Comfort Automation/ Security System Forums

Hi All,

I am after some hardware / configuration advice around z-wave and / or other way of tackling the problem.

I have a traditional heating system central heating plus hot water tank for water which is 98%+ efficient. I have been told in the colder months to run the system 24/7 and this is where the problem starts. I have one room stat in the hall way which is the coldest room , this is the only way of setting the temperature for the boiler to work to and therefore whilst the hall might be at 17 degrees the other rooms might be at 22 degrees. Which means whilst we are asleep or out of the house the vast majority of the house is running at a temperature higher than needed or the rooms are cold when we get home.

So what I want to do as a fix this year is start with 3 danfross z-wave radiator valves http://zwave-products.co.uk/shop/article_206/danfoss two for the lounge room and one for the bedroom.

I also need a boiler times boiler controller and  another z-wave wall mounted room stat for the hall way. Any suggestions welcome on what product is best would be welcome as there seem to be lots and I really don’t know which one to choose.

What I was hoping to achieve is when comfort is in away mode the heating system drops to a lower temperature but not so low the boiler is heating the house from 2 or 3 degree temperatures, I guess this would be controlled by a message to the wall mounted room stat or boiler controller.

Depending on movement around the house and time of day I would want to heat the lounge or bedroom to a pleasant level for using which is easy to program in comfort once the z-wave device is included and associated (not so easy to do I have found)

 

Hope this makes sense and if you could come up with ideas before I spend a few hundred pounds on hardware that doesn’t deliver it would be much appreciated.

Best Regards

Lee

Hi Lee,

Am assuming your also running a Comfort II system with a ZWave 3 UCM (2 way comms)?

You might want to have a looksee at LightwaveRF products as they do the Rad controls (similar to danfoss) and thermostats etc - Comfort has recently announced its compatibility with the LightwaveRF products (via UCM and LightwaveRF WiFi bridge)

Not tried it personally but it is something I am planning so would also be interested which ever products you decide to go with

Vangelis...

Cheers for the feedback I will keep you posted.

Hi All,

I think I am going to go for a Horstmann CentaurPlus ZW and thermostat, but will talk to them tomorrow as this implies a combi boiler setup and mine is a traditional boiler with hot water tank.

Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this kit? and if they function ok?

Has anyone thought of a way of reporting low battery status of z-wave devices in to comfort?

Cheers

Lee

  

How did you get on with this?

I have not moved forward at all, which is frustrating as I am sure I could reduce energy bills by reducing the temp when alarm set to away mode.

If you have any idea I would really like to hear them.

I am at the moment I\'m doing a full re-furb on my place.  I am contemplating installing a comfort system and one of the areas where I am still fully in the dark is the heating system.  I know that there are LWRF products, however, I have decided to stay away from LWRF for lighting so have thought about zwave instead.  They also have wireless radiator valves.  I have heard others that have used the temperture guadge on the comfort switches in conjuction wireless valves.  Could this work?

I\'m interested on what the solutions are for this too as I use ZWave for my lighting too. At the moment my heating is on the Honeywell SmartFit system and I connect to comfort via my old UCM/Smartfit. But both Smartfit and UCM/Smartfit are respectively discontinued products so want something to replace with.

Lab-art; the Zwave valves you are talking about are presumably on each radiator aren\'t they; surely the system here needs to be based on the main valve in the heating system too for switching between heat/water/both etc.

Some clarity from Cytech on what we can do for the Zwave world and heating now and on roadmap would be good. Can I do a replacement for my UCM/Smartfit solution in Zwave is a good start!

Julian

Actually these look interesting as they are Zwave enabled.

http://www.horstmann.co.uk/central-heating.php

J

Firstly ANY actuator valve needs VERY CAREFUL planning with regard to the fitting.

If you manage to get the correct thread don\'t assume that this is the end of it! You will need to check the functionality in full as the \'throw\' of the solenoid pin may not be correct.

If this if interest let me know and ill post more when i have the time.......