What happens to the existing heating programmer?

I'm thinking of upgrading my central heating controls, the main reason is to replace the wired thermostat with a wireless one in a more suitable location. The system has a ~5yr old Worcester boiler with hot water tank controlled via a mid-position valve. The boiler is in the garage, the pump and midposition valve are in an upstairs cupboard along with an electrical junction box with a lot of wires. The programmer (Potterton EP2002) is in the kitchen.

I have recently replaced the pump and midposition valve myself, so I think I should be able to install the Tado system but I still can't find answers to some basic questions:

I can see that I will need to disable the old thermostat but what happens to it and the old programmer? Where does the Tado control box live?

Neil

Best Answers

  • GrilledCheese2
    GrilledCheese2 ✭✭✭
    Answer ✓

    The wireless receiver replaces the Potterton programmer - the wiring is very similar. The instructions from Tado will likely ask you to connect together two of the wires on the old thermostat - bridging. This is effectively making the old thermostat circuit permanently live, so that the new wireless receiver can switch on/off the heating. You can leave the old thermostat on the wall or use a blanking plate to cover the wires. You can then put the new thermostat wherever you want, providing it’s within range of the wireless receiver in the kitchen.

    You shouldn’t need to touch anything in the junction box which is often a knotted mass of multicoloured wires.

  • Ben_UK
    Ben_UK ✭✭
    Answer ✓
    I have installed the tado extension kit and kept our old non-smart thermostat still wired in. I don't need where it is to be particularly monitored and it means I can switch off all rads by simply turning it down.
    All our reads have Tado trv's.
    Our smart thermostat is in a living room where the rad is behind a sofa so it gives better temp control than the fitted Tado trv.