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I've tried searching and there are snippets from folks with these, but mostly on ancient long-dead threads so...
I'm partway through renovating a house, and shortly at the stage of working out the heating control. It's a Georgian house, but fully refitted with insulation, double-glazing etc.
The heating is underfloor on the ground floor, with each room on a separate loop; upstairs is radiators, again with each room on a separate loop; all running off an air source heat pump. And hot water will also come off the same heat pump I believe. There'll be several zones (downstairs kitchen, office, other rooms; upstairs); I could also use TRVs on the rads upstairs I guess.
Someone on here mentioned Heatmiser thermostats for running a system like this, and someone else mentioned Honeywell; but I've no experience of either, or of a heating setup this involved. Previous houses have been pretty simple, with just a couple of Nests for upstairs/ downstairs.
Soo... what should I be looking at, what do I need to consider/ know/ beware of?
Many thanks!
I've got a similar setup to you except for UFH upstairs and down (no radiators). We have heatmiser basic thermostats for each zone (every room). I have upgraded the one in our bedroom to a programmable one cos we don't want the bedroom hot at night but do want it to warm up in the morning. Also done the same for the one in the main living area, but really only cos the basic one developed a fault so needed replacing. In reality, that area doesn't need the programability.
I didnt bother with the wifi add on, cos I'm a pessimist and i think it wouldn't be kept upgraded and would be obselete or insecure in a few years.
what works well with your ASHP. thats where id be looking first.
It's a good question - and I've asked to have a chat with the ASHP guy to understand what he'd recommend
what works well with your ASHP. thats where id be looking first.
Thats a very good point. I started using Honeywell EvoHome in Yorkshire, and many heat engineers knew about the system and what to do with it. Moving to Shropshire, no engineers appear to know anything about it
ASHP are still fairly niche so when you get someone out to fix it you need them to understand your whole system.
looking at EvoHome it says 'now includes heat pump compatibility' so its obviously still a new thing for them.
My knowledge of ASHP is very very limited but I understand it works at lower temp, so takes longer to heat rooms? On a conventional boiler with EvoHome and each rooms temp controlled, we love that you can turn the heating off completely in a room when not using it.
The downside is then when you want to heat the room up it takes longer with the fabric of the room is colder. I thought ASHP worked best when you maintain a steady temp profile ?
My knowledge of ASHP is very very limited but I understand it works at lower temp, so takes longer to heat rooms? On a conventional boiler with EvoHome and each rooms temp controlled, we love that you can turn the heating off completely in a room when not using it.
The downside is then when you want to heat the room up it takes longer with the fabric of the room is colder. I thought ASHP worked best when you maintain a steady temp profile ?
So I know ASHP does run at lower temps than a conventional boiler; my understanding (theoretical so far) is that it also works best at 60-70% rather than flat out, so it's not well-suited to quickly warming up a room. The UFH downstairs is within a concrete slab, which similarly is slow to heat and slow to release its heat.
So quite the learning curve...
so it’s not well-suited to quickly warming up a room
I think thats where you need to get advice.
The example I would use is that we have a spare bed. In deepest, coldest winter we do not heat the room. However occasionally we might need to use the bed. It might take 1hr to raise the room air temp from 13/14 deg to a comfortable 19/20deg. However the bed is still cold when you get in it as the fabric of the room hasnt heated up, only the air. This also means that when the heating goes off, the room temp drops quickly.
It sounds like individual expensive room system TRV's may not be necessary as its better / easier to keep the whole house at an even temp with ASHP?
The company that installed our ASHP system recommended the Heatmiser thermostats, and the owner who talked us through the whole installation was fitting the Heatmiser programmable ones in his own system.
While its true that you can't change the temp of a room quickly, thats more function of UFH than heatpumps (heatpumps with radiators is a different kettle of fish).
There seems to be a tendency on here to overthink heatpumps.
I use Heatmiser NeoStats (and hubs) for wet UFH and rads off a Combi at home. I also use them to control electric UFH and fan assisted storage heaters in our holiday home.
They work brilliantly for both applications, the gen 2 Neo Hubs work with Alexa etc and also with door/window contact sensors.
I installed it all myself, all pretty straightforward.
Thanks folks, appreciate hearing your experiences. Does Heatmiser have any smart TRV options for the radiators? I'm presuming they'd be helpful for upstairs; but maybe not if upstairs has its own zone??