Can I have 2 wireless thermostats?
Hello. My heating system has 5 zones, each controlled by a 2-port zone valve. I currently have 2 wireless Honeywell stats, and 3 wired stats. I have a combi boiler and do not need hot water control. I do not have or want any TRVs.
Can I have 2 Tado wireless stats on the same system?
https://support.tado.com/en/articles/3752262-how-many-rooms-and-devices-can-i-have-in-my-tado-home says you can only have either1 Extension Kit or 1 Wireless Receiver
Until I read this, I was looking at buying 2 x Wireless Smart Thermostat with HW at £99.99 from Screwfix, and 3 x Wired Smart Thermostat add-on at £107.48.
I presume I can turn off the HW mode, and pair everything with just a single Internet Bridge and this seems to be the cheapest way to go. Or can I use a wireless thermostat as a wired one, and buy 5 kits at £99.99 from Screwfix and throw away (or keep as spares) the additional relays and bridges?
Thanks.
Best Answer
-
The uk wireless receiver can only provide one channel for heating unless you want to bodge it. You could wire two zone valves in but one would show on the app as a hot water control.
If you can’t get wiring to where your current wireless thermostats are, you can use two additional wireless temperature sensors to replace them, along with the five thermostats wired to the zone valves. It’s a significant cost though so will be important to make sure all devices can get a signal to the Tado bridge.0
Answers
-
There’s no such thing as a Tado wireless thermostat. The smart thermostat can be used wired or wirelessly. However you can only use one wireless receiver per installation. Your installation is going to be complicated anyway as you have so many zones but as you don’t need hot water control you should be able to use five smart thermostats wired to each zone valve. It depends on the programmer your existing wireless stats are connected to though and is likely to require some rewiring.
You should in theory be able to use 1 wired starter kit and 4 add on smart thermostats.
Given the amount of zones, your house sounds like it’s quite large. It’s worth having a look on the forum on connectivity issues Tado users with larger houses have faced before diving in.0 -
That was a very quick reply. Thank you.
As the wireless receiver has two channels (heating and HW) it would be nice if it could be used as 2 x heating, but I see no indication that this is possible.
It's not a large property, but in the days before programmable TRVs, having separate zones for each room was the only way to go, and I don't want to change that now, and neither can I get wiring to the two wireless zones.
The existing stats are all programmable. There's a rather over-stuffed wiring centre but no other programmer. The auxiliary contacts on the zone valves are wired in parallel to provide switched-live to the boiler.
0 -
Thank you. Looks like it's Netatmo then 😦
0 -
@JonathanLondon although the documentation has always stated only one wireless receiver can be used, recently someone posted that they have a working system with two.
As you have no need for hot water you can also use a wired thermostat grouped with a wireless temperature sensor to replicate the function of the wireless receiver. The wired thermostat goes next to your wiring centre and the temperature sensor is located in the room.
0 -
@GrilledCheese2 Thank you so much for this information. I am now unutterably confused.
Looking at https://www.tado.com/gb-en/wireless-temperature-sensor-overview > Where to buy > Screwfix takes me to https://www.screwfix.com/p/tado-smart-wired-heating-thermostat/983ht which is a wired thermostat.
I am following up with the installation team at Tado, who previously reiterated the "max one wireless stat" message.
0 -
Tado support is really responsive. They say "we do not support having 2 Wireless Receivers in the same installation. We do not guarantee it will work and unfortunately can't help if it doesn't. For some customers it works, for others, it doesn't and then they have to uninstall it."
0 -
It’s entirely possible to do the installation you want without a wireless receiver, it’s just a question of whether you think it’s worth the outlay.0
-
I have now had confirmation from Tado that "the wireless Smart Thermostat can be used as Temperature Sensor, it just can not be used as a wired Smart Thermostat" The Screwfix pricing is attractive, and I can buy a wireless thermostat with relay for less than a remote temperature sensor. So I can go with two wireless smart thermostats and if the second one doesn't work, I have to buy a wired thermostat and mount it next to the boiler.
