Reply With QuoteEvery control Salus produces is garbage.
Wondering if anyone has any experience with this product or knows of any good competitors: https://www.amazon.co.uk/SALUS-IT500...ct_top?ie=UTF8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV_KSuQ7y_4
For the moment I'm specifically not after a Nest, Hive or other fancy home automation widget, but I just want a straight replacement for a traditional Honeywell thermostat that is wired in the same way, and adjusts the hall temperature setting via an iPhone app with or without a controller in the house. The thermostat needs to connect via our home wifi hub.
Ta.
Every control Salus produces is garbage.
How's that then ?Originally Posted by CaptainSlow
I had a Netatmo thermostat installed a few years ago:
https://www.netatmo.com/en-GB/product/energy/thermostat
It does what you want (thermostat control via an app).
Over 15 years experience as a BG engineer.
Yep, had one of those IT500 for about 5 years now. Just wanted a simple replacement that I can switch off via phone. It was a good price and easy to fit. It has worked flawlessly since. Nothing fancy, no AI or "learning" stuff - it has a simple scheduler and on/off/holiday/frost modes.
I have a Netatmo too - replaced a Honeywell CM927 Wireless unit. The Netatmo (nor the CM927) will control the hot water so you either need a combi boiler or a separate timer for the HW - which is fine for me but once you have remote control could be nice to put the hot water on if coming home and expecting to run lots of baths although never been a problem for me really.
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Ok, I'll buy that advice for a dollar then
Had one fitted for a few years no issue, though it's not one of the fancy remote jobs, they certainty had issues in the earlier years, that didn't do their reputation any good, from memory a lot of the issues were poor solder joints.
I'm looking at the Honeywell Lyric T6. Seems to be a good choice for simple systems, it does have geo-fencing but easy to switch off
I currently have a three zone plus water system with Honeywell remote thermostats which is terrible. The Honeywell stats are always dropping connection so the heating doesn't come on when it's supposed to.
I also don't like the fact I have to walk down to the cellar to the boiler when I want to boost or adjust the heating. Time for a change but I'm not sure what too..
Thanks, folks.
If you get a wireless programmer you can extend the wires between the boiler and the relay easily enough (I did this with my Netatmo to ensure a strong signal) although the Honeywell worked at twice the distance so depending upon your layout you can extend wires if needed to get relay near to the controller.
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I was recently in the market for a smart thermo and looked into these also. From what I can gather, the thermostat can't have geo-fencing enabled as well as a scheduler at the same time. It has to be one or the other with this system.
I opted for a Nest system, currently reduced to £159 with Screwfix, the cheapest price I could find anywhere. It's currently yet to be installed, so no feedback to give at this point in time.
Yes, I looked at the instructions and you had to choose between schedule or geo-fencing. I'm like the OP though that just want something simple that I can use remotely for when I'm out of the country and the weather changes. I don't even use a scheduler, I turn it on when I get up and then turn the temperature down when I go out. I need to look at the instructions for Nest to see how easy it is to turn off functions!
I'm also in search of a simple switch. All I want is the ability to turn the boiler on remotely, not schedule or thermostat control.
Is there a simple solution to this?
Yes, have a look for the lightwave boiler switch. You’ll need the hub too though.
I’m a Netatmo user too and have a load of their trvs which all seem to work well
trvs?
Thermostatic radiator valves
Thanks.
Love the simplicity of the Nest. 3rd Gen controls the hot water as well. It constantly learns if you are home or away. You can set up numerous different schedules for heating times and hot water, but for simplicity, I have the same set up for hot water 7 days a week. I can boost this at any time, from my phone, in or out.
Heating, I set manually to what we feel is comfortable. You can set up temp programmes, but it also learns what temps you prefer after manually adjusting a few times, and even auto adjusts the temps you prefer when you go to bed without having to adjust it yourself.
The kit itself is easy to install...albeit, a little bit of electrical switching knowledge needed, and is a nice solid bit of kit to operate when fitted as well. But seeing as all this can be operated from your phone, in or away from home, you don't get to touch it much.
Sorry yes thermostatic radiator valves. It means I can control each room independently. My wife works from home so only heat the rooms she’s in during the day etc
They only work if you can train family to keep doors shut.
That’s just an ongoing Dad job; like switching off lights too :)
Why have you specifically ruled out Nest / Hive?
I've got Nest and think it's fantastic.
We've got tado now after thinking our hive system was lacking the tado system is superb trvs fully zoned the house very pleased with it.
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+1 how can you have a thread like this and not consider the main players? Nest is great, would buy another if it broke. Hive too ugly imo. Wouldn’t want it on my wall.
The new hive looks much nicer. Surprised you have it wall
Mounted whatever the brand!
Because the main players cost £150+ and offer more than I currently need.
It seems I may have no choice, but if there was a simple and reliable WiFi enabled thermostat for 25% of that cost I’d rather go for that now, and then get an all singing/dancing system in a few years when they were some combination of cheaper/more reliable/more capable/better looking.
Buy Hive.
Not tied in to anyone and it works. Easy to use, I think app is great.
I've had one a few years now and at least 6 pals of mine have them.
Not heard one bad report.
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Question for Nest and Hive users please.
I just need something to control heating (not hot water) and all I want to do is turn off scheduling and geofencing so that I turn the system on / off manually in the morning / at night and can choose whether to switch off or turn down when I go out based on circumstances. For various reasons I don't want or need anything more than this and am simply looking to have remote access so that I can choose to over-ride the holiday schedule programme I use when out of the country, if for instance we have a sudden change of severe weather like this week and need the system to run for longer.
Can I set it up as simple as switching off all the functionality on installation so it is one press on, one press off each day, or will I constantly be fighting the smart systems and having to disable them everytime I use the system?
