Main Eco Compact and Salus RT520TX behaviour

[nadimaj]

Got a new Main Eco Compact boiler with the above wireless thermostat unit. I have been used to the classic Honeywell dial based thermostat all my life and conceptually I'm struggling with this one. As far as I can tell there's no time window one can specify either on the boiler or thermostat for the heating to switch on and off. All we can do is tell the unit what temperature we desire at what time. I guess I need to accept this strange concept and not fight it...ok

However, the damn thing is too twitchy and in my opinion inaccurate. Any given room's temperature will fluctuate a few tenths of a degree as people move about or a door is opened and closed. When set at 22deg, the thermostat seems to be sending on and off signals up to 3 times every 10 minutes. It appears not to monitor the temperature trend over time before sending the on/off signal. With an analogue thermostat you could rely on the inherent design to react slowly but this digital one just seems too trigger happy. Any advice?

The user guide (a quick guide) is useless and doesn't cover detailed settings. Thanks

 

[Mr.B]

Well strangely enough I was on the phone to them this very afternoon. Not about the matter you speak of ... but simply to make some pre-purchase enquiries as someone on this site recommended this unit and I wanted to check a few things.

Incidentally I can't see a TX model. I do know they (at least in the UK) supply a wireless RF model and a wired model (just called RT520)

It seemed pretty obvious to ring Salus themselves and get it straight from the horses mouth, as it were. Have to say it took them about 15 minutes for the technical department to answer the phone but when they did the bloke was OK and answered each of my brief queries in turn.

What does surprise me was your saying you can't set the time. When I looked at the installation instructions online and also when looking at their video plus noting the description of the unit for sale at different sellers, it seemed pretty obvious that you could set on and off times and didn't seem difficult.

 

[nadimaj]

The model name is confusing. IIRC, the website only shows 'RF' but mine is clearly boxed and labelled as 'TX'. If you download the quick guide you can see the reference to TX as if they are the same thing.

I'll put up a video shortly showing the 'Schedule' menu.

 

[nadimaj]

The following reviews are for the 500RF but the comments about the lack of on/off are valid for me: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salus-RT50...btm_40?pageNumber=40&reviewerType=all_reviews.

 

[muggles]

The following reviews are for the 500RF but the comments about the lack of on/off are valid for me: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salus-RT50...btm_40?pageNumber=40&reviewerType=all_reviews.

The 500 and 520 are totally different beasts, comparing them is useless

 

[nadimaj]

Well the described behaviour concerning a lack of true (non-temperature based) on/off are valid across both units

 

[nadimaj]

Video of Schedule menu.

As you can see, all I can specify is a time point and a temperature. Like I said, this concept was alien to me but I can get used to it. However, my other issue with the twitchyness and lack of temperature trend monitoring before it sends an on/off signal is really bad. If there's any settings to change this behavior, I would be grateful to hear of it. E.g. If temp reaches min desired temp, heating on. Heating off when desired temp + 2 deg is reached. Again, mine seems to send the off signal as soon the room has gained 0.5 deg, which is just crazy.

 

[Mr.B]

Can't really understand why you don't just ring Salus. They're in the UK and have a technical department .... surely that's the obvious answer?

 

[muggles]

Video of Schedule menu.

As you can see, all I can specify is a time point and a temperature. Like I said, this concept was alien to me but I can get used to it. However, my other issue with the twitchyness and lack of temperature trend monitoring before it sends an on/off signal is really bad. If there's any settings to change this behavior, I would be grateful to hear of it. E.g. If temp reaches min desired temp, heating on. Heating off when desired temp + 2 deg is reached. Again, mine seems to send the off signal as soon the room has gained 0.5 deg, which is just crazy.

Sounds like it's working perfectly to me. A lot of thermostats now operate on a "target temperature at a set time" basis, because that is the most efficient way of running the system. Using a thermostat like a light switch is old hat and wastes energy.

Don't think of it as a minimum temperature, because it isn't - it is a target and that is why the differential is at 0.5°C. If it varied by 2°C, people would quite rightly complain that it was inaccurate. Why would you want that much of a temperature swing in a room? The whole point of it is to keep the room AT the chosen temperature, not swinging around wildly in the general vicinity of it. If you're cold, simply increase the target temperature to where you're most comfortable.