0 -
Just to make it clear: You’re going to need a wireless temperature sensor AND a wired thermostat for each zone that currently has a wireless thermostat. So you’ll need five wired thermostats to control the zones and two wireless temperature sensors to replace your current wireless thermostats.0
-
@johnnyp78 Thank you. My understanding from Tado is that I can replace the existing 2 wireless and 3 wired thermostats with 1 x wireless starter kit, and 4 x wired stats, with a remote sensor on one of them. It's also possible that two wireless stats will work, but they cannot guarantee that as a supported solution. The cost from Screwfix of a second wireless starter kit from which I can use the wireless stat and relay is £99.99. If that doesn't work, I can use the wireless stat as a remote sensor and buy another wired stat.
0 -
No that’s not quite right. Wireless thermostats are fine, they’re telling you two wireless receivers aren’t supported. You’re right though - one wireless starter kit will give you the wireless temp sensor and wireless receiver, which covers one zone, then you need four more wired thermostats for the remaining zones, plus an add on wireless temperature sensor (which you can usually find for about £70).0
-
They are telling me two wireless receivers MIGHT NOT work. They have also said that the wireless thermostat (e.g. in a wireless starter kit) can be used as a wireless sensor. So I can buy two wireless starter kits, and if the second wireless receiver doesn't work I can repurpose the wireless thermostat as a wireless sensor and buy an additional wired thermostat.
0 -
Ah I see. It’s strange but not totally surprising of Tado that they don’t know whether their own devices will work like that, but I guess there’s only one way to find out.0
-
They have been very responsive, but the pointers I've received here have been valuable when challenging Tado's initial advice. Yes, there's only one way to find out. Let's hope it isn't too painful!
0 -
Hi, I posted the message that I had two wireless recievers working but depsite this working fine, I had to remove the second one before I could get any support - even though the issue I had was unrelated. As it was such a minor cost difference, no harm done and I have a spare wireless reciever. I overcame my zone challenges with a pair of extra wired Smart Thermostats.
The way I believe this is intended to work is the WIRED Smart Thermostat can be operated as a zone controller and then you can connect WIRELESS Sensors to it to demand heat.
0 -
@Lavericksg Thank you for your update. So if I understand correctly, instead of buying a second wireless starter kit (Screwfix item 701kg @ £99.99) I need to buy a wired thermostat (Screwfix item 186kg @ £84.99) and a remote temperature sensor (Amazon B08D6VJVFG @ £79.95). Instead of the remote temperature sensor I could buy another wireless starter kit from Screwfix and abandon the wireless receiver?
I appreciate your help on this! So far I have just bought the first wireless starter kit, to check it behaves as expected.
Very many thanks
0 -
I'm doing initial research re. switching over to a smarter heating set-up. I have a 2 zone heating system and also surprised to read that Tado don't support multiple wireless thermostats in a single house.
Noddy question, when you have set-up a wired thermostat + used the 2nd wireless thermostat as a temp sensor are you setting the temperature on the wired thermostat super slow so it effectively doesn't control the system.
Also, interested why you persisted with Tado over other systems (which I'm now about to research). Is lack of support for multi-zone common? or does Tado have killer features that others don't?
0 -
Tado supports multiple smart thermostats but not multiple wireless receivers. A thermostat can be used as the zone controller without being a measuring device. You don’t set the temperature on the device, you set it per room that you have created on the app and put the devices in.0
-
@MRWessle00 The limit, afaik, is one wireless receiver as a zone controller to control two physical zone valve (eg S-plan for CH and HW) and multiple wired thermostat to control a multiple physical zone valve. In the app, you’ll associate your wireless room thermostat or wireless TRV with a zone controller. Wireless thermostats are more accurate and can be used in the same room as a wired stat zone controller or smart TRV for the room temperature measurement device.
