Exaclty what Tado smart valves do - & other pre-sale tech queries.
Hi,
Struggling to find out what the Tado system can do - poor website info and a lack of customer support does not bode well.
What I want to do is operate each room as its own zone. So I can set different temperatures at different times of day for each room. This means I can get the bedroom warmed up to n° in the morning, then the bathroom; then a little later, the kitchen;for example. The sitting room on a weekday isn’t used until the evening and so will be on a low temp all day. My study is used all day but not in the evening. You get the gist.
Complication. I have a heat tank system. The tank is heated by the main boiler (oil); the back boiler of a wood stove; and an electric immersion element. The central heating is heated by the tank; as is the hot water. The main boiler comes on if the heat in the tank drops below a certain level. As far as any central heating control system is concerned, the tank is the boiler and it is always on. So no need for boiler on/off calls. Problem?
Sub-query. Some of my rooms have more than one radiator. Can I group these valves and treat them as if they were one radiator?
Sub-query. Can Tado learn how long it takes to heat a room so I can say, “make this room this warm at this time” rather than “turn on heat at this time”?
Issue with Tado. As far as I can tell, no easy way to contact support / customer service. Not good. I can’t tell from the demos whether the app will support what I want to do. So I’m looking to be very assured that I can do what I want to achieve before I shell out quite a lot of money.
Answers
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Yes, each room can call for heat independently and at different times. Yes, you can group several radiators into a room.
So far as tadoº is concerned it simply calls for heat when it needs it so if that means just activating a pump to circulate water from your tank then I don't see why that would not work.
Try emailing tadoº at: operator@tado-844a35e31252.intercom-mail.com
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We looked into Smart Heating Controls two years ago and took a leap of faith. It took us three months to figure how Tado works well for our circumstances. It's working well in two family homes. Our gas consumption has reduced by about 45%. The chart below is our daily gas consumption from 2018 in kWH vs outside temperature in degC (CET).
The system has lot of flexibility for schedules etc. Each 'room' (zone) can call for heat. Maximum 10 zones and 25 devices Alternatively, the room can be 'independent' and the Tado TRV acts like a dumb TRV. If the TRV is blocked by furniture, you can add a wireless thermostat in the room as the temperature measuring device.
Complication: Although Tado provide wiring instructions, I suspect your heating system is outside the DIY norm and may need a professional heating engineer?
From first principles: Presumably you have an ON/OFF timer for the boiler? Your heat tank has a cylinder stat? And a thermostat/timer to control the circulating pump ON/OFF for the CH rads? With a wireless starter kit, you could use the 'HW' channel on the wireless receiver as the ON/OFF timer for the boiler, along with the existing cylinder stat to control the valve/boiler/pump that heats the heat tank. Then to heat the rads, the TRVs (or wireless room stat) will call the CH channel on the wireless receiver to turn the CH circulating pump/valve ON/OFF. Do you need a 'bypass' on the radiator pipework as Tado TRVs will shut off water circulation.
Sub-query1: You can have mutlple radiators and TRVs in one 'room'. The TRVs in one room act together with one TRV as the temperature measuring device. You can also add a wireless thermostat in the same room, and that stat defaults to the measuring device.
Sub query2: We just set the temperature for each room at the scheduled times and let Tado 'do it's thing'. It seems to to keep most rooms at the set temperatures pretty well for us. I suspect you'll have to make sure that your heat tank is kept hot for Tado to 'do it's thing' with a heat tank system. Don't expect the system to guess perfectly on day 1 and have the ideal steady temperatures. It may take a little while to work it out how your home behaves when warming, cooling and adapt to outside temperatures. We have one room where we had to add a wireless room stat to get consistent temperatures. We have one bedroom where the Tado TRV temperature graph routinely oscillates +/- 2 degC when it's not heated. I put that down to the 28mm main heating pipe just below the riser pipe with the TRV.
Caveat1: Assume you have a reliable internet connection?
Caveat2: Important ... some users find the low power wireless that Tado uses for it's connection (not WiFi) is inadequate for very large homes, or homes with thick walls. We use a dumb TRV on the conservatory rad - the room furthest from the Internet Dongle
Caveat3: IMO, the wireless receiver is usually best installed inside the home. A few months earlier we moved the old contols from the outside boiler cupboard into the house by extending the wiring. Althouh the wireless receiver is just a white box, we can see what's happening with the CH and HW ON/OFF lights.
Caveat4: Best to buy the kits from a reputable supplier that has an easy returns policy if you find Tado is not for you.
Hope this helps and GOOD LUCK with what you decide to do.
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