Programmable thermostats

[Armo74]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could explain a little more on how these work please. As i understand it you can use them to set specific temperatures for different times of the day.

Do you have to have the programmer constantly on?

Are they suitable for all types of heating systems?

How much different are they to normal dial and digital room thermostats?

Thanks in advance.

[BOD]

Is there something specific you've got in mind that you want one for ?

[Armo74]

Thanks for the reply bod, Nothing specific just like to know how these things work.

[BOD]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could explain a little more on how these work please. As i understand it you can use them to set specific temperatures for different times of the day.

Do you have to have the programmer constantly on? Yes if your going to be using it

Are they suitable for all types of heating systems? Pretty much there's one for each

How much different are they to normal dial and digital room thermostats? Less to install

Thanks in advance.

My opinions after your

[stratobuddy]

I am familiar with 2 vaillant types.

They can control CH for 3 different ON times per day (and therefore 3 off times as well), and one can do the same for DHW.

It can be set for different programmes for days away, and also for holidays, up to a year in advance!

One will control the temp of the DHW as well as the CH (obviously they both control the CH temps).

There are loads of boiler parameters that the installer can set in addition to the user options, protected by a pin number.

The 392f is VERY complicated for the ordinary customer to use, IMO. The 470f is much simpler, but is a weather compensated controller so that brings its own problems for the customer eg luke warm rads.

PS the USER operating manual for the 470f is 42 A4 pages, the INSTALLER manual is an additional 54 pages ! ! !

[snowhead]

I've had one for 24 years in my own house, still the original one.

Mines a basic one, I can set 4 different temperature changes during the weekday, and 4 at the weekend.

It's got override for 1, 2, or 3 hrs advance and frost only for holidays.

Consider it just the same as a standard time programmer but it changes the temperature setting of the stat at the appointed time instead.

[Armo74]

Thanks for the replies guy's, that has shed a bit more light on it for me. Do you come across many of these on the job? I only ask because the normal room stats seem more popular, Maybe because they are easier to use and understand.

[BOD]

Finding a lot go for them in rf , rather then hard wiring

[Armo74]

Thanks bod, I assume rf means wireless?

[BOD]

Yes fella sorry, radio frequency

[Element]

I fit them all the time on combi boiler installations. Be aware some of them are a bit complicated for some customers I've found the Honeywell CMT is the easiest to use. There are no set on off times just temperature ranges so when you don't want the heating on say at night just set the temperature down to 10 degrees.

[petercj]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could explain a little more on how these work please. As i understand it you can use them to set specific temperatures for different times of the day.

Do you have to have the programmer constantly on?

Are they suitable for all types of heating systems?

How much different are they to normal dial and digital room thermostats?

Thanks in advance.

If you're looking to cut your gas bill, I recommend getting a digital wireless room stat - I fitted one and it paid for itself in the first half of winter.

The one I have has manual control, or you can program it to change the temperature at different times of the day and night - each 24 hours being sectioned up into blocks of time which can be set to run at a chosen temperature.

So for example on auto, 5pm to 11pm might be set to 21c, and then 11pm to 5am can be set at a lower temperature, say 18c during sleeping hours. Or off at night it if that is what you want.

I use ours on manual and just keep it in the lounge during the day, and in a bedroom at night.

It allows you to have far more control than a fixed room stat, and with a few adjustments I was able to cut our gas bill by 20% last winter - BG had to pay me money back, which was nice.

They can be troublesome, so well worth getting one with a 2 warranty.

Fairly easy to fit yourself, or get someone to fit one for you if you feel unsure of doing it yourself, and then if it goes wrong remove and fit a new one yourself - dead easy to swap over once fitted.

[stratobuddy]

Yes, I forgot to say that a radio controller (rf) can be moved around the house. The 470f has a wall bracket that the controller just clips on to, and can easily be removed again.

So you could have it in the living room set at, say, 20 during the day, then take it up to the bedroom at night and set it to 18, for example.

So it will be controlling the room you are actually in, this may be a good selling point.

But the 470f costs about £175 !

[CES]

Yes, I forgot to say that a radio controller (rf) can be moved around the house. The 470f has a wall bracket that the controller just clips on to, and can easily be removed again.

So you could have it in the living room set at, say, 20 during the day, then take it up to the bedroom at night and set it to 18, for example.

So it will be controlling the room you are actually in, this may be a good selling point.

But the 470f costs about £175 !

What would be the point of that?
Assuming you would be upgrading the heating system which would mean TRVs and a Thermostat, what would be the point of taking the thermostat upstairs? The TRV does this already, by moving the thermostat you run the risk of the thermostat and TRV fighting against each other and the heating being on all night.

[stratobuddy]

Because turning it down to 18 in living room may mean bedroom never reaches 18 because of smaller rad. Leaving it at 20 to get 18 in bedroom would mean living area would be too hot at night.