Hi, I'm in the process of converting my old central heating control over to a smart system.

gazc

I think the Tado X system is the one to go for but I'm finding it difficult to get definitive answers on a few points.

My existing system has a zone valve controlling the downstairs radiator system actuated via a wired programmable thermostat, a zone valve controlling the upstairs radiator system actuated via a wired programmable thermostat, a zone valve controlling the conservatory underfloor heating actuated via a wired programmable thermostat and a zone valve controlling the hot water actuated via a cylinder stat. I also have a Honeywell programmer which brings on the heating and hot water at separately set times although as I have programmable thermostats I have the Honeywell programmer set with the heating permanently on.

I'm looking at replacing the Honeywell programmer with a WIRED HEATING & HOT WATER SMART CONTROLLER UNIT to mainly give me control over the Hot water and then three smart thermostat X's to replace my existing smart thermostats. I then plan to fit smart TRV X's to my radiators (11 on the upstairs loop, 5 on the downstairs loop)

My questions are.

1. Can I program the selected TRV's (as their respective set points call for heat) to activate the selected smart thermostat X, opening the respective zone valve and bring on the boiler, and when all rooms are up to temperature, de-activate the respective thermostat X, closing the zone valve and shutting off the boiler? I want to do this separately on the upstair and downstair loops.
2. Will I then be able to use a smart thermostat X to open the zone valve to bring on my underfloor heating in the conservatory separately.
3. Will I need a smart cylinder stat on my hot water cylinder (not sure if there is a cylinder stat X in the range.
4. Lastly will I have the choice of using the Tado app or the Apple Home app to do this ie is the Tado Smart X range fully Matter and Thread compatible?

I've looked at the Demo function on the Tado app but it doesn't allow you to put dummy devices in to test out a program scenario and the programming info is so sketchy.

What I don't want to do is buy the hardware and find that I can't program it in the way I want too.

Last question and the real killer - is Tado the best system to go for as I'm not sure how good the tech support is? I've also looked at the Drayton wiser system (good tech support but not as adaptable to my system and I don't believe it works with Matter and thread so no good for Apple Home), the Bosch Home system (expensive and the info on-line is very vague and not detailed enough and also wonder about tech support) and Hive (a bit old hat now and the TRV's have been singled out as being a bit flakey.

Sorry for the long drawn out description but I've been trying to research this for the past week or so and I keep going round in circles and can't seem to get definitive answers.

It's a big cost outlay so I want to get it right and avoid too many headaches.

I spent my working life putting together complicated PLC control systems for automated machinery and in that field there is alway a way to program the system to do exactly what you want it to do. Smart heating systems and the software just seem such a mine field when it comes to ascertaining what can and can't be achieved.😫

Any answers would be very gratefully received.

Tbridger

Hi. I am an ex plc programmer too and now working as an IT Systems integration engineer.
I have a similar setup as you with dual zone valves.
Hi
The answer to your questions are: -
1. Yes. Downstairs TRVs can be assigned to the downstairs wired Thermostat X, which is the zone controller for downstairs. When any downstairs TRV or the thermostat calls for heat the zone valve will open and the boiler will turn on. When all valves and the thermostat reach the setpoint temperatures the downstairs zone valve will close and the boiler will turn off. Similarly the upstairs TRVs can be assigned to the upstairs wired Thermostat X which controls the upstairs zone valve independently to the downstairs.

2.I’m not sure about your underfloor heating system but I would think you would need a separate wired Thermostat X to control that separately.

3.You don’t control the water temperature just the on/off times. The cylinder thermostat limits the temperature to your desired maximum water temperature, which is usually around 60 degrees.

4. If you add the devices to the Home app as well as Tado app you will have the option to control and automate in both apps. The Tado X devices are fully Matter over Thread compatible. I have used my Apple Home Pod Mini successfully but I would recommend having at least a second thread border router for redundancy. I’m going to add a Tado X bridge.

I’ve not had any experience with Tado support yet so I can’t comment on that, but I’m very happy with the Tado X system and it was the best choice for me. The Matter over Thread compatibility was a big plus for me.

I would expect your Apple TV hub to work just as well as my Home Pod mini but can’t verify that.

Best of luck with building your system.

gazc

One thing I forgot to mention. I have an Apple TV 4K wifi+ethernet and am hoping to use this as the thread border router. Will this be okay?

gazc

Thanks for your comprehensive answer. Very much appreciated. It’s so difficult to sift through all the sales blurb and get to how the system is actually programmed and what is possible. I’ve just got to decide the best way to purchase the parts. I read that existing V3+ users were offered a discount on X kit but I guess it won’t be available to new Tado users. I also believe Octopus offer discounts but only on V3+ at present. May wait until the new year and see if any new offers pop up.
Thanks again for your help.