I'm in the process of refitting my bathroom, and will be installing new lights, under-floor heating, heated towel rail and a mirror with a light, shaving socket and de-mister. I can imagine a few potential automations I could introduce in the new bathroom, but I was wondering if anybody has advice/tips on setup and hardware, particularly if relevant to the UK.
For instance my electrician is recommending a wifi touchscreen thermostat (I think the one linked here). However, I'm not sure whether I'll be able to link this into hubitat.
I'm thinking that I could potentially install an Aqara zigbee relay in a box next to the towel rail and also the heated mirror so that I can automate these. I can stick a motion sensor onto the ceiling and an aqara lightswitch just outside to automate the lights. (I have some experience with the aqara lightswitches, and they seem pretty good)
I'll also be installing a new fan. Wondering whether it would be sensible to install a relay for this so that it only turns on when the shower's being used rather than every time the light turns on for instance.
Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated!
I used a Fibaro FGS223 in my bathroom.
The fan was wired to a separate pull cord to the light.
I removed the pull cord and put in the Fibaro. Then used an Aqara humidity sensor so that if the humidity goes above a certain value it turns on the fan. When humidity drops below the level specified it will turn off the fan after 5 minutes.
I don't know anything about that thermostat. However you should check into the NuHeat Signature Wifi thermostat and see if it's available in the UK. I recommend the NuHeat because they have an open API to allow integration and the company is easy to work with.
Maybe somebody can explain to me why people use thermostats if they have a temperature sensor and Hubitat? Everything a thermostat does is already there, why spend more money on it?
It's a good question. I suppose there's something about the user friendly physical interface, although all of the effects of the thermostat should be achievable (in very "intelligent" ways ) through hubitat.
Primary because no HA system is 100% reliable and heating/cooling is a household issue... Do you want to wake up freezing because your hub locked up?
Secondly manual control is still necessary due to the reliability issues of HA.
Things such as electrical code and insurance play a factor in the event of fire or water damage.... oh your pipes burst or house caught on fire because of your DIY home hacked thermostat setup? Do you think insurance will pay for damages? Nope.
That makes sense in a way I guess... Though this might also differ per country and regulations. To be honest I have no other heating in my house then under floor heating, so I made the "boiler" settings so that no matter what happens, it can never overheat. My house will get very warm though if the system doesn't turn it off (max 100F or 38C). And since I live in a dense neighborhood our house will never reach temperatures lower than 41F or 5C. Both are not very scary temperatures. Also The Netherlands don't have any regulations for the system you have and how you use it. Yes, the insurance company might say something about it if it goes wrong.
About the stability of HA systems, this is somewhat dependent of the owner. Because if you do not update or change anything, a HA system will / should be rock solid until hardware dies. And since new thermostats are online too, I don't believe they are much more reliable then a good HA system. But that is just my opinion.
I guess it comes down to the owner preference and maybe rules and regulations. Thanks for the reply and explanation.
Myself being in the US there's lots of regulations and insurance items to consider with any electrical DIY projects.
Another item I did not mention was resale capability. If you decide to move then there's the new expense of retrofitting thermostat's into the house because the new buyer's may not want the HA system.
Have a look at sinope, they have thermostats with remote probes specifically for infloor heating. We currently have driver support for their entire product ,ine.
