Currently I am using a zwave switch to power on and off the gas boiler (Vokera Vision25s), however having recently had the boiler serviced it appears some damage may have been caused to the PCB due to this type of activity. This will be repaired, and I am now looking to put in place a better solution for managing my heat.
I have looked at many descriptions and reviews of multiple smart thermostats for gas boilers and I cannot make up my mind as to which is the best to go for.
I am looking for a thermostat that most importantly I can rely on and will not have cases where the boiler runs for several hours in case of an unreliable communication between the hub and thermostat and along with any temporary broadband connection problems.
Of the thermostats I have read reviews about, for each of them I am finding short comings. Whether it is a cloud based only solution, to randomly losing connection to cases where correct values are not always sent and received. These are:
EPH Ember
Drayton Wiser
Tado
Hive
Nest
I must add, I already have Danfoss TRVs on all my radiators except two towel rails and these work well with Hubitat where I can turn on and off radiators and adjust their temperatures as needed.
I cannot identify a Danfoss gas boiler thermostat that is smart and allow for remote access and can be integrated with Hubitat, if I am mistaken and you know of one, I would also be glad to hear about it.
I am interested to hear what is working well for everyone here along with integration on Hubitat.
Hi,
Its not clear how your current setup damaged the boiler PCB. Is there anything special you expect the thermostat to do?
I know all the thermostats I've used have internal settings for number of cycles per hour for various boiler/furnace etc types. Perhaps Vokera thermostat specifications can suggest anything special you boiler requires.
My gas boiler fired heating / hotwater system was built with three zone valves (1. hot water; 2. all five radiators and 3. all four under floor sub-zones). All this was controlled from a traditional 3 zone timer/controller. The zone valves switched the boiler's 'calling for heat' input.
I have put Danfos (Hive or POPP badged) zigbee thermostats on my radiators and four z-wave MCO room thermostats to replace basic thermostats on my under floor heating sub-zones. I have bypassed the old timer/controller by using sonoff zbmini switches to control each of the three zone valves. And I now use the thermostat scheduler app and rule machine routines to monitors each of the TRVs and each of the underfloor heating thermostats). So, while I control the zone valves based on the thermostats, I leave them to call for heat from the boiler, as originally installed. Took a bit of thinking about, but now works a dream; total control of everything from anywhere. (note: was, important to leave the hotwater tank thermostat operative!)
if your boiler has open therm terminals the nest is the best out there for that. It works all locally but with the community apps you can bring it into hubitat.
To be honest I am not sure how it damaged it either, but currenty the temperature dial on the boiler does not hold a steady reading. After turning it, the display on the boiler fluctuates higher and lower by 25 degrees without settlingon a desired temperature. An engineer has taken an initial look and is to come back to me, so I was aiming to have my decision made for the best thermostat to get before he comes back so I can get him to wire it in.
There is nothing really special that I want the thermostat to do, other than giving me control while I am home and away.
I have three of the above Honeywell thermostats. I think they are the best out there. My basis is on how it controls heat and AC. It uses a duty cycle ( in the range of 20 minutes or so) to control heat. As opposed to what I call a bang-bang control where the heat goes on until a temperature is reached, then goes off until that temp - hysteresis is reached.
This results in a wider temperature swing. (It does have fewer heat on / off cycles which may be more important to you).
If the method of control is not important I would go for a Pearl thermostat. I had one for quite a while and I feel its a really solid thermostat. The Pearl is Zigbee.
I've had the Honeywell working on a C4, then C7, now C8 all with no issues. The Pearl only on the C4 and C7.
I had an Ecobee which worked fine but its need to be on line was a issue, as well as being WiFi based. I prefer all local control for reliability.
