What do I need

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I'm amazed at how little information I can find on the Tado site about what exactly I need so thought I'd post in here for a response.

I have an ideal Logic Heat H18 boiler with a 3 zone ESi programmer (2 heating zones, 1 hot water). My current ESi thermostats are wired in with one downstairs (zone 1) and one upstairs (zone 2).

I'd like to use my existing thermostat wiring where possible. The current heating/hot water starter kit seems to include a wireless thermostat which would mean having to make safe/patch up one of the current wired thermostats which I'd like to avoid.

What do I need to buy?

Answers

  • GrilledCheese2
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    A DIYer cannot directly replace a 3 channel programmer with Tado; a 2 channel is doable.. To have hot water control would require the services of an electrician to rewire your heating system.

    Assuming both of your thermostats are wired then you could use 2 Tado thermostats to control the heating zones. To do this you would replace your thermostats, but keep the ESi programmer. You would set the programmer to “constant/all day” for both heating zones and continue to use the HW program as before. Setting the programmer to all day just enables the Tado thermostat to have control. The Tado schedule will give full control of the heating on/off times.

    To do this you will need a smart thermostat starter kit and an additional smart thermostat.

  • AM549
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    Based on your reply sounds like Tado isn't what I thought it was or as widely compatible as advertised.

    Considering most new-build houses now use 3 channel programmers due to the requirement for multiple heating zones (typically downstairs and upstairs) I'd have thought this would be able to replace it directly via a combination of the available kits (as Hive can).

    Ah well at least it's saved me the effort of buying it, realising it doesn't do what I want and having to send it back

  • GrilledCheese2
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    If you do your research you’ll see that both Hive and Nest have the same limitation for directly replacing a 3 channel programmer.

    Search for “hive active heating multizone” on YouTube and you will see the Hive equipment for multi zone and a guy explaining that he had to get an electrician to do the install.

  • AM549
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    Incorrect. Hive for 3 channel requires 2 receivers (well documented), a heating and hot water receiver and a separate heating only receiver which can be installed in place of the current 3 channel programmer.

    Whilst I would have to secure and patch where the current thermostats are at least I would get my desired functionality of removing the current thermostats and programmer and replacing them with a smart one.

    From your original statement it appears that 3 channel isn't supported at all with Tado without extensive changes to existing wiring, where as with a dual channel receiver and a single channel receiver this is possible with Hive, minus the utilisation of the existing wiring