#Trying to pick a smart thermostat for my (UK) boiler

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

static latch
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I got the dreaded email from Google that my 2nd Gen Nest thermostat will lose any kind of remote control in October, so I have to pick a new thermostat.

Our boiler is a Worcester Bosch Greenstar Junior 24i from 2012 and while it's working fine, I've had to get several expensive parts replaced on it, and the next time that happens, I'll replace it with a new boiler.

My wishlist for a new smart thermostat is: 1) supports fully local control (no cloud polling integration) - I don't mind if this is via HomeKit Bridge or some other integration, 2) ideally supports both dumb on/off signalling for the current boiler and fancy OpenTherm temperature control for whatever new boiler we end up with.

I'd love to hear what other people in the UK are using and what the integration situation is like!

uneven jay
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I think a lot of folks will be looking at this thread in the next few days as the news just came out and I'm an owner of the 2nd gen thermostat and wireless floor sensors, do we know if the additional sensors are impacted as well? I'm also looking for a new thermostat that's cheaper than $150 (the price Google is offering for those that need replacement)

crimson dune
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Yup, fuck google. this is awful, you can't just expect people to drop $300 on a new thermostat every 10 years. Thermostats used to cost $20 and they'd last 40 years. I can see a class action coming

grave elm
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For what it is worth the two biggest names for boilers in the UK (Worcester Bosch and Vaillant) use their own communication protocols and mostly do not support OpenTherm (there are some third party products that act as intermediary devices).

The key benefits of OpenTherm would be Modulation (basically a dimmer switch for the boiler) and two-way communication (eg. Set target temp from thermostat, receive current water temp from boiler).

Given the above, I personally opted to stick with Worcester Bosch as I am not a plumber and wanted something I know it would be easy to find plumbers to work on in the future.

As for Thermostat, I opted for Hive which I have paired via Zigbee2mqtt. I would add that the Thermostat receiver paired easily whilst the thermostat remote control was a little finicky and I had to try a few times.

I did not try the Hive Hub or the Hive App - just stuck to Home Assistant with Zigbee2mqtt.

I have several TRV's that control the radiators as well as Air Conditioners which can be used for both Heating and Cooling, so I rely on custom scripts to determine when the the boiler should be providing heat. I trigger the boiler by setting the Hive thermostat to either a high value or low value depending on whether or not heat is required by any of the radiators.

I would add that I only control the boiler for Heating although it does provide hot water as well. So, in essence the Hive Thermostat is basically an On/Off switch for the boiler.

One of the key things in my decision, was the fact that if I need to move, I can leave the Hive system in place for the new resident being able to use it via the Hive Hub (and whilst I am not using it I did get a Hub).