Recommendations, please, for a new controller. The current one has a mind of it's own, even the British Gas engineer who came to do our winter service on April 21st ! had no idea what was going on with it.... He recommended a Hive Mini, but he would I think BG own them.
I don't want anything fancy or complex, Don't need use phone to set it. Boiler is an Ideal 30 combi and current wall unit is a Danfoss TP5000. Thanks.
Ted
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We have this
tinyurl.com/2crzry4q
11 years old and still going strong. Very easy to use and programme
There is a newer version available, when we got a new boiler last year it was no problem.
Last edited by: ORB>>> on Mon 8 Jun 26 at 16:56
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We have this
tinyurl.com/2crzry4q
11 years old and still going strong. Very easy to use and programm. There is a newer version available, when we got a new boiler last year it
was no problem.
I forgot to add that Drayton UK have a real customer service helpline,,
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>> We have this
>> tinyurl.com/2crzry4q
>>
I have the one on the left in the photograph, but it is branded 'British Gas'. It has worked faultlessly for over decade.
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I'm very happy with a Salus battery powered wireless controller which talks to a receiver on the boiler (Vaillant).
It is easy to program with a large display you can place where you like.
In our case in the hall at eye level.
A quick look on the web shows a receiver compatible with the Ideal 30.
It needs to plug into the front of the boiler.
The controller can even be programmed to change for Summer/Winter automatically.
If your Danfoss controller is wired you may need the Heating engineer to disconnect it, unless you can do it yourself, which I could not.
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I went from a conventional wired thermostat and programmer to a Hive last year. We only have the basic one without buying any extras but find it much better than the previous set up.
The old programmer was a pig to set and save and (for me) wasn’t intuitive so it took several frustrating minutes resetting as the seasons progressed. The Hive instead links to our phones and iPad. The programmer is on screen and you can programme it (with different times each day if you want) easily. We often go away in winter and it’s great to login a few hours before we get home and crank it up from frost setting to toasty at the press of a virtual button.
There are other controllers which presumably offer the same easy flexibility but I’ve no idea what they are like to use. The Hive is worth considering and seems to the default option these days. I forget what ours cost but it was around £200 supplied and fitted.
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I changed our wired thermostats for wireless EPH timer/thermostats upstairs and down. I don't need smart functionality, just reliable thermostats.
The upstairs 'stat was installed by the builders on the outside of the airing cupboard, so it thought the room was at 26ºC all the time. The wireless one is on a different internal wall (out of the sun, I quickly realised!) and functions much, much better.
Connecting them isn't too bad as long as you can see the terminals and have the dexterity to connect the wires, otherwise it would be best to get a sparky in for that bit.
Last edited by: Dave_ on Mon 8 Jun 26 at 23:07
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>> I don't want anything fancy or complex, Don't need use phone to set it. Boiler
>> is an Ideal 30 combi and current wall unit is a Danfoss TP5000. Thanks.
Hive is just on the right side of offering enough function without being fancy or complex. Does the job well in my experience.
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>> Hive is just on the right side of offering enough function without being fancy or
>> complex. Does the job well in my experience.
Coming to conclusion that's what I need.
Minimalist answer to how do I switch home heating from 'frost' to 'toasty' when I'm home while at Tenerife Airport.
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Thanks for all the answers. Lots of choice. Will give it some thought.
Ted
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Drayton Wiser also very good - if you have a Danfoss system already then you can just unscrew the old programmer and stick the Drayton one on the same backplate. Think you can do the same with Hive, actually.
Wiser will work as a straightforward room stat and programmer like Hive (though it's nearly all on the phone, you really only use the thermostat to bump the temperature if you need to), and designed to work with electronic TRVs.
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Have you got the Wiser smart TRVs FF? I put them in last winter and they seem to make my heating a bit more tricky to control, though it is more granular in that I can program each individually quite precisely (more so than old TRVs) (so I ended up having e.g. a cold bathroom calling for heat and triggering the boiler to go on when I didn't really want it to.
I reached the point of almost managing it successfully through Home Assistant by setting some rules like don't turn on the bathroom if the hall isn't on but by the time I'd got that far the worst of the heating season was over so testing will restart this winter.
I feel I may have missed something, as I know not everyone will be using Home Assistant (and I was reluctant to as well as I'm trying to keep things simple)
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>> Have you got the Wiser smart TRVs FF? I put them in last winter and
>> they seem to make my heating a bit more tricky to control, though it is
>> more granular in that I can program each individually quite precisely (more so than old
>> TRVs) (so I ended up having e.g. a cold bathroom calling for heat and triggering
>> the boiler to go on when I didn't really want it to.
I experimented with Hive controlled TRV's, and qucikly came to the conclusion that
A: Every rad needs to be TRV controlled
B: the boiler is almost contstantly on, feeding some rad or other*
C: TRV's (wireless or normal) are a maintenence PITA, with poor longevity and reliability.
*Issue I have is that my place is 1930's non cavity wall - the north facing side, and 1990's well insulated extension on the south facing side, both equal footage. Its a home of two climates!
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 16 Jun 26 at 09:03
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RE wireless TRVs controlled, I use a couple of Honeywell Evohome controllers. You have to change the batteries around every year, but apart from that they work really well. It means I can bring on one room's radiator while everything else is off, and remotely turning them on or off plus holiday mode is really easy.
Aslo integrates onto Home Assistant so is great if you're into that kind of thing and like to see historical graphs of temperature and heat demand.
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Yes, A & B are certainly my experience but I think with the Wiser system (or maybe any "smart") they are the only real control over the boiler if you want to heat rooms differently. The room stat is unused in my case.
I'd happily take advice on how else to configure it though.
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>> Yes, A & B are certainly my experience but I think with the Wiser system
>> (or maybe any "smart") they are the only real control over the boiler if you
>> want to heat rooms differently. The room stat is unused in my case.
>>
>> I'd happily take advice on how else to configure it though.
Think you can configure and tinker as much as you like, at the end of the day Gas Boiler/Radiators and a home environment with its open doors is utterly unsuited to individual room control.
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>> Have you got the Wiser smart TRVs FF? I
I did, but only in two rooms (kitchen and main bedroom, the living room had the thermostat so those radiators had no TRVs at all). I didn't experience the problem that Zero describes but it may be because I only had two rooms / four valves in total. You can't set the anti-cycling timer directly but you can tell it that an oil boiler is fitted which means you'll only see it fire up 3x in an hour.
It integrates with Home Assistant but I only used it for temperature tracking.
Whole system was replaced with a heat pump last year, so all the TRVs are wide open now anyway and the house is far more comfortable.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Wed 17 Jun 26 at 09:22
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Heating controller. - ORB>>>