Thanks
Hive, yes. They do a heating only version.
You use as you want.
I don't use geofence, I just have mine set up with a schedule just like a standard time clock.
On the control unit or app, you just can switch to (off, on, or schedule)
Turn temp up or down.
Easy to use.
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Thanks. That confirms what my internet research had suggested.
It seems that Nest on the other hand has no true manual option, it has to run either a schedule you set up or one it calculates based on a learning mode. Users please confirm if that is correct, I simply do not have a regular routine and just want to be able to use it manually!
That's helpful for me, too. Thanks.
I'd originally excluded Hive because they looked so 'orrible, but the latest one is an improvement, and I certainly don't want to be fighting the Nest AI.
We currently have a 'Garbage' aka 'Salus' programmable remote which we can adjust manually or move to different zones and TRV's on each radiator.
If we had a fully remote app/wi-fi based system I would like it to be able to control temperature and timing in each individual room (11) presumably via remote controlled TRV's.
Is this possible and how much roughly?
You can turn learning mode off and just set a schedule/use it manually
This is what the tado system does for us cost roughly £1000 but has made our house the perfect temperature in every room at all times of the day and geofencing means it turns off automatically as we leave and restarts as we near home
Nest has this option now.
The perfect temperature will depend on the outside temperature, do they have an external input?
It does although I’m not sure where it gets the data from but the indicated external temp is always very close to the measured temp on my outdoor thermometer, it somehow also detects sunlight and open windows etc. We’ve had it around 6 months now and been extremely pleased with it in fact after the first 2 weeks or so of playing with the new gadget I hardly touch it now because it just works. It starts earlier than the timed setting sometimes so that the temp is reached when you want it and also shuts down before the temp is reached to allow for the time it takes the radiator to cool down therefore still putting heat into the room. No issues to report really when we lost internet for a day or so it still worked albeit remote access obviously didn’t work but the schedule function just carried on.
The system wasn’t cheap but I do believe in time the savings will pay for it due to not heating rooms we don’t need at the time, the boiler is firing less for example if it’s sunny the south side of the house doesn’t need any heat so those radiators don’t come on but the north side does so the return temp is reached faster and the boiler runs for less time than usual.
I've just replaced 1st gen hive with 3rd gen Nest and it's night and day different. Big pluses for me are that you set a target temp for, say 6am and it then hits than bang on every time by varying when the heating needs to come on depending on outside temp and how quickly your house normally takes to get up to temp. The design of the thermostat is also so much nicer so you'll want to wall mount it. We then have the far sight feature set up to show you the temp outside and for the next 12 hours......which is great for me when i'm cycling to work. Hive gen 1 in comparison was just a wifi thermostat. And gen 2 seems to be that but in a nicer box.
Nest can be as automated as you want or you can just use it manually, it's all configurable. Plus if you don't keep a regular schedule it will automatically turn off when you leave.
Personally i've turned off the auto-away as it overides the schedule (which makes sense in some ways) and thus won't turn on again until you get home. Which isn't great if it's -8 outside and you live in a victorian house. And it's your wife that got home first. Anger. Instead i've set up IFTTT to automatically turn the temp down when we go out. Which does the same thing but doesn't over-ride the schedule.
And i guess that's the main benefit of going with one of the main players - you get so much 3rd party support and integration.
Just picking up on some comments on Nest, how do you just use it manually please?
The user manual is a bit minimalist and the videos I have seen on youtube suggest that it is either off, set to a manual schedule or a learning schedule. Geo-fencing just then seems to be optional but works in tandem with one of the two schedules.
So even if I toggle through the menu to turn it off at night, when I switch it on in the morning isn't it going to jump straight into either the manual or learning schedule?. All I want to do is to get up and decide that say I want to leave it set at 19 degrees until I either turn it off or change the temperature manually during the day. My concern is that it will keep defaulting to a schedule of some kind unless you can de-activate all schedules and geo-fencing at installation?
At present I need to slide one switch to turn on / off, or just turn the temperature down below the point it will come on until I turn it back up, simples.
Check out the Honeywell evo system. I have this system and it does as exactly as you want. It's superb,very simple to use and reliable.
1st gen to 3rd gen in any tech is like night and day!!
I have not tried Nest so cannot comment much although I did read up an all smart stats before I took the leap.
I do like the look of nest and would not knock the system unless I had tried it but!
Hive is so much more than "WiFi thermostat in a nicer box"
I'm quite tech savvy and my Hive is connected to control my lamps via Alexa along with my heating/water.
Emails/or msg me if temp is low or too hot (I could go on and on) but this thread ain't a top trumps on smart heating.
But as OP has asked for something to just do basics then my opinion is go for Hive.
Once installed, use either stat or smartphone to(turn on, turn off, turn up or down)
Simples if that what you want that what it does.
If in future OP wants more, great options there.
Just my take.
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Last edited by Gee252; 3rd March 2018 at 23:54.
I think you just turn off auto schedule. It then becomes just like any other programmable thermostat. If you then don’t set up a schedule you can just turn the temp to what you want. Home/Away assist can be turned off in the settings.
Thanks. That's the key point for me, whether it will let you not set any manual schedule or if it makes you set something. On other systems you just tell it you want manual mode, you don't have to find a "work around" in schedule mode
resurrecting this - re Nest vs. Hive, one is backed by the 2nd/3rd biggest tech company in the world (Alphabet) the other by British Gas... I know which I'd back.
Just had to use Nest customer service and it was very good. Had an issue and they couldn’t sort it over telephone support. Sent me a new one within a couple of days.
Netatmo still gets my vote :)
I don't know about Hive but I opted for the nest system and don't regret it, at all. Mrs Ticker feels the cold quite badly during winter. This system enables me to have the home heated for when she walks in the door, seamlessly and effortlessly.
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