How to prevent dangerous situation when Tado devices disconnect when heating is turned on?
During my absence, I was warned by my neighbor about a very high temperature in my apartment due to constantly burning central heating. Because I was not at home any manual action was not possible. I asked my neighbor to turn off the power to the central heating.
Tado support reports me that my Tado devices got disconnected 1.5 weeks ago while my heating was turned on. When Tado devices go offline they will stay in the last active setting - which is in my case - heating is on.
What should I do to avoid such a dangerous situation?
Can't I expect Tado to build in a security in the local devices to prevent this situation?
Answers
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What do you mean with "disconnected"?
Do you mean the bridge got disconnected from the internet, or the devices got disconnected from the bridge?
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The router was off line.
This is the answer I got from Tado support:
"Hello,
thank you for contacting us.
We have checked the data reports from your devices (while they were still online) and we can see that the devices got disconnected on April 27 while your heating was turned on. When the devices go offline they will stay in the last active setting - which is in your case - heating is on.
Here's how to control your heating when there is no internet:
"
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Router off line mean no internet, no wifi.
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Well that is actually a bug then. Of course when your internet is disconnected the Tado system can no longer be configured, and in fact it can no longer act on schedules etc.
However, when e.g. the schedule sets the current temperature to 21deg and then the internet connection fails, the set temperature should remain 21deg and that would mean the heating will remain on during the night, however it should NOT mean the heater would be continuously burning and the temperature getting out of control. It should remain at 21deg with the heater sometimes on and sometimes off.
When it really happened as you described (temperature way higher than the setpoint) that really is a serious bug and it should be fixed. However, I understand that this could happen in an installation with several thermostat valves and smart thermostats, and a wireless receiver or extension kit at the heater, and the internal communication going down e.g. because the bridge loses power or the wireless links are interfered.
Still not a good thing of course, but explainable. When it happens only because of internet disconnect, it is inexplainable.
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Thank you for your reaction. I have a very simple installation:
- a wireless receiver to connect the cv
- a wireless smart thermostat
- a bridge connected to my wireless router
How can I report a bug?
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>Router off line mean no internet, no WiFi.
@JanSpeksnijder WAN / LAN / WiFi don't need each other to operate. Basically WiFi / LAN can work without internet.
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No idea if there is any mechanism to report critical bugs like this... you will probably have to go via the helpdesk who will deny it all (see above).
I think all devices connect to the bridge. So when you have a wireless thermostat and the bridge is off, it may fail to control the heater.
However, in that case the wireless receiver should never keep the heater running at all times. Of course keeping it OFF also has disadvantages (possible freezing of the water). Maybe most prudent would be to go to a 5% on/95% off schedule? You are right, the software should handle cases like this.
Maybe in your case the power failed for the circuit where the router and bridge are connected, or you powered the bridge from a USB connector on the router, and the router power supply failed?
Fortunately I have a wired smart thermostat (with OpenTherm wiring from the thermostat to the heater), I think that configuration is safe from things like this.
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