reliability issues overnight. Directly compatible valves include Screwfix Part 31811. If you do decide to fit new valves, I would use the opportunity to install the valves so that the TRV head is horizontal. This will minimise the temp reading issues and some of the associated control issues you have which are often due to radiator radiant heat.
0
