Boilermate 2000 with Smart Thermostat System.

Hi

I have seen some of the previous posts regarding Nest, but would really appreciate some clarity on the topic in general and other solutions. We have a 3 storey home with huge imbalances in room size and heating needs. For example, 3 or 4 of the rooms are rarely used. We have a mechanical thermostat in the hall that services the 1st and 2nd floor stairs, landing and stair. Our Ideal boiler is in the garage.

It seems common sense to go for a multi zone solution such as Drayton Wiser and add their TRV's to replace our old and failing existing TRV's. A friend has recently installed this system and been really pleased (he doesn't have a BM). I understand that the Smart Thermostat replaces the mechanical one and I believe that the Heatlink or Hub replacing an existing heating control panel.

What i'm not sure is how does this work with my BM 2000. Where does the heatlink or hub fit to the BM as there isn't an industry standard backplate and the BM produces so much external direct heat, is this safe and effective.

Apologies if most of this has been covered and if i'm asking some dumb questions, but I just need to rationalise it in my head whether to bother going down the smart route or stick to upgrade my old and failing TRV's and turn off or adjust down in unused or little used rooms.

Thanks in advance.

Nick

Hi I assume you only have one mechanical thermostat that controls the bulk of the house, you said first and second floor which makes it sound like you might have a separate ground floor zone. I assume not.

Anyway, re the little used rooms, you could fit smart trv's but to be honest they are quite expensive and how hard is it to pop in the room and turn up a cheapo mechanical trv when you fancy using the room? I guess you could integrate them to the system a bit more but generally I imagine when you want to warm those rooms the heating is on in the rest of the house as well.

Re fitting other types of controls. First of all the Boilermates primary function in life is to keep a tank of water hot. This tank is used to supply hot water and heating water as directed by the inputs to the control board. Hot water is controlled via sensing the water flow and temperature, heating is controlled by the thermostat signalling to the pcb that heating is required.

The hot water side can be left to its own devices usually, it does not lend itself to being controlled as turning it off shuts the Boilermate down which means the tank goes cold.

The heating side can be controlled by Smart Thermostats etc.. There are a variations around a theme with these but generally you have a hub or base unit which has a relay which turns the heating on or off by simulating the contacts of your old mechanical thermostat in your case. This is usually mounted near the Boilermate so that the wiring is easy to do, it can be close by rather than in so it is away from the ravages of waste heat from the unit (-:. The other function of the hub is to talk wirelessly (usually) to a thermostat unit that can literally be positioned where you like. Especially with the battery powered ones.

Things to be aware of particularly if you are going to use the old wiring to a mechanical thermostat to connect any new kit. Mechanical thermostats very often have three wires to them (excluding any earth wires), the wires are live, switched live and a neutral connection. Live and switch live are the ones that turn the heating on. The neutral connection is used for an accelerator resistor which improves the way the thermostats function. You have to make sure if you are connecting a new thermostat (new ones often only require live and switch live, that you do not inadvertently connect the neutral into the switch circuit as this can result in you having a bad day. Hope this helps rather than muddying!!

Hi, Makes sense in general, just clarity on the para below......

"The heating side can be controlled by Smart Thermostats etc.. There are a variations around a theme with these but generally you have a hub or base unit which has a relay which turns the heating on or off by simulating the contacts of your old mechanical thermostat in your case. This is usually mounted near the Boilermate so that the wiring is easy to do, it can be close by rather than in so it is away from the ravages of waste heat from the unit (-:. The other function of the hub is to talk wirelessly (usually) to a thermostat unit that can literally be positioned where you like. Especially with the battery powered ones."

.....Does the hub effectively replace the existing BM2000 timer control? When you say the hub can be mounted near am i too assume that wired connections are run from the BM to the hub?

Thanks

Any photos would help me visualise how it works.

This link is to a simple diagram I have on my website showing a nest connection to a Boilermate 2000.  Usual disclaimer it is for illustration only you should ensure that if you are doing any work you have the necessary knowledge and competencies to complete it safely.  End of disclaimer!!   Hope it helps, there are also lots of videos on YouTube showing Nest installations.

Nest Wiring Boilermate 2000

I know that many heating engineers install and approve of 'smart thermostats', but I'm not one of them. Primarily, this is because I don't believe in putting your heating on when you're not at home. They have often been sold as devices which allow you to put your heating on when you're still on the bus home. I don't think this is necessary. Why? Because when you come in, you're cold, and any temperature above the outside one feels warm anyway. So I see little reason why your home can't warm up at the same time as you do. But my second objection is one based on 'cost and payback' - due to the 'This device will save you money' theme. Let's say that the total cost of buying and installing a device is £250. How long will it take you to get that back on any savings? If the device saved you £50 off your heating bill (IF!) it would still take five years.

Each to their own opinion. If you think your home needs one, great. But I come back to my last point. I had a customer (a mathematician at Reading University, who himself stated that his wages weren't great) who worked out what his new TRVs would 'save' him. Turned out to be 16 years - due to the cost of installing them against his saved energy. After 16 years they may well need replacing, so the net result is zero. He would have been better sticking with his antiquated room thermostat in the hall which, although inefficient, didn't warrant replacing on an economics level (though did on a comfort one).