Using Tado Thermostat with Non Smart TRV Radiators

All of my radiators in the rooms have non smart TRV connected to them (obv also non Tado TRV's). If I was to set these to 3 would they stop heating at TRV temp reached or are they all solely controlled by my Tado Thermostat which is in 1 particular room, meaning until that room hits temp on the Tado thermometer all radiators will be heated up?

Answers

  • I understand from your question that your tado thermostat is connected to a boiler and all radiators have no tado thermostats. These are all at level 3. Is that correct?

    In this case, tado will continue to demand heat from your boiler until the set target temperature is reached.

  • The TRVs will continue to operate as normal, regardless of whether your primary "boiler" thermostat is Tado, any other smart controller or just a dumb timer/thermostat.

    Firing of the boiler will be entirely dependent upon whether the main timer/thermostat is calling for heat or not. The TRVs will take the heat if they want it and the heat is available. If they don't need heat they'll shut off. If they want heat but the boiler is off then too bad. No heat for them.

    Of course, such TRVs may not have very precise temperature control - what exactly does a setting of "3" mean, and is it the same for each and every TRV? Also, are they definitely functioning properly? I say that because I recently replaced six dumb TRVs, none of which appeared to exercise any control at all over the flow of water. They were all unresponsive to temperature change and needed to go. That's when I first discovered Tado.

    First I replaced the defective TRVs with Tado valves. A couple of days later I added the Smart Wired Thermostat. I'm very happy with the operation of the system. The Tado SRTs on their own were good. Adding the Tado Smart Wired Thermostat made things much better still.

    I'm struggling a bit to see the same value in adding a Tado thermostat without the corresponding smart valves though. Maybe there will be some value, but nothing like having a joined up system where all the devices are talking and sorting things out between them - and with far greater precision and responsiveness. Having a single thermostat deciding whether all the other rooms can receive heat or not is very outdated and far from ideal IMHO.

  • Yes, that is exactly the way. The combination of many components will lead you to the right result.

    You need a relatively new boiler which preferably has a digital eBus. A thermostat or extension kit is then connected here.

    Every room should, if possible, be equipped with radiator thermostats and room thermostates. All thermostets are combined to form a permanent network in the app. A room thermostat is defined as a "measuring device" and that's it.

    To get the whole thing around, only window and door sensors are missing. And above all, there should be repeaters that can also network larger houses and apartments.