There are some limitations and quirks. There is no wireless Tado HW tank thermostat. There are Tado app limits of 10 zones and 25 devices.
We measure usage with Tado controls compared to four years pre-Tado monthly usage at the same outside temperature CET. It took three months to figure out what worked well for us and find the best energy savings from fastidious use of heating/HW control-ability and geo-fencing. After 18 months, Tado has helped us save about 45% annually. Three months of daily manual interventions with a programmer, room stat and dumb TRVs had achieved 10-15%. ROI will vary with energy prices. Our ROI was about 8 months at April 23 energy prices. No promises that anyone will achieve the same savings with Tado.
0 -
@MRWessle00 "Also, interested why you persisted with Tado over other systems"
I was looking to replace some Honeywell thermostats, where the LCD displays are failing. Apparently a common problem.
My requirements were a mix of wireless battery-powered thermostats, and mains-switching battery-powered thermostats. Bonus marks for smart-phone compatibility. Extra bonus points for Home Assistant integration.
I tried a Drayton stat first. It kept losing its pairing with the phone, and when it was paired, it locked out local control.
That left Hive, Nest and Tado on my short list. I couldn't run additional wiring, and I didn't want USB power bricks. I ended up with Tado. Unfortunately I've been quite ill since then, and haven't got around to doing the rollout yet. Hopefully before this winter.
0 -
I’m a newbie to this and am pretty confused! I bought two wireless starter kits to replace two wireless Hive’s controlling a two zone system (three including HW), and installed a load of smart TRV’s. One of the TRV’s massively overshoots and Tado “support” refused to look into it because I have two wireless receivers (an “invalid set-up”). Frankly they just wanted me to go away.
I do have some legacy wiring that I could probably use, so was going to buy a wired starter kit and install it alongside one wired one. Does this make sense or is there a better option? Advice greatly appreciated!0 -
CORRECTION. was going to buy a wired starter kit and install it alongside one wireless one0
-
My understanding @JohnnyD is that two wireless stats work perfectly, but are not "supported". Tado need to fix this; perhaps they can't. As I haven't got around to my conversion to Tado I cannot confirm this, but my understanding is that you can put a wired stat next to your boiler, and use the wireless stat without its relay base station, as a remote sensor reporting in to the wired stat. If you try this, I'd appreciate it if you could report back.
0 -
Hi,
I'm quite dumb when it comes to heating and plumbing systems. I've been trying to figure out if I can get a system setup to work for me, have been searching the forum for definitive answer and yet to find it, but that could be more my lack of knowledge than anything. This thread seems to have some very knowledgeable people so I'm hoping someone will look kindly on me and be able to answer my query.
I have a Viessman boiler, it's not a combi so I think it's a system boiler. We have two zones. One for heating, one for hot water.
There's an EPH controller connected which has dual zone control and timers. This has a wireless connection to two thermostats. One for the heating is in the hallway and is completely wireless. The second is wired to the hot water tank but I believe is wirelessly connected to the controller.
I was hoping to put in a Tado system as it appears to be well priced and function rich from what my basic understanding is and it appears to claim it's an easy self install with no expertise and pretty much most system makes and radiator valve types. I wanted to put TRV's in most rooms but no necessarily all
- Can a Tado do this? I'm seeing a lot of talk of not supporting more than one wireless receiver. Does this mean it won't connect my two wireless thermostats? If it can connect wirelessly to multiple TRV's this seems odd to me, so again may be my very basic understanding
- If it can't do this, would an alternative be to replace every TRV with a Tado wireless removing the need for a central thermo to control the heating zone? This would mean I couldn't change say 50% to Tado TRV's and keep 50% traditional as they are now?
My issue appears somewhat similar to the information in this thread so hoped it might be possible to get an asnwer here than start a whole new thread elsewhere.
Appreciate any insight anyone can give.
Brian
0
