Support for UFH pumps

dkry

I have a single room with underfloor heating and would like to switch the manifold pump when the room calls for heat. This avoids inefficiency from circulation when the boiler is off. Ideally the pump would only be enabled when the room calls for heat, but it would also be okay whenever the boiler is on. I would prefer to use wireless devices only to avoid running cables but it seems the only way to do this with tado is to use an additional wired thermostat to control the pump.

I would like to see functionality added to allow more than one wireless controller to operate on the same network. This would enable a boiler to be operated at the same time as a UFH pump (or a fan, electric heater or anything else).

Alternatively, it would be beneficial in certain situations to enable the use of the digital output at the same time as the relay output (on a single wireless controller). This would allow full control of a combi boiler as well as an external pump.

These ideas should be possible to implement in software alone. It is disappointing to see that so much potential is 'locked out' from end users.

For now I am using a simple workaround with a philips hue smart switch and the automation app IFTTT. This works well but it should be possible to do this without a workaround.

Perhaps someone has another solution? Or will this functionality be added one day?

Rob

You can do this with tado° as well.

1. Wired with a wired thermostat, or
2. Wireless with 2 thermostats (one wired and one wireless) assigned to the same room in the tado° app. In your home, the wireless thermostat would be physically placed in the room with the UFH so it can measure the relevant room temperature. The wired thermostat would be placed close to the pump, and be wired to it. The wireless thermostat would be responsible for the temperature measurement, the wired one would function as a wireless receiver for this room only and not measure the temperature.

For radiator thermostats, you can add a wireless thermostat to the same room in the tado° app, so the wireless thermostat can function as the temperature sensor for this room and thus for the radiator thermostat. This principle works the same for the wired thermostat; it can outsource its temp measurement to a wireless thermostat. These two thermostats only need to be assigned to the same room in the tado° app. They don't need be placed in the same physical room.

dkry

Hi Rob, Thanks for the comment. So actually the 'wired thermostat' offers all of the functionality of the wireless controller plus more?

Rob

In principle, yes. With the exception of a second relay for domestic hot water in UK systems; you'd need the wireless receiver for that second relay. The thermostat only has 1 relay, the one for heating (for a boiler, valve, pump, whatever).

There is one fundamental difference though; a thermostat has to be part of a room, the receiver can not be part of a room in the app. This is mostly an important difference during configuration.

Here is a link for our Dutch readers, where this is common. See the last scenario.

dkry

The link describes the scenario perfectly, thank you for sharing.

Ive set up the system as described however when the room with UFH calls for heat it does not turn on the boiler. It only closes the relay to switch on the pump.

What needs to be done to switch the boiler on when the room calls for heat? I suppose ive missed something in the configuration.

Edit: I see now that I need to change the Zone Controller; or actually add both zone controllers to the same room. Is this possible?

dkry

Solved! I just needed to change my controller to HC01 (for both the controller and wired thermometer) and also 'ticked' the EK field.

It would be nice to have a better guide describing the function of each of the configuration parameters. It seems there are a lot of instructions for particular setups, but not so much to describe configuration in depth... or maybe I missed something?

Anyway, it seems to be working now :) Thanks Rob for the assistance!

pettair

Hi dkry and Rob,

Let me tell that how glad I am to find this post :D I was searching back and forth on the internet for the solution to my issue, but I found close to nothing until now. So my setup is fairly the same as you dkry described, but as a few details are not 100% clear for me and as I am a true newbie I would like to ask your help on this.

My setup at home:

• I have 2 water circles:
  • one for two radiators (I have 2 Smart Radiator Thermostat V3+ for controlling those)
  • and the other for the underfloor heating for the living room (I have a Starter Kit Wireless Smart Thermostat V3+ consisting of: a wireless thermostat, a wireless receiver and the bridge)

• Bosch Condens 2300iw boiler and a Grundfos Alpha1 L 25-60 180 circulation pump for the underfloor heating

  Now I have a dumb two zone thermostat which works like this:

  • if the first zone with the radiators activates it only starts the boiler and the internal pump of the boiler can circulate the water on this "short" circle
  • when the second zone in the living room activates with the underfloor heating, the thermostat starts the boiler and trough a 230 V relay it also supplies energy for the pump

  As I think you dkry has a pretty similar setup like this.

  So my plan to make it work is the following, but please correct me if wrong in anything about this :D:

  • I would need to buy an additional Wired Smart Thermostats
  • I would use the Wireless receiver as Zone Controller
  • I would wire the Wired Smart Thermostats to there pump directly and assign this thermostat to the living room also
  • In the app I go to the living room settings and select the Wireless receiver as Zone Controller

  
  

  I have a few doubts however:

  • how would I make the system know that the second Wired Thermostat should not measure the temperature
  • what is the mentioned "EK" filed which needed to be ticked, I looked around in the app but cannot find such setting neither in the room or the device settings 
  • dkry you mentioned the you had to change your controller to HC01 for both the controller and wired thermostat, however I cannot find such settings in the app, as I see the Zone Controller can be only assigned to rooms but not directly to devices

  
  

  Sorry for the long post :) Im very new this but I would like to learn :) Any help would be appreciated!

  
  

  Thank you!

gugionut

@pettair here is the Tado professional guide for this: https://cdn.brandfolder.io/607DGEMS/as/5fczjjnv4q4kq74hfshwqrht/Draadloze_Slimme_Thermostaat_Handleiding_-_vloerverwarming_en_radiatoren.pdf

Unfortunatelly there is no english version but the whole idea is to only configure the wired thermostat and the wireless one you just pair it and will be automatically configured.

jamese8

If my understanding is correct is a shame that relay and digital can’t be used on room thermostat.