which radiator valves to buy?

[kindred wigeon]

Just moved into a new house with gas central heating in the UK. I'd like some valves I can Automate with home assistant. I would prefer local control.

Please may I have some recommendations? I'm budgeting $2,000 for it.

[unique vine]

How many devices do you need to cater for with that budget? And do you have any preferences e.g. zigbee or zwave?

[kindred wigeon]

woah I have a lot of radiators, like 12-13.

I have a Skyconnect, which is zigbee I think? So probably best to have that? Otherwise I'd need a zwave version of a skyconnect?

[unique vine]

I'd start by looking at Hive, Tado, Aqara, and Bosch, they're all solid brands that won't explode your home—but depending on protocol preferences there are other options.

These ones are around £50-65 each, which leaves you with about half your budget to either pay for someone to install them or other fun smart home stuff.

[remote lion]

i use the sonoff trvs and they're much cheaper - about £20/each and easy to integrate with zigbee

[kindred wigeon]

Some of those seem to depend on proprietary protocols/cloud servers?

I'd like local control. I've used Aqara temp and motion sensors before, and they're all local and work well with HA.

I was wondering if I should go with Aqara, or if there's another similar brand but more reliable/better?

[kindred wigeon]

Sonoff vs aqara TRVs. Which one would be best?

[remote lion]

idk, never used the aqara ones

[unique vine]

Hive and Aqara both operate over Zigbee.

I've not tried the Sonoff ones, but they seem to be readily available on Amazon with good reviews.

[kindred wigeon]

Hive vs Sonoff vs Aqara then.

Sonoff look like the cheapest and Hive the most expensive.

[unique vine]

Hive is about £47.99 last I looked. Aqara was in the £50s

[kindred wigeon]

Oh okay, so Hive and Aqara similar. Sonoff cheaper

I want to prioritise quality and reliability over price.

[unique vine]

How much is the home acceptance factor important here? Personally I like the design of the aqara ones with the temperature on them.

[remote lion]

i've had them running for about a year now and had 0 issues, that's all i can give you

[unique vine]

Setting your Zigbee network up is going to be the most crucial part with any of these ones. If that's solid you shouldn't have any issues unless you get a bad item which fails.

[kindred wigeon]

Sure, aesthetics and noise matter!

[kindred wigeon]

I have Skyconnect and Hue bulbs. I can always buy repeaters or whatever

[kindred wigeon]

Thank you for sharing. Are they noisy?