Help understanding setup and installing smart heating system

[svemula9]

Hi,
I live in the UK (Belfast) recently bought a 3 Bed house house with two floors 0 and 1. It has Glowworm Easicom 28c boiler fitted in the utility There is a programmable timer with a switch in the utility, There are two wired rotary thermostats fitted in the hallways of the two floors. There is a motorised port valve underneath the boiler.
I want to understand if this is a multi-zoned heating system and the two thermostats control the heating on the two floors separately. The timer on the boiler is always switched off even then the heating continues when the heating switch is turned on at the other program timer.

I want to replace the program timer and the rotary thermostats with smart ones (Nest, Tado, Hive...) which smart one would be suitable with this setup and do i also need Smart TRVs which gets linked with the smart thermostats.

Will i be able to do it my self or do i need an engineer. How easy/difficult would it be.
Any help appreciated. Thanks

Programable Timer with heating on/off switch:

Programmer Timer wiring:

Thermostat (same on both floors):

Thermostat wiring:

 

[Madrab]

If it was multi zoned then there would normally need to be a separate zone valve and flow pipework to each floor

The fact that there are 2 stats would suggest it is, but you would need to find that other zone valve and the upstairs pipework. Can you post a pic of the valve that's under the boiler?

The programmer has 2 SL out, presumably heading to each stat, the stats will then switch back to each zone valve and from there back to the boiler. The programmer on the boiler will probably have been bypassed.

 

[svemula9]

I found there are two zone valves one under the boiler (boiler is on a counter) and one hiding between boiler and the wall which i couldn't see until i climbed on the counter

Under boiler:

Beside boiler:

 

[Madrab]

OK - so the flow pipe from the boiler will split into 2 and then each will head into its own 2 port valve so yes you have an multi zone.

You can use any of the smart setups but to keep it truly multizone then it would be easier to have 2 kits with 2 stats and receivers. Alternative is use a home hub system with the 2 stats talking to the one base and that base talks to the receiver @ the boiler. Loads out there to choose from.

There will always be some consolidation of wiring and connections into the boiler, so that may need a gas safe engineer to do.

 

[RandomGrinch]

I want to replace the program timer and the rotary thermostats with smart ones (Nest, Tado, Hive...) which smart one would be suitable with this setup and do i also need Smart TRVs which gets linked with the smart thermostats.

There are a couple of ways of connecting up smart stats to your system, although some ways may require a little more investigation into the wiring.

Firstly, are you happy with the position the existing thermostats are currently in?
If not, it may be possible to wire a two zone wireless receiver, near to the existing programmer. e.g. a Wiser system...

Thermostat kit, Wiser, with 3-channel HubR and 2 room thermostats, anthracite & white

The perfect fit – this battery-powered, no-installation Wiser thermostat kit with 2 room thermostats (anthracite and white) is ideal for conventional boilers.

shop.se.com

The existing stats could be removed and the wiring decommissioned.
Leaving the wireless stats to be placed wherever you want them.

Alternatively, if you are happy with their current position, your existing stats have a neutral wire connected.
This allows you to replace them with any number of mains/battery powered stats
e.g. wired Tado.
You would then set the programmer to permanently on, or bridge it out (i.e. move the brown wire in terminal 3, to terminal 4, on the backplate); allowing your new stats to fully take control.

Another option with Nest, would be to mount the two Heatlinks near to the existing programmer, and attempt to reutilise the wiring going to the old stats to provide the 12V to power the Nest thermostat through the T1 and T2 terminals.

As most manufacturers have a device that would be suitable for your multi zone set-up; the system you choose will likely be down to personal preference - pick a system and we'll let you know if it can be hooked up!

Edit: didn't see madrabs post while writing this one!