w.Intercom = i;Push notify users when there is evidence that the boiler/heat source isnt doing its job — tado° Community

Push notify users when there is evidence that the boiler/heat source isnt doing its job

policywonk
policywonk ✭✭✭
in Suggestions, Ideas and Improvements

It is a common problem for oil fired boilers, particularly those over 10 years old, to be heavily affected by wind speeds near the air intake. A sudden rise in windspeed, occuring within 1 meter of the air intake can cause the boiler's air mass sensor to misread the temperature and volume of air incoming and force the boiler's limit trip to trigger.

There are many other conditions which cause a boiler to suddenly drop its power output, when there is a temporary or even permanent fault. A boiler may stop firing. If it one that is run off a RELAY on-off dumb switch setting - a common feature of system boilers this happens:

  • The pumps will continue running,
  • The radiator valves remain open
  • Yet the boiler isnt producing heat - leading to a setting where the pumps are actually dropping the temperature in all rooms, because heat is now being lost in the pipes.

There are multiple mechanisms for the app to produce a notification when the heat curve isnt progressing as expected. One example is the open window notifiction.

It is proposed that the Tado app is modified in four specific ways:

  1. Produce a warning when there is evidence that the call for heat, present for at least 20 mins, but also where there has been the rise in temp over time is zero or less, recorded at any sensor, in the whole home. This would lead to a warning of a potential heat source malfunction.
  2. Produce another type of warning when there is evidence that heat is being produced but where there one sensor/thermostat is still seeking heat and also registered a rise of zero or less in in temperature.
  3. Allow users to set the default time for such notifcations and to agree to push notifications, with the default for this type of notifiction set at 20mins.
  4. Send a push notification as an app originated warning to the end user (this is a feature possible on both IOS and Android) -so that the end user is notified that there is a problem.

These changes would give constructive assistance to hundreds of users on this community who have heat and didnt notice it until the house was very cold - and then came on the community more than a little upset. It doesnt matter whether the problem is the boiler, or a Tado control. This change could enable users to become aware of a problem, and be given time, opportunity, to take positive action before a major drama occurs at home. They can, with the help of that notification, commence the process of working out a resolution, perhaps solving it before before it becomes serious.

Am not asking for Tado to provide a full, rigourous diagnostic library of potential fault notifications - just something to help end users hand serious incidents like this.

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Comments

  • FFM
    FFM ✭✭

    Just out of curiosity, and I never had an oil-fired boiler. What does "wind speeds near the air intake" mean?

    I had gas-powered boilers. The air intake was pretty much the boiler itself. It was in the bathroom, and it would use the air surrounding it, so wind speed could not be an issue.

    How are oil powered ones different? Do they need to suck in air from outside and thus get influenced by that? Can't they just use air around it?

    thank you

  • policywonk
    policywonk ✭✭✭
    Both use a combined flu, with intake in the outer channel and exhaust in the core channel, IIRC.
    Natural gas tends to be supplied to urban and semi urban areas. Rural and remote areas don't have a gas line so they run on oil, coal or wood pellets. These simply have one large cabinet with cast iron or alloy pipes running through them, a facility for the fuel to be loaded into that chamber, with a dedicated, sophisticated burner. Oil boilers tend to have Riello burners, so it downy really matter what the brand is, the burners are pretty standard.
    Oil boilers aren't as well regulated as gas boilers. Non condensing boilers have a very high exhaust temperature and that means their air flow sensors, being so affected by intake temps, can get things wrong very quickly. In Cambridge, Gloucestershire, Wales, Norfolk, most of Scotland, the forests, hills with low housing lead to profound wind speeds, right up to houses and trigger boiler trips. Some areas after more affected by others.
  • FFM
    FFM ✭✭

    @policywonk thank you.

    Yeah, always lived urban so always had gas.

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