Non-motoring > Heating controls Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Crankcase Replies: 24

 Heating controls - Crankcase
You all know I know nothing about anything practical so I won't bother with usual preamble. I hope someone here has a thought to help.

We have a Drayton 102E5 controller by the boiler. It has times and days and that's fine.

We have a Drayton RF1 wireless thermostat in one room. It has temperature but no times.

I'd like to be able to set the thermostat to be at different temperatures day, evening and night. At the moment it just demands until whatever temperature I've set is hit, and if the controller by the boiler is programmed to be on at that time on comes the heating.

I thought there'd be something like an RF2 that was the same but wth a timer, but no joy that I can find on Amazon anyway.

I can find all sorts of programmable stats from various makers, ranging from £25 to £300.

Question is, do I need to also replace the bit by the boiler, which I'm happy with, or do they all work on a standard? There's some bumph about "universal backplates" for controllers, but I don't want to swap that unless I have to.

Helping hand in the maze anyone? Cheapest possible way of course.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 18:32
 Heating controls - Zero
At the end of the day, the thermostat is just a switch, and commands (or not) heat. All it transmits is yes or no.


Your programable thermostat of choice will have a yes or no receiver. You simply remove your current one, and replace it with the one you get with your new fancy thermostat.


 Heating controls. - Crankcase
Oh, so I have to replace both as a pair. Pooh. Oh well, probably won't do that. Terrible waste of a working gizmo.


Thanks.
 Heating controls. - Zero
>> Oh, so I have to replace both as a pair. Pooh. Oh well, probably won't
>> do that. Terrible waste of a working gizmo.

I didn't say that

 Heating controls - bathtub tom
What Zero's saying is you need a new controller (Drayton 102E5 controller), what Zero calls receiver and thermostat (Drayton RF1 wireless thermostat).

It would appear that Drayton regard your current thermostat as obsolete: www.draytoncontrols.co.uk/homeownerzone/informationcentre/userguides/

Your current controller appears to allow you to set different times for weekdays and weekends.

You will need a new controller/receiver and thermostat. You need to choose a thermostat that allows you to do what you want.
 Heating controls - Zero
>> What Zero's saying is you need a new controller (Drayton 102E5 controller), what Zero calls
>> receiver and thermostat (Drayton RF1 wireless thermostat).

No he is not saying that.

The controller should accept a hardwired thermostat. A programmable thermostat also comes with a receiver that acts as a relay and is hardwired into the programer. Logically it looks like a hard wired thermostat.


>> You will need a new controller
Not if it accepts a hard wired thermostat
 Heating controls - bathtub tom
>> >> You will need a new controller
>> Not if it accepts a hard wired thermostat

>>We have a Drayton 102E5 controller by the boiler. It has times and days and that's fine.
>>We have a Drayton RF1 wireless thermostat

That's an RF1 t/stat, perhaps the clue's in 'RF'. It's NOT hardwired!
 Heating controls - Zero
>> >> >> You will need a new controller
>> >> Not if it accepts a hard wired thermostat
>>
>> >>We have a Drayton 102E5 controller by the boiler. It has times and days and
>> that's fine.
>> >>We have a
>>
>> That's an RF1 t/stat, perhaps the clue's in 'RF'. It's NOT hardwired!

Currently its not no, but it still has a call for heat terminal in the controller.

Clearly I am unable to adequately articulate the situation, so i'll give up.
 Heating controls - No FM2R
If I may;

A wireless thermostat has to transmit its signal somewhere. That is to a receiver that is supplied with it.

That receiver simply receives a wireless "heat please" and passes on a wired "heat please"

The controller probably cannot tell whether it is getting the "heat please" signal from a hard wired thermostat or a hard wired thermostat receiver.

So if your controller is capable of taking one it is probably also capable of taking the other.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 23:45
 Heating controls - tyrednemotional
...the wireless thermostat in question has two components - a wireless thermostat, and a wired-in wall receiver, which is to all intents and purposes functionally like a standard wired thermostat. Instead of the make/break being actioned in this box by an internal thermocouple, however, it is actioned by the thermostat part sending a signal to it.

Conventionally, under this system, the boiler controller is used to set on/off times for room (and water) heating, and the wireless thermostat to set the maximum temperature.

It is quite possible to replace (only) the wireless sender and receiver unit to improve the functionality of the system without changing the boiler controller, but there are some caveats.

To achieve the functionality stated in the OP, a programmable wireless thermostat would be required with probably full separate seven-day functionality (if Drayton, then say a +RF3). The boiler control would need to be set such that a paired on and off time was at least as long as the first and last real demand programmed into the thermostat. (setting it to permanently on would be fine, but may cause the water heating to be permanently if the existing boiler programmer isn't dual-channel - i.e. you can't use it to set different on/off timers for CH and water heating - I think the boiler controller in question is not dual-channel).

As has been posted elsewhere, the existing wireless receiver/sender is obsolete, so doesn't lend itself to being upgraded with a new, more functional thermostat from higher up the range - though some RF2/RF3 appear on eBay from time-to-time.

The faceplate for the receiver does, however, appear to be compatible with the current Drayton +RFn range, so should be an easy change. (Incidentally, there is an implication that the current +RFn range of thermostats might be compatible with the later versions of the wall receiver from the obsolete model - those receivers marked "Drayton" rather than "ACL Drayton" might well be (they work on different transmission frequencies).
 Heating controls - spamcan61
>>
>> You will need a new controller/receiver and thermostat. You need to choose a thermostat >>that allows you to do what you want.
>>

Like he said - although it's usual to have controller and themostat as one, and the receiver separate, we recently had a Digistat+3RF and matching receiver fitted at Spamcan Towers for 150 quid supplied and fitted. Had a Salus one before that which was complete cack.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 20:01
 Heating controls - Robin O'Reliant
I married a thermostat controller. It would have been cheaper to have had an open fire and shovelled twenty quid notes into it. At the moment I'm too hot to move and she's complaining about the cold.
 Heating controls - Old Navy
>> I married a thermostat controller. It would have been cheaper to have had an open
>> fire and shovelled twenty quid notes into it. At the moment I'm too hot to
>> move and she's complaining about the cold.
>>

You could try buying her some clothes.
 Heating controls - Zero

>>
>> You could try buying her some clothes.

I think he is from the "keep them barefoot, pregnant and tied to the kitchen sink" school of man
 Heating controls - Runfer D'Hills
There is a huge difference of opinion in our house as to what the temperature should be. In the evenings, I'm often reduced to wearing a T-shirt and shorts around the house because it's so warm whereas "she" keeps turning the heat up.

I often leave the back door open for a bit of fresh air ( and to let the dog come and go ) and it rarely feels too cold to do that but again "she" gets annoyed about that.

My 15 ( nearly 16 ) year old son asked me something ( fairly astutely in my view ) the other day, with reference to one of the seemingly many loves of his short life to the effect of "Dad, can I ask you something...are all women permanently irritated about something?" To which I had to reply along the lines of, "Well, not all the time, but it's best to assume that condition is imminent"...

;-)
 Heating controls - sooty123
>> There is a huge difference of opinion in our house as to what the temperature
>> should be. In the evenings, I'm often reduced to wearing a T-shirt and shorts around
>> the house because it's so warm whereas "she" keeps turning the heat up.


Pretty common i think. I know a couple of blokes that wear t shirt and shorts in the winter inside because their OH have it so hot inside.

I find most places inside too hot, hospitals, offices, shops etc but shops especially. Why do they have the heating so high?
 Heating controls - Cliff Pope

>>
>> I find most places inside too hot, hospitals, offices, shops etc but shops especially. Why
>> do they have the heating so high?
>>

Anyone who wants the heating turned up in our house is welcome to go and chop some logs and cart them inside. Usually after their efforts they are then too hot.
 Heating controls - R.P.
He's growing up fast Humph.
 Heating controls - The Melting Snowman
People are too soft these days. We need another winter like '63 to wake people up.
 Heating controls - Zero
>> People are too soft these days. We need another winter like '63 to wake people
>> up.

Yer, in the 63 winter, we opened the back door and it was a white wall of snow higher than the lintel.

My old man threw me into a snow drift in the back garden, ( was 8) then realised I had disappeared and he had to come and dig me out.
 Heating controls - Runfer D'Hills
When I was a child, our back garden sloped away downhill from the house. The back step was about 4' long with a foot or so drop the first section of garden.

One winter when the current dog combination was a Retriever and a Jack Russell, the big dog shot out into the deep snow which had fallen overnight and was up to his shoulders in it once he'd got beyond the step. The wee Jack Russell ran after him and completely disappeared. We had to get the Retriever to find him and dig him out.
 Heating controls - The Melting Snowman
I remember helping my father change the gearbox on a Landrover, it was a few days after Christmas and I remember it was an awkward job with everything seeming frozen up and cold, snow and ice on the ground. The spanners would stick to your skin. These days lads wouldn't want to get their hands dirty, too busy updating Facebook on their smartphones.
Last edited by: The Melting Snowman on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 21:39
 Heating controls - Runfer D'Hills
Too true Snowman. My childhood home didn't have central heating so while the sitting room and the kitchen were warm enough, in winter the rest of the house was cold unless someone could be bothered to light a fire in any other room.

I can remember sitting in my room studying for school exams with ice on the inside of the windows and being able to see my breath.

It seemed normal enough at the time strangely.
 Heating controls - Old Navy
>> Yer, in the 63 winter, we opened the back door and it was a white wall of snow higher than the lintel.

I was in Malta for that winter, there were a few snow showers. The locals were seriously unimpressed
 Heating controls - Fursty Ferret
Replace with a Hive thermostat (or any wireless controller) and you'll probably find that the controller is a simple swap with no wiring changes needed since they use a common backplate.
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