Can I set my system so that the Thermostat overrides the system?
I have a smart thermostat set as the zone controller, and five smart TRVs in the bedrooms and living room.
I want the Thermostat to have overall control the whole house. E.g. if the thermostat is set to 21 and it is 19 degrees, then I want the heating to come on in all rooms, until the thermostat reaches 21, then all revert back to their individual 'target'.
Currently what happens is, (example) the thermostat is set to 21 and the bedrooms are set to 18 degrees, lets say the the temperature on the landing and bedrooms is 19 degrees so the thermostat calls for heat, but none of the bedrooms will come on (because they are set lower) meaning the thermostat is effectively being heated up by the small bathroom rad and once downstairs in the hall.
Thanks
Paul
Answers
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The way in which the Tado system works is that every smart Tado TRV has the same rights as a wired smart thermostat or wireless smart thermostat. The ones which dont need heat will lock their CH water flow off, whilst the ones which do, open their valves and also trigger a call for heat. So, if any call for heat, those ones will trigger the boiler.
In my home, the wired thermostat was used to control the entire lounge diner, which had three rads which would turn on when the boiler was fired - so its placement and role is strategic in handling a cluster of radiators.
Cant think of a way of forcing that one thermostat to rule them all.
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@PaulG86 Just in case someone can come up with an alternative approach, can you explain why you want all rooms to come up to the same target temperature which, for some, is above their own target before reverting to their own target please.
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@policywonk thank you for the answer, and the LoTR reference haha.
@samd there are a couple of reasons.
I installed TRVs to be able to remote control the house while we are out, but I still wanted my thermostat to act in the traditional sense, in that it makes the sole decision to call for heat which I can't do.
Say I want "the house" to warm up at 7am, including hall and landing, I'm relying on a small bathroom heater and a downstairs radiator to heat upstairs, and therefore the landing thermostat would never reach its target temperature, keeping the boiler running longer than necessary.
Alternatively, I could schedule all rooms to come on (let's say 21 degrees) but once the thermostat reaches its target, if the bedrooms are not there yet (say they are still at 20 when the landing reaches 21) then the bedrooms will keep calling for heat, when don't necessarily want heat, so it's keeping the boiler on longer than necessary and longer than it would have done prior to installing the TRVs, and therefore it goes against the efficiency I'm trying to achieve.
Now, I know what you're going to say, set the temperatures lower in the bedrooms, but again, if the thermostat hasn't reached its target yet, and the bedrooms have all gone off, it will keep calling for heat and take forever to get there.
Finally, when setting a schedule, having to set each individual room, means the boiler is on longer. If only setting the schedule on the thermostat, e.g. 21 degrees for an hour, then I know that in that hour, the boiler might kick in 3 or 4 times and go off when thermostat target is reached. Whereas setting the heat in every room for an hour could result in it kicking in 6 or 7 times or even staying on for the full hour, again countering the efficiency I'm looking for.0 -
I can't fully see why and it depends whether you have a modulating boiler.
If you had no TRV at all the bedrooms would heat freely and potentially overshoot 21deg unless you had a wireless thermostat on the landing.
If you had a dumb TRV the bedrooms would heat to whatever you'd set on them (and all the time).
If you have Tado, then at least you can have options but you have to work out the best way.
I don't think there would be any smart system capable of what you're thinking. How did you manage before??
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@PaulG86 From what you have described (temporarily over-heating bedrooms to warm the landing quicker) it seems to me that you are asking Tado to compensate for an inadequate heating system design/installation, particularly for the hall landing and bathroom.
Practical things to consider to improve the time to reach room tempearture are: 'balance' the heating system; increase the radiator sizes; move rad location; addding a rad on the landing; adding TRVs/Sensors to provide better zone/room control for the hall/bathroom/landing. That list has potential knock-on issues to carefully consider. I'd suggest that you engage a competent heating engineer to take a look at the problem.
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Thank you all for you comments, I think the general consensus is that it can't be done.
Barring installing a rad on the landing, which there is no space to do, the wired thermostat seems a bit redundant.0 -
Surely setting the TRVs to be independent and putting the thermostat in its own virtual room would achieve what you want . . .
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In theory yes, but don't have any rads on the landing0
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Oh, you need it where there’s a radiator, the traditional place for a room stat was the hall . . .0
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Your home sounds like our previous home. The landing was baking hot with an add-on huge rad. The other rooms were freezing cold as the rads were far too small on a one-pipe system. The boiler had to be on 24/7 in winter. The initial fix was upsizing the rads. Ultimately, the solution was new pipework, boiler and better controls.
The only practical suggestion is to use the wired stat as the ‘zone controller’ and forget thinking of it as the temperature sensor? If you can’t add a rad on the landing, can you increase the size of the rad in the bathroom and leave the door open most times? It’s unclear to me if a wireless stat in the hall would help or not?0 -
May sound obvious, but have you considered throttling down the bedrooms in the return valve and throttling up the landing, so that the landing heats up more quickly, is that's what you are really looking for?
Another idea, do you have a pump in place which can be set to differential pressure gradient? I find that they save loads of time when there is a balancing problem.0 -
@steveIreland My bad.